Oh how so much has changed... We aren't in China, nor are we going there. Apparently China requires two full blank passport pages to grant you a visa, which Beth doesn't have. Although we applied for visa's on 4/7, because it took four working days to process, then the travel agency we used was closed for 3 days for the Thai New Year, we didn't find out there was a problem until 4/16. Then, because the government thinks that they need to celebrat...

We're back in Bangkok, just in time for the Songkran Festival - the Thai New Year. They celebrate by having a huge country-wide water fight for 4 days or so. This means lots of Thai adolescents with water guns and buckets of water blissfully drenching everyone that passes by on the street. They also have a tradition of smearing a clay-like substance all over you as you pass - particularly on your face. Beth and I quickly realized that resistance is futile, an...

So after an 11 hour bus ride (which actually must have been at least 4 days) we're back in Bangkok, trying to arrange visa's for China and arrange travel to Ko Samet, a secluded island in Central Thailand where Beth has been before and really enjoyed.The full moon party in Kho Phangan was - well - a party. Lots of extremely loud techno music everywhere, people painted in fluorescent body paint dancing with flaming sticks, stumbling around talking about th...

Today is our last day in Bangkok until we come back through on our way out in a few weeks. We leave for Phuket at 4:45am tomorrow. Beth and I have decided to do a 10 day silent meditation retreat in Suan Mokkh, an island in south Thailand. It doesn't start until April 1st, so we have a few days to explore Phuket and do a whole lot of talking and making noise. You can check out the website for the retreat at http://www.suanmokkh.org/ret/travel.htm. We won'...

A brief recap on the past 10 days or so... After spending a few days in Hololulu Beth and I set off to the big island to spend a few days exploring Hawaii minus all the tourists and resorts. We rented a car, more specifically a Chrysler Seabring, which turned out to be the worst rental possible. We started off by going to the Kona Brewery where we ate delicious pizza (which may or may not have later given Beth food poisoning; it's a toss up between that a...