My time in South East Asia is finished and I need more Fun Tickets....that's what my boss in Alaska calls the U.S. Dollar. My last stop in Thailand was the hippy, mountain town of Pai. Signs all around town said "Pai...Do Nothing". So I did. I had some rain as well so that limited doing too much of anything. Back in Chiang Mai, I took a Thai cooking class. Why, I'm not sure but I did learn two things...1.) how to buy a good egg and 2.) how to burn my house down...

Ahh.....back in the Land of Smiles. The Thai people really do smile more than anyone, anywhere. I'm in the north to see and do whatever it is that people come here to see and do....which I have recently learned is alot! When I arrived, I checked into what turned out to be a weird guest house run by a Thai "woman" named "Julie". She appears to have all the womanly curves in all the right places but it is very obvious that Miss Julie was once Mr. Jules ...or someth...

After the new year craziness of Koh Phangan, I decided to head to the the island next door...Koh Samui...to relax, rent a motorbike, and have a look around. All my friends have returned to Phuket so I am on my own again which is fine. Fortunately, while on the island, I ran into a my good friend Nui, who we met a few weeks ago in Phuket. She took me to one of the Buddhist temples and showed me around a bit which made for some cool photos. It was nice to take so...

Happy New Year from Koh Phangan Island over in the Gulf of Thailand...the part that didn't get crushed by the tsunami 3 years ago. Let's just say it right away... this was not a Thai cultural experience. Although the various "moon parties" (full-moon, half-moon, 9/16-moon, etc) that they have here have taken on a sub-culture of their own, we didn't exactly experience Thai cuisine, buddhist rituals, or anything like that. To come here for New Years means "big pa...