If you want to go to a beautiful and incredibly inexpensive beach paradise I highly recommend Koh Chang Island! The water is beautiful, the people are amazingly kind and generous and the atmosphere is fun, and relaxing. I stayed in a bamboo bungalow right on the ocean. The Sunsets here were some of the best I've seen with Palm tree silhouettes and beautiful calm water.
I had a very relaxing time and met some new friends from Germany while there. We all went on a snorkeling trip on one day and got to see the beautiful underwater life of the Gulf of Siam. I hope to visit Koh Chang again in the future as I developed a good friendship with the sweet hotel owner and loved the beautiful and relaxing atmosphere.

Labels: Asia, Island, Koh Chang, Ocean, thailand, Travel, World Tour

Home to beautiful caves, waterfalls, and a dark history, Kanachaburi is the location of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, Hell Fire Pass and the Kanachaburi War Cemetery. After a sobering, but informative and awe inspiring visit to the War Cemetery, Bridge over the River Kwai and Hell Fire Pass I was excited to find my pre-aranged lodging for the night turned out to be a very nice floating hotel on the river accessed via motorized Thai Long Tail Boat! It was a really cool hotel and quite a treat.The next day I woke up early to go ride and wash Elephants. Elephants are very awkward animals to ride in my opinion. Not uncomfortable, but I just felt like it would be easy to fall of if you weren't careful and the top of an elephants head is pretty high in the air. It was really fun to ride the elephants and bathing them after the ride was well worth the extra money it had cost. They are amazingly gentle animals and fun to play in the water with. After the Elephant ride I went spelunking in a really cool cave and then to a beautiful water fall to swim a bit before heading back to Bangkok to leave for Koh Chang the next day.

Labels: Asia, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Kanachaburi, thailand, Travel, World Tour

The city of old and new, tradition and transition, poor and rich, historic and modern. Bangkok is an interesting city to say the least. It is a city with many traditions that is merging with the modern world and all the minor and major changes that bring with it. It was amazing to walk down one of the most touristy streets in Bangkok and see a mix of travelers, businessmen, street vendors and beggars/homeless all living and interacting together. I enjoyed seeing the diverse culture and visiting some of the amazingly intricate palaces, temples, monuments and statues although it was sad to see people so devoted and entrenched in a religion that causes many of them to live in fear of bad luck and disfavor with the gods.
I was also saddened to see the prevalence and relative openness of the so called sex trade there. From tourists walking around with different Thai "girlfriends" every day to the Tuk-Tuk drivers always willing to take you to a massage parlor or ping pong show for free, to the "girly" boy that asked me if he/she/it could come to my room with me. I loved how inexpensive everything was and plan to return to southeast Asia again to further explore and enjoy the beautiful people, culture and landscape there.

Labels: Bangkok, thailand, Travel, World Tour