Well, it has been quite a while since I updated this thing. Partly because I've been moving around so much. I also am sad to report that my memory card in my camera "corrupted" what ever that means, and I cannot access my pictures from the trip thus far. I have another card, so I will start taking pictures and posting them again soon (when I get out of bangkok and see some sites) and hopefully I can save my pictures when i get home...i really hope so. Anyway, besides these little bumps in the road I am still having an amazing time. It is so funny they call it the "land of smiles" because it is so true. you can accomplish pretty much anything here if you just smile when you do it, and poeple always seem to have a genuine grin on their face.
From the islands I headed back up north to bangkok where I had to apply for my vietnam visa. I didn't want to stay and wait for it here, so jumped a three hour bus west to Kanchanaburi which turned out to be a great idea. It was cheap, friendly, and we saw some awesome stuff. What the book calls "one of the worst tourist traps in history" was actually awesome anyway. We went to the tiger temple where monks have taken in orphaned tigers and you can go and actually touch them when they take them out for excercise midday. The pictures where great, really gonna try and save them. It was funny though, there was a cranky little monk there, yelling at everyone who did not follow temple protocol percisely. I thought it was funny.
The Bridge over the River Kwai and many war cemetaries are also in Kanchanaburi, so spent a day just exploring those and walking the bridge (also good photos, just gonna have to trust me). We hired a speed boat and got a cool perspective of the land from the water. There was a fun brother and sister duo that owned a bar in town we ended up befriending, spending most nights playing pool and hanging out with them. They took us to a disco/rock concert one night (we were definitley the only foreigners there) and while we were trying to get a cab home at the end of the night, the lead singers from the band picked us up and tok us back to the guesthouse, they were great! We did karaoke another night which was so fun, they put you in these private rooms with a couch, bathroom and TV and you just go to town, picking whatever songs you want. The thai songs are hard but pretty hilarious. Very fun. Leaving for cambodia tomorrow, pictures will definitley follow. I'm including one of out thai friends and the concert!
