Yapp, it's definitely a loooong time since the last entry. The thing is, we were waiting, hoping and wishing for some kind of positive experience before writing a blog entry....so far, after almost 1,5 month we haven't had any, and thus might as well update all of you.

"Cash is King" - some wise man said, and this is Thailand in a nutcase for you. "You pay now" is the phrase that we have heard so many times we've lost count. Come, look, buy, doesn't matter what, or how much, just buy buy buy! NOW! And even though the range of stuff offered is endles,s it is really tiring not to be able to just look at something without having stuff thrown at you and an angry shopkeeper going "you pay now, i give you good price". Naaah... not our place to be. Sure, some of the places we have been to have been truly amazing. White sand, clear blue water, warm and beautiful. But after laid-back and "zen" Malaysia, Thailand has been an anti-climax we still haven't recovered from. Russians, Swedes, Germans and basically ALL of Europe is cramped in this, we believe, once beautiful country, and it just doesn't work anymore. When locals speak better Russian than Thai and when the restaurants start serving meatballs instead of fried noddles, then it's gone too far....

A really cool place has been Railay, outside Krabi. Limestone rock raising out of the cristal clear water so warm you had to have a shower after every swim, just to cool down. An amazing place to live a laidback beach life and we've spent countless hours laying in water, watching rock climbers and base jumpers seeking adrenaline (base jump = skydiving from a rock or high mountain). And that's where we celabrated Monikas B-day: +32C, blue sky and swimming the whole day, followed by dinner by the beach and Australian wine. Life is good.... and if Anton hadn't been robbed by a wild monkey in the morning, while getting coffee, it would have been a perfect day. (No casualties though, Antons bag has been retrieved after throwing a couple of stones, and both Anton and the monkey are fine. Though the locals are probably still laughing...)

And then we have Pattaya...the Sin City. A city completely covered in red. Go-Go bars, night clubs, english restaurants - a true capital of sex tourism. This time we kind of knew what to expect and, thanks to our amazing guide Richard, it has been a surreal experience. Not gonna get into details of things happening here but a quotation of Anton at 3 o'clock at day kind of sums it up : "no, I don't want tuk-tuk, no massage-happy ending, no girl, no sex DVD... I JUST WANT BANANA PANCAKE!" Pattaya - love it or leave now.