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 and the Denny's chicken we consumed later that night). With an hour to kill before the brewery tour, we wondered around and found a piercing studio where I had my eyebrow pierced by a man named Rockwood. After that we enjoyed the plethera of free samples following the brewery tour, and were even given extra since we were the only ones in the group who got carded (everyone else was over 70 and each one wanted to know how old we really were). After recovering and driving/wondering around for a bit we decided to see the movie 300. Either Beth wasn't enjoying the movie or she was really sick, but about 45 min into the movie she leaned over, a color similar to green and sweating perfusely, to tell me she didn't feel very good and so we left. Having planned to sleep in the car, I drove around trying to find a place to park. Just as we arrived in the Walmart parking lot she puked into a Walmart bag - how appropriate. She vomited throughout the night and made a full recovery over the next 24 hours.

The rest of the trip's a bit of a blur, but I know it included several attempts at sleeping in the horribly uncomfortable car (need I say again - never rent a Seabring if you plan on sleeping in the car), a few mornings of sleeping on beaches, attempting to sleep behind a church and being chased away by God by sprinklers at 4am (I guess that's what I get), a full-body exfoliating treatment session by being sand blasted on a beach in yuppie-town while attempting to sleep, splitting my left great toe open on lava rock - pretty gruesome (pictures to come later), seeing a few different waterfalls and hiking in what appeared to be a fairyland forest, hanging out on the black sand beach in Pahoa where nudist hippies swim in the ocean and dance to the drum circle rhythms, picking up 6 hitch hikers, eating roadside fruit and shrimp, and drinking delicious coffee.

After hanging out some more with the long-lost cousins, attempting to sleep on Jareds floor for a few more nights, four hours in the Tokyo Ariport, and losing a day or so, here we are in Bangkok. It's just like I thought it would be. Beth and I stayed the last two nights in an air conditioned double hotel room with our own bathroom and shower for like 15 USD and will be moving to the Sawasdee Inn today where we will also have a TV for about 11 USD. We were told the showers are "outside on same floor," so I guess I'll be showering outside on the 4th floor. Sounds interesting. There are an overwhelming number of people here, much like walking the streets in NYC only they all have piercings and dread locks and everything is rediculously cheap. The same designer bags and tailored suits that are in the windows of NYC are here too, only they cost about 5 USD. Beth and I are going to buy a bunch of stuff to ship home and resell for about a 900% profit at her art shows. So for now we're just wondering the streets, taking in the sights and attempting to avoid being run over by hot pink taxi's, motor bikes, and tuk tuks. I decided that avoiding the water here is silly and if I can suffer through a few days of diarrhea then my body will edventually get used to the the bacteria and I'll be fine. So far nothing's happened, further supporting my theory that germs are actually a myth (well maybe not completely, but mostly, and what does make you sick is mostly psychosomatic). I'll keep you posted on how that goes. We leave the day after tomorrow for Phuket, where we will spend a few days before heading to the islands. I haven't found a way to upload any photos as of yet, but I have a full memory card's worth already and they will be coming edventually.