Around the World

I had a great time down in Southern Thailand. It was mostly sunny and I stayed on Karon Beach which is a beautiful long beach with squishy white sand and not too many people. I was there for the beach volleyball world tour and watched the Thai girls lose to Germany and then watched the former American Olympic team Misty May and Kerri Walsh win their match. I sat with Misty's husband Matt who is a professional baseball player and chatted about traveling and stuff. He was really nice. Then I went out to Ko Phi Phi Island, where they filmed the movie The Beach. It was damaged badly by the tsunami, but has been rebuilt and is full of tourists, dive shops, restaurants etc. I dove one day in the marine park nearby and saw some cool fish and a leopard shark. Another day I went rock climbing on the rocks above the beach. It was hard, but fun. I met a nice girl named Antoinette who lives in Phuket and a young Canadian guy and hung out with them a lot. There was a beach music festival two of the nights to raise money to plant palm trees with live music. The owner of the bar lost his wife, sister and 2 daughters in the tsunami, but has rebuilt and tried to go on with his life. I met a ton of alternative Thai people with dreadlocks and stuff. It was interesting to talk to them. The last day I enjoyed a quiet beach day to get ready for the big city.