Days 186-188 -- Jakarta

So we had a mid-afternoon flight from Singapore to Jakarta and spent the morning doing some more wanderings around Singapore trying not to spend any money...didnt work out so well since I ended up buying some new sandals. Took the train to the airport and ran into a Swiss couple who were also headed to Jakarta...great to see married couples with backpacks on the same type of adventure. Flight was easy, a short 1.5 hours and then we arrived into Jakarta. On the plane we ended up sitting next to a girl, Pax, from Jakarta who is living/working in Singapore and coming back home for a 2 week holiday. She was really helpful and even took us to the area we were staying at in her hired car and helped me buy my SIM card. She also made a list of things/places we must see/do in Jakarta...hopefully all Indonesians are this friendly. We got in and found a place to stay, got some dinner and then time for some beers. We started at Absolute Cafe and played pool upstairs against some locals (I won 4 straight games...not sure how!) and ran into some other travelers, a couple of Dutch guys and a French guy. They were headed to Stadium which is exactly where I wanted to go...

So lets talk about Stadium....Jakarta's nightlife scene is infamous around SE Asia and perhaps one of the best in the world...Stadium is a massive trance club that holds 4,000+ people that opens on Thursday night and doesn't close their doors until Monday morning...Met some people who seemed like they had been lost in there for a couple of days at least without seeing any sunlight just partying their weekends away...total madness! We got in and got some beers and quickly realized that alcohol is not the drug of choice...all of the partygoers had their bottles of water. Since Jakarta is the Muslim side of India I got the vibe that the wealthy young locals who frequented this place were more into ecstasy than they were beer...stayed there for a few hours, but since we got a late start it was already 5am and time for bed...what a long night!

Day 2 in Jakarta was similar to Day 2 in Singapore...got to sleep soo late and headache when I woke up so spent most of the day around Jalang Jaksa...the backpacker area of Jakarta. When we did get the motivation to wander the city, it started pouring down (damn rainy season!) so that put a halt on those plans. Went to the train station to figure out how to explore the rest of Java and it seemed like the travel times to get anywhere were ridiculous and since my brother only has a couple of weeks we decided better just fly to Bali. Found an Air Asia flight leaving tomorrow evening for $40USD so the decision was made. That night I met up with Chetan, family friend from Fayetteville who works for Glaxo who was in town for work. We had some dinner and got a couple of beers before calling it an early night...good to see familiar faces sometimes!

Day 188: Early rise this morning since I had to see some parts of this city other than Stadium. Spent some time on the net after breakfast trying to sort out accomodation in Bali...no luck and then jumped in a cab to the old Dutch districts of Jakarta...lots of Dutch architecture and a new side of the city that I didn't expect. Still a very polluted, dirty and did I mention HOT city...sun blazing down and as soon as you step out of the air-con cab you start sweating. Anyways, south of this area we wandered through Chinatown and got some food before heading back to pick up our bags from the guesthouse...headed to the airport for our flight...next stop - Bali!!! This really might be the end of the road for me...

Days 184-185 -- Singapore

Singapore - what a fascinating place. Very similar to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia but probably even more cosmopolitan and definitely more expensive. A city full of Indians, Chinese, Malaysians, Thai and expatriates its hard to tell who is a local and who is here on a holiday. And the cleanliness...as you walk around you see the infamous "Singapore: Don't Litter" signs everywhere and it must be drilled into everyone's head because you rarely see any trash on the ground....sometimes it feels too clean in that you are walking around a big Disneyland. Ok...so what did I do here...

The night I got in I spent some time catching up with my friend Tina and then ended up heading out on the town to New Asia Bar at the Swissotel. Really nice place on the 70th floor with panoramic views of the entire city....but all that comes at a price of $12USD beers. Met some local people who took me to an afterparty at The Living Room inside the Marriott (seems like a large part of the nightlife here is in hotels) and it ended up being a pretty late night getting back to the hostel at 4am and spent wayy too much money.

Next day was pretty much a waste since I was soo tired. Spent a little bit of time wandering around Disneyland marveling at how clean this place is. My brother flew in that evening and we went out with Tina to a co-workers farewell party as they were headed back to Brazil on Sunday...good times and got a chance to talk to a lot of expats and get their thoughts about living here....oh yeah, the apartment was unbelievable too and I guess when your company is paying for it why wouldn't you go all out. On Saturday, we got up and had a full day of sight-seeing...starting with the Singapore Flyer a massive wheel that gives you amazing views of the entire city (very similar to the London Eye). Followed that by a visit to Sentosa island, a man-made island which is really a paradise....very family oriented, but lots of beaches and attractions to keep you there and spend your money! We didn't cave in other than the sky-chair ride and a luge down to the bottom which was actually pretty fun. Wandered around for a while taking it in and I guess the best way to describe this place is that its just tooo perfect...doesn't seem real! Taking off for Jakarta in the morning so made it a quiet night after a long day in some solid heat....

Next stop...Indonesia!

Day 183 -- Singapore

So I'm finally all caught up. Today was pretty uneventful, but here is the run-down.

Jumped in a cab to the airport with Ben, an American guy who lived in Charlotte recently. Ben was around for Songkran in Bangkok and then I ran into him and his French Canadian friend in Koh Chang as well....seems like everyone is headed in the same direction. He was headed to Shangai while I was en route to Singapore. I had 4 packs of gum hidden pretty well in my bag so hopefully I don't get caught! Spent time wandering around the airport trying to spend the last of my Thai baht....ended up getting more food!

Got into Singapore, they didn't find the gum and jumped on the train towards Tina's apt. Tina is a family friend from NYC who lives in Singapore so it will be cool to have a local host. Singapore is an amazing city, a lot like Kuala Lumpur but a million times cleaner. Signs everywhere about no littering, no jaywalking or anything else that isn't in "order"....seems like this place might be a little to clean for me, but we'll see when we get out at night.

For those that don't know...I'm meeting up with my brother in Singapore tomorrow. He flew over from the States and we'll spend about 3 weeks traveling across Indonesia starting in Jakarta! Should be good to see a familiar face after a while...

Days 177-182 -- Koh Chang

Haha...6 days lounging on the beach...let's try and give the highlights.

So after a long in Bangkok dodging ping pong balls we jumped on the bus/ferry to Koh Chang. About 5 hours on the bus (air-con not working) and then a hour ferry ride and we arrived. All of us (me, Mike, Derek) were exhausted from last night so we jumped into the first bungalow we found that could sleep the three of us. It ended up being right across from Ting Tong bar which would be our home for the next few days....got some food and sat out on the deck overlooking the water before going back for a nap.

The first night was relatively quiet since we were all soo tired. Ting Tong, however wasn't so quiet...the only bar open 24 hours on Koh Chang and we decided to stay in the closest bungalow to it...so too noisy to sleep. Up early, we moved down the road a little bit to Sunset Huts where Mike and Derek got an air-con bungalow and I moved a little further down to a single bungalow with fan. In 5 nights in Koh Chang I spent the night at 5 different places, bouncing from beach to room to bungalow to who knows where....at least I got a chance to explore the place.

Koh Chang is probably my favorite beach soo far. The water is clear and at Lonely Beach you really dont see that many people....maybe thats why its called Lonely Beach. Compared to Samui, Langkawi or even Koh Phangan its very underdeveloped and it seems to really be only visited by travelers. In my 5 days here I ran into very few Thai people that were not local to the island and more importantly about 250+ Scandanavians....Scandanavians seem to have invaded Thailand's beaches thats for sure. Every night in Koh Chang there is a party and it moves depending on which night it was. Checked out a few good ones at Treehouse, Nature and Magic Garden and uploaded some pics of a cool fire show we saw. The sunsets here are incredible and after spending all day on the beach you feel like you can't leave until you've seen the sunset. Food was incredible (I wonder why?!?) and i feel like I gained a few kilos...good, I needed it!

So anyways, everyday was spent lounging on the beach all day eating food every few hours and then the nights were spent at the nightly party spot. The entire island comes together at about midnight and the party lasts until sunrise usually....a few days where I saw both sunrise and sunset but wish I had my camera!

It was back to Bangkok on the 22nd for my flight to Singapore on the 23rd. My ATM card finally arrived from the States so we can go back to traveling normally....

Day 176 -- Bangkok

So after a few reminders I realized how slack I've been at keeping this updated lately so I'll do my best to keep them coming regularly again....

So on our last night in Bangkok, Mike, Cameron (New Zealand) and Derek went out to Patpong. Not sure if I introduced Derek, but he arrived into Bangkok on the 15th at the height of the protests after much convincing from Mike and I. We met Derek on our overland trip through Africa and after a quick stop @ home for some family reasons...he's back on the road.

Anyways, Patpong is one of Bangkok's night markets surrounded by strip clubs/sex shows. Fascinating place since if you think of a square, the outside walls are all clubs/shows while the inside is street stalls selling everything from purses to jeans to shoes with families wandering around. These guys had never been to the infamous ping pong show so we went....Without being too graphic....we saw ping pong balls flying, darts popping balloons, bottles being opened, 10m ribbons being pulled out....you get the point. Pretty crazy stuff and makes you wonder why or how someone could figure out they could do that. Good night and a great way to close out our SE Asia adventure in Bangkok....Tomorrow will be fun - 7AM bus to Koh Chang!

Days 173-176 -- Bangkok (Songrkan)

So these days were pretty much all the same since the entire country of Thailand was celebrating Songkran...We would wake up in and by about noon the streets were packed with Thai's and toursits with their water guns and buckets of clay. Long story short, 3 days of getting soaking wet and clay all over your face! Good times!! The water shooting doesn't stop but we retired most nights by about 9pm....check out the pictures and you can see the madness.
On Tuesday night, I went out to meet a friend Sid who is local to Bangkok. My friend Cam who I met in Kuala Lumpur came along and little did we know what we were in store for. Had to go through a few police checkpoints and once they saw us (foreigners) in the back we were waved through...I guess they were checking all the Thais b/c of all the recent protests. Anyways, we hit a lounge called Koi and after moved over to RCA...Royal City Avenue, a street with lots of nightlife frequented by the locals. Never seen so many people at one place all with their water guns. About 20 clubs at RCA and everyone was packed and the party had moved onto the road out front. We picked one which ended up turning out to be a foam party! Clothes got ruined, but ran into a handful of people from our guesthouse who were also there. We made it back to Khao San Road at about 2am and were convinced by a tuk-tuk driver to go to Spicy club, an after-hours club. We went and he made a stop at a girlie bar first...not sure why...before taking us to Spicy. I guess he wanted to see if we'd be interested in some working girls....not our scene. Stayed at Spicy until about 6am and then Willam, a local Thai guy we met originally from France offered to take us to a nearby afterparty. We went and on the 3rd floor of this apt. complex was basically a rave. We finally left at 8am and stumbled into McDonald's for breakfast before calling it a night...crazy times, but glad I got to see a different side of Bangkok....

Day 172 -- Koh Phangan to Bangkok

So today was another day I've been looking forward to for a while....not so much the logistics of it though. Had to leave the bungalow at 6am to catch the 7am ferry to Surat Thani....that was the only time we could take since we had a flight at 1:30pm from Surat Thani. Anyways, we made our flight and got into Bangkok around 2:30pm...as many of you may have seen on the news, lots of political protests going on in Bangkok right now....but it usually doesn't affect the tourists and in my first day here I didn't really know it was happening.

The Airport Express bus dropped us off just off the infamous Khao San Road and we made our trek towards the guesthouse. If I hadn't mentioned it before, this weekend is New Years' aka Songkran. Songkran is celebrated in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand and they celebrate by hitting the streets with lots of water and clay and drenching everything and everyone in sight in celebration of the upcoming rainy season. So we started making our way to our guesthouse and were soaked as soon as we hit the top of the road. By the time we checked in we and our bags were wet so we quickly ran upstairs to get some boardshorts on. Back to the street, I picked up a super soaker and met up with the Australians from Full Moon and the war began. We wandered around the neighborhood in a water fight with what seemed like all of Thailand and tons of backpackers....never done anything like this in my life, but it was sooo much fun! Reminded me a lot of Holi, the Indian Festival in April...but Thailand's version. Spent all afternoon on the streets with the guns, shooting people as they walked by....getting shot at from every direction! Ran into lots of people we've met across our travels through SE Asia...funny how everything comes full circle near the end. Just took a shower and got clean and dry from all the clay/water, but now its time to see the nightlife....I don't think I'm going to make it back home dry tonight....its a warzone out there!

Days 170-171 -- Koh Phangan

So these days are kind of a blur...but I remember they couldn't have been any better. Woke up at about 11am and felt pretty good actually considering I went to sleep at 6:30am....The weather couldn't have been any nicer....not a cloud in the sky and the sun just beaming down on the water. If I thought the water was clear the past few days...today it really showed. Had some breakfast at the guesthouse and then spent the majority of the afternoon on the beach soaking in the sun. Took it relatively easy that night and just hung out around the bungalows with the Australians and watched Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia that someone had picked up from the markets....no more Friends episodes!


Next day was a lot of the same....just enjoyed being so close to the beach and the nice weather. Had planned to go across the island to another beach we had heard about, but were feeling a little lazy so it never materialized. That night we went into town for some Mexican food we heard good things about and it helped with the long-standing craving I've been having. No rice, but beans and salsa along with chicken fajitas which were really tasty. Hung around Haad Rin for a while for some shopping and then back to Coral Bungalows for the pool party to see if they had my wallet...no luck so we headed back home since it would be an early start tomorrow.

Day 169 -- Koh Phangan (Full Moon Party)

So for all the hype I've been giving this day...it couldn't have turned out any other way! Woke up at about 10am with a good headache....first thing I remembered is that I lost my wallet, but since the card was deactivated nothing big to worry about. Made it down to the lounge area of the bungalows for breakfast and the rain began. Ended up watching about 6 episodes of Friends, had some food and the rain finally slowed down enough to let me run back to the bungalow. Within minutes it was back so forced to stay inside...I took a nap all afternoon and woke up at about 7pm. This rainy season sure has started early...anyways, when I got up, there was no power in the bungalow or anywhere on the property so I went back to the lounge area to find that most of the guests/residents were there using candles. Kitchen was still open since, so got some food and met up with a group of Australians who were also headed to the Full Moon Party. Had planned to be in Haad Rin, base of the party by 9pm to meet up with Pieter and others, but since the power was out across all of Koh Phangan we decided to take it slow. By about 10pm, the power was back on, but too late for me since I had already taken a shower in the dark...very fun! We all jumped in the back of a taxi and headed into the party....paid the 100 baht entrance and hit the beach. First stop was to pick up a Bacardi bucket with red bull and coke and see who we can find. Surprisingly I saw everyone I wanted to within the first 10 minutes but it wouldn't be that easy the rest of the night.

So the party....the rain came down sporadically throughout the entire night but the crowd made the most of it! I would estimate about 7,000-8,000 people and it was for sure the biggest beach party I've ever been to. Bars set up all along the beach and everyone one had a different genre of music so you had something to appeal to everyone. I got separated from Mike and the Australians shortly after we arrived and never ran into them again. Spent the majority of the night on a solo wandering mission, but it was really fun nonetheless. Hung out with some Canadians, Swedish, Australians, British and a few Americans but the details are all a bit hazy. Lots of buckets, Singha beers, dancing meant good fun until about sunrise when I finally jumped in a cab back to Ban Tai. Overall the party was a great time, but I do wish the weather would have been just a little better! Next time I think I'll check out one of these Black Moon or Half Moon parties...Half Moon is in the jungle - might be interesting!

Day 168 -- Koh Phangan

Woke up and hit the beach first thing for a swim....really cool staying this close to the water and at 400 baht a night its a pretty good deal. Hung around the beach here for most of the day...my buddy Pieter from Belgium moved to this guesthouse since he was staying on the opposite side of the island about an hour away. After too much time under the sun....we had some lunch and then went into town to meet up with some other people who were on the ferry boat over. Ended up having a long night in Haad Rin, checking out the nightlife and ended at a pool party at Coral Bungalows...long story short...had a really good time, it rained a lot but that didn't prevent us from going swimming and at the end of the night when I got home....I had lost my wallet! About 1,000 baht, but more importantly, my ATM card...dealt with that at about 2AM (probably not the best idea)...but it all got straightened out and I should have a new card in the next few days. Counting down until Full Moon!

Day 167 -- Koh Samui to Koh Phangan

Woke up at about 10AM feeling extremely refreshed...best night sleep I've had in a long time! It was raining outside so turned on the TV and read the newspaper they slid under the door....Called the front desk and used the Platinum status to get a 4pm checkout since our boat left at 5pm. Spent most of the day around the resort, relaxing at the pool, walking along the beach and soaking in the last bits of air-con and hot water before we had to check out. Headed to the ferry pier and the boat coming from Surat Thani was delayed by two hours...killed the time delay by sitting at a nearby internet cafe and getting some fried rice off the street. Jumped on the boat and it was packed....all people headed to Koh Phangan for Full Moon. Got into Koh Phangan and it was pouring down rain so quickly jumped in the back of a truck to get to our bungalow. Checked into our bungalow...right on the beach...15 meters from the water. Hammock on the front porch makes it easy to spend hours just enjoying the ocean! Rained most of the night so we hung out in the common area watching dvd's and stuffing our faces in with some food. A few groups of cool people staying here as well all gearing up for the upcoming party...

Day 166 -- Surat Thani to Koh Samui

The day had finally arrived! Been looking forward to today for a while since I had booked the Renaissance Koh Samui Resort and Spa for a night using points before we headed to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party! On the boat at 8AM and we didnt leave until 10AM since we were waiting on the night bus from Bangkok which had broke down. Boat was well overcrowded, but a great time, since everyone was headed to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon. Ran into Pieter, Belgian guy I hung out with in Vietnam randomly on the boat....we had planned to meet in Koh Phangan. Anyways, first stop was Koh Samui and we got off, got our bags and had an adventure finding our hotel. None of the tuk-tuk drivers had any idea where we were staying at kept confusing Renaissance with Sunset...not sure how! I wasn't surprised since we were definitely the only backpackers who would ever go to a place like that. We finally ended up taking a taxi which set us back 400 baht....bungalows in the backpacker strip cost 400 baht for the night and we had to pay this on transport! Got checked in and the faces on the reception staff were priceless when they saw us with our big bags not needing any help from the attendants. Got settled into our room.....unbelievable. 2 big beds, flat screen tv, huge shower, patio overlooking the pool. Moved down to the pool overlooking the ocean, hung out on the beach...a true day in paradise. Food was ridiculously priced at the resort, but we had to suck it up since we were soo far away from town and just getting there would be a mission. Found a restaurant next door that was a little cheaper so we picked up some food and enjoyed the air-con in our room and watched Pulp Fiction which was on HBO. Great day...but as nice as it was it has to come to an end soon and cold showers in Koh Phangan are waiting for us...

Day 165 -- Koh Phi Phi to Surat Thani

Woke up at 10:30AM to the alarm clock ringing....check out at 11am and our boat to Krabi was taking off at 3pm. Got my stuff packed in a scramble and then hit the beach. Ran into a girl from our hostel in Phuket along with her friend so spent a few hours hanging out with them. Sun was blazing down and I think I may have actually got a little burned :( Anyways, Mike was done with his open water course and we got some food before heading to the pier for our boat. Ferry ride to Krabi was pretty smooth other than the downpour as we pulled into the Krabi pier...I'm telling you this rainy season is noo fun! Jumped on a bus towards Surat Thani where we were kindly informed that the lady who sold us our tickets neglected to mention that the night boat we paid for to go to Koh Samui doesn't run on Sundays so we'd be forced to stay the night in Surat Thani! We arrived into Surat Thani at about 8pm and the bus company dropped us off at a nearby hotel and said they'd pick us up @ 6AM. Luckily we had got some food because after we checked in we went wandering around the town and found nothing! Surat Thani is a tinny town, but nobody ever stays here since its the jump-off point for the islands of Koh Tao, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. Found a 7-11, got some snacks and then watched a movie in the room before falling asleep...

Day 164 -- Koh Phi Phi

Got to the dive shop at 7AM for what would be the beginning of a big day. We were on the boat by 8am and it was a small group, my instructor Eurico (South African!) and Patrick from Australia, another open water diver. We went to the first dive site, the Liberty wreck. A captain deliberately crashed his cargo boat against a reef for an insurance claim in the mid 90's....but fortunately its turned into a nice dive site. My first deep dive and we got down to 30meters...unbelievable how quickly you go through your air at those depths so the entire dive was only 35 minutes. Spent most of the time exploring the wreck and saw some really cool fish and coral developing on the boat. Visiblity wasn't the best so we skipped the next dive at nearby Shark Point to move to the Marine Park where Eurico knew it would be better. Second dive, I did underwater photography so it was a lot slower paced...ended up staying under 55 minutes and got some really cool pictures out of the whole thing. Saw this color changing octopus and hovered around him for a while just watching him hang out on the sea floor. The last dive was around Maya Bay, where they filmed the infamous traveler movie, The Beach. It started raining once we got in the water so visibility turned bad quick, but a good dive nonethelss. Saw some really nice coral reefs and a ton of fish....still haven't really learned the names of these things!

Back into town, I was pretty tired after three dives so took a nap. Done with diving it was time to explore Phi Phi nightlife. The dive shop was celebrating a divemaster certification and a new trainee from Louisiana so we headed there for some jumbalaya and see the festivities. A big group moved to a nearby bar for the new divemaster's snorkel test....a funnel attached to a snorkel with a mask that was blacked out with tape....They filled the funnel with 3 shots of vodka, a half liter of sprite and then 2 more shots of vodka and this girl had to put it down without taking a breath! She pulled it off (don't think I could have!) and that set the tone for a fun night out....long story short, hit 3 bars and ended up at Ibiza, a beach bar, looked at my watch which read 4:45AM so it was time to get home....

Day 163 -- Koh Phi Phi

I got up at about 10AM and the room was steaming. Got changed and hit the beach...water was the perfect temperature and crystal clear. You could walk out at least 100 meters before it got deep so as far as you could see people were wading in the water, or just sitting around lounging. Very clear day today with lots of heat so every 15 minutes of sun time you found yourself getting in to rid yourself of all the sweat. Did some of the required diving reading for tonight's night diving and then it was time for lunch...Started raining after lunch so hung out indoors in the room to avoid getting soaked. Stopped raining at about 5pm and the sun was starting to set so just got prepared for the night dive. Talking to everyone it seems like its raining earlier in the season since mid-April is Songkran festival is the Thai new year/water festival where they get everyone wet in preparation for the upcoming rainy season. Got a quick bite to eat and then headed to Barakuda dive shop...We set sail at about 7pm and were at the dive site within 15 minutes. It was really crazy being on the boat at night, let alone jumping in the water. The night dive was amazing!! Once we got underwater we got down to about 16meters where we stuck around for a while. All you can see is what you shine your light on so it gives you a totally different perspective...you can be swimming along and then all of a sudden a reef is right in front of your face. Anyways, we saw some giant morays, some shrimp, crab, lobster, a huge barracude among a handful of other things I don't know the names of. I'll admit, the first 15-20 minutes I was pretty freaked out since you couldn't see much, but once I got settled down it was really fun...definitely wont be my last night dive.

Back to the island, I got some Pad Thai off the street and went to a nearby bar to meet my dive instructor. Talked to a Swedish girl who had recently moved to Koh Phi Phi who told me that there is some rock climbing on the island and thats what brought her here. Wages are small, but lives are stress free and its basically a vacation the whole time you're here....no wonder sooo many people love this place! Called it an early night since I had three dives in the morning!

Day 162 -- Phuket to Koh Phi Phi

Had to be up at 6:30 since we got picked up by the minibus at 7AM. An hour drive to the pier and we jumped on the massive boat towards Koh Phi Phi. Crashed most of the 1.5 hour journey to the Phi Phi pier and when we got off we walked a little ways to the Pier Guesthouse which a friend had recommended. Scored a fan room with shared bathroom for 600 baht (35 baht = 1USD) just about 50 meters from the beach....not a bad deal! Mike signed up for a discovery dive since he was contemplating get his certification and then we got some lunch. When he took off for his dive I hit the beach...only got about 7 minutes of beach time b/c at the flip of a switch the weather changed, heavy winds and then pouring down rain. Made it back to the guesthouse just before it got crazy and ended up sitting with the Thai guys who ran the place reading my book, Chosen Prey. Got to the good part and it was raining so spent a few hours reading...really cool guys who gave me some food and I got to understand what growing up on the island was like. They talked about the tsunami and the way it changed their lives...hard to imagine going through something like that. Anyways, that night we hit a place they recommended for dinner which had massive portions...made the mistake of ordering a dish each and we sat for at least an hour trying to finish the beef w/ chili and fried noodles w/pork. Came close, but not close enough. Some American girls sat at our table and guess what....they were headed to Koh Phangan to for the Full Moon. After dinner we stopped by the Dive Shop where Mike caved and signed up for his Open Water course and they got me for 3 dives over the next couple of days. Doing a night dive, a wreck dive and an underwater photography dive all of which count towards my advanced certification. Looking forward to it! After spending money we really didn't need to spend, it was back to the room since it would be an early start tomorrow.

Day 161 -- Phuket

Woke up and it was raining so decided to sleep a little more. Mike had a late night as well so when I got up I hit the internet to take care of some reservations and then got a haircut. Time for lunch we hit the #6 restaurant for some local Thai food. Rain didn't seem to let up so it killed our beach plans for the day so most of the day was spent inside the mall wandering around in the air-con escaping the heat. That night we had a full dorm room (8 people) and ironically everyone was making the trek north towards the Full Moon Party on the 9th...seems like everyone we meet is doing the same thing. A Canadian girl took us to a local seafood place where I killed a massive lobster...it was pricey, but nowhere near what it would cost at home. Food was amazing and that night we took one last stroll down Bangla road to say bye to all the ladyboy's and then bought Pineapple Express and watched it in the hostel common room. Funny movie! Good times in Phuket...but looking forward to Phi Phi in the morning!!!