a return to thailand

Well...after 2 1/2 months of travelling thru northern thailand, laos, cambodia and vietnam, acazia and i have retuned to the friendly, sunny, laid back land of southern thailand. we are currently exploring the area around the andaman sea. After a 10+ hour train from Bangkok we found ourselves in Krabi--where we happened upon the yearly festival to celebrate the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the high season. the town was hoppin-- there were fireworks, small floating offerings with incense and candles filled the river and floated out into the ocean, there was also a car show a la Espanola and plenty of friend food on a stick. we opted for the food stand run by the cute older lady who managed 10 tables, the cooking and cleaning all by herself. she was a raging storm--amazing. and her pad thai was yummy too!

we then took a pickup ride and a long tail boat to the railey peninsula --sort of like an island since it is only reached by boat and has generator only electricity for usually only half the day. we melted into the easy beach life and managed to while away a few days in this gorgeous little rock climbing mecca. an amazing location surrounded by towering cliffs and greenery everywhere. if you climb--this is your paradise.

it is amazing how exhausting it is to spend your day "relaxing" in the sun. there's the walking over to the sandy beach, the setting up of the beach mat, the sun tan body rotation, the swimming, the floating, the book reading, the snorkelling, the pineapple eating, the long journey to eat lunch, the return from lunch and the constant repetion of the above-mentioned tasks. Ugh--utterly exhausting to do that for 4 days in a row. seriously! just remember that when you are all "at work" at your "jobs". ha!

we hiked to a hidden lagoon on our last day that required us to lower ourselves down a vertical wall a few levels with some ropes. we got nice and muddy and even got a few bruises and cuts to remember the occasion. the lagoon was not entirely blue and brooke shields was not swimming in it, but the climb through the jungle was pretty amazing--on our hike we met a hilarious Californian named Adam who was "on assignment" for Outside magazine and we spent the rest of the day with him on the beach and seeing how the non-backpackers "rough it" on vacation in thailand. he was also writing an article for Spa magazine so you can imagine the plush bungalows we had to hang out in.

as gorgeous as railey is, we had to get a movin---we were craving a bungalow that had electricity 24/7 and a shower that was warmer. we jumped a boat to Ko Lanta--the island where i am now writing you from. A long, lazy island with a west coast entirely comprised of sandy beaches. there are fewer people here than many of the other islands--and as the "fewer people=better times" theory of ours continues to prevail, we are pretty happy to be here. we are staying in a row of bungalows WITH electricity and sort of warm shower on the beach. the tables we eat dinner at are little bamboo covered decks over the sand. the sunsets here rock, acazia asked me if i thought they were better than New Mexico's and i gave her "the stare"...i'm not sure many things rival a good NM sunset...these are pretty amazing, but that title will have to stay with NM skies. ahem. Argument diverted.

we rented a motor bike today to head into "town". after an amazing lunch of green curry soup, tam kha gai, iced tea and MORE god damned RICE, we found a dive shop and signed up to take a 4 day open water certification class. we're both pretty stoked to start class tomorrow. we actually have homework tho--ha! more later when i remember to bring my USB cable with me to download some pics for you all.

We are ridiculously thrilled to hear about the midTerm elections and want to thank all of you who voted to help make that change. we are excited to return to a country that is truly different from the one we left---and just think, all Acazia and I had to do to make that happen was GO ON A VACATION!!! I LOVE politics! More later!

p.s. I (Liza) am turning 30 on novmeber 29th and will be having a party to celebrate that crazy fact upon my return to New Mexico--mark the 1st weekend in December for a little fiesta. eVite and info to come! xoxoxo Liza meow.