THAILAND

Day 8

• Arrive in Bangkok and meet up with Khun Saksun, Rick's driver. He his very funny and makes some excellent sound effects. Also is quick to point out the baby "chang" or elephant walking down the middle of the street.
• Then dropped our luggage off at Rick's apartment in downtown Bangkok, beautiful views of the city and about 30 stories above ground. pretty cool. After that we met up with Rick's admin who took us out to dinner to a really good Korean restaurant.
• The restaurant was awesome, there was live entertainment with traditional Korean songs and dances by these really cute Korean girls. After dinner we eventually all joined in on karaoke and before we left one of the girls had said i looked like leonardo dicaprio from titanic. haha great compliment.

Day 9

• Free Breakfast! delicious, got to eat waffles!
• Then a day of sightseeing with Khun Saksun as our driver. Fantastic luxury by the way, especially in Bangkok.
• Got to see the golden buddha and then the reclining buddha.
• After that we took a long-tail boat for a 1hr tour of the canals and then off to Wat Arun, which was very large and had a steep staircase to walk up. It kind of resembled Angor Wat in Cambodia.
• Then a very affordable lunch of red curry chicken and a fresh lime juice. Absolutely amazing. and believe it or not, better than Thai Pepper.
• Then off to the grand palace and to see the emerald buddha. Then what do you know, small world, we havnt seen hardly any Americans so far on the trip and the first ones we see happen to be Dan and Collin from Santa Clara. We walked around a bit and shared stories and pictures.
• Then off to get Thai massages at one of about a million Thai massage parlors. It was fantastic! only about 250 bhat for an hour.
• Then met up again with Khun Mind, Rick's admin, and went to Khao Sarn Road, a popular backpackers hangout and shopping area. We stopped in at a local bar and saw a live band playing bob marley and some 90's rock covers, it was awesome.
• Also had the best thai dinner so far, with Tom Yam soup and a chicken and cashew dish and a dish with starfish!

Day 10

• Wake up early and off to floating market with Khun Saksun. we took a small boat around the market and i got some delicious tiny coconut pancakes. only 20 bhat. it was really cool to see this part of bangkok.
  
• Then to Ancient City, a model representation of thailand's history, Kyle and I rented a golf cart and zoomed around the whole area, it was great.
• Then back home for more Thai massages. life is good.
• Then we went to Siam night bazar, a night market similar to the silk market in beijing.
• We had a really good dinner, thai soft shell crab in yellow curry and fresh lime juice. I love the food here.

Day 11

• Rick returns from a business trip in Australia, we chatted with him for a while and then off to the pool in the apartment building.
• Then got some chicken satay for lunch and back once again for more Thai massages.
• Later that night we went to a going away party for a few employees of Ford, the host was hilarious.
  
• Then we had some really good italian food for dinner with Rick
• After that a tour of downtown Bangkok

Day 12

• Last day in Bangkok, had some good chicken curry for lunch.
• Flight to Phuket was great and the view was amazing.
• Caught a cheap van ride to Patong Beach where our hotel was. walked around on the beach that night, it was easily the softest sand ive ever been on.
• Then more massages that night. ahh vacation.

Day 13

• Off to Ko Phi Phi Leh and Don with a guided tour group. Got to see all sides of Ko Phi Phi Leh, including Maya bay, the place where the movie "The Beach" was shot with Leonardo DiCaprio. Aside from the popularity of the place it was absolutely stunning to see it in person.
  
• Then to monkey beach on Phi Phi Don, and got to see monkeys eating watermelon, it was really cool.
• After lunch on that island we were off to Egg Island, a tiny little island with beautiful sand beaches, got to lay out in the sun and went swimming for a while.
  
• Then back to Patong beach for the evening. I officially am addicted to Fresh Lime Juice.
• All in all I am in complete disbelief of where I am in the world. I love traveling.