Happy New Years

Where to start. I have been having a great time in Chiang Mai. I spent some days going from one vegetarian restaurant to the next, making new friends by introducing them to new restaurants. Then, at one restaurant I met made spontaneous plans to go North to Chiang Dao with a Brittish girl named Sam. We met a guy from Seattle, Tom and the three of us headed up to the small and scenic Chiang Dao where we scootered around to hotsprings and caves, markets and temples. It was a beautiful place and my company was excellent. We are now back in Chiang Mai and celebrated new years by sneaking onto the roof of a 15 story hotel and watching fireworks and Thai lanterns from there. Sam and I also used the hotels swimming pool. We went to a temple for the countdown and enjoyed an impressive little fireworks show there. Finally I met up with Mckenzie, a friend from college who I ran into at a market yesterday morning. I got a little dancing done to round out a wonderful new years celebration. Love to hear from everyone and if I don't I wish you a happy new year. Lots of love

pills

I am in Chiang Mai still and will stay for 2 weeks. I met up with Brigitte and Felice, who arrived the same day that I did. Yesterday I did a visa run, which involves going to the Myanmar border and getting your passport stamped. Now I have 2 more weeks to go in Thailand. I went to the hospital the day before that to check up on multiple scrapes and cuts I accumulated down on the islands that never healed. Since they were still infected after 3 weeks the doctor gave me a light antibiotic treatment. It is doing it's job and the wounds are finally healing up nicely. For those who know me something monumental has happened. I am swallowing the antibiotic pills whole. I don't know how I managed with the first one, but now I've taken about 10 and swallowed them all no problem, which makes me very proud. I have a scooter rented, $35 for two weeks; it just makes it really easy to get around town or to the nearby hills. I don't really know what xmas holds in store here, but i'll find out soon. To all you back in Xmas countries, merry christmas, I love you all.

Chiang Mai

I spent my time in Bangkok as a day person, which means that I missed out on what the city is famous for, it's nightlife. Oh well. I met up with Duck-Whan, an Ecole alum. He was a really great host. I also went to the famous Chatuchak weekend market, which was as big and crazy as expected. I am now up in Chiang Mai, and have already put in a very full day. I got in at 6 am and checked into a hostel, then rented a bicycle and rode around town a bit. I headed up towards the famous Temple on Doi Sutep hill. It was a little more of a ride than I was expecting. I thought it was 12 km to the temple, but it was 12 km to the border of the national park and a very windy uphill road continued for about 20 km to the temple. It was a beautiful temple and the ride down made it all worth it. Now I'm finally getting around to putting some more pictures online. Check out the whole album here. I'm putting a few on the blog too.
Well, that's the update. I would love it if you could comment if you read the blog, so I know that people are actually reading it and so I get an idea of what I should share more.
love to all,
-Rowan

BKK again

I'm back in Bangkok.
Right after finishing my last post, I met a guy from Cameroun. He was also taking the bus up to Bkk and had been at some teaching conference in Krabi. I talked to him a bit and next thing he offered me a place to stay in Bkk, so now I'm staying with him. It's nice to be in a completely non tourist part of the city. I think I have seen 2 other white people in this neighborhood in the last 2 days. The food here is also insanely cheap, especially when coming from the tourist places. I got soup and right for less than a dollar. I spent today wandering through endless stalls selling clothes or offering custom tailoring. Later I went to Wat Pho, which has several temples and shrines. I saw more golden buddhas there than I've seen in my entire life, including a 40 meter, 15 meter tall reclining buddha. After I got back to Kingsly's (my new bud) appartment, I went and played soccer with Kingsley, which was a fun way to interact with Thais without feeling like they want my money.
love to all and happy holidays.

heading North

Hi everyone,
I'm in Krabi right now waiting for my bus to leave. I spent the last 4 nights on Koh Lanta, which was a much much quieter island than any of the others I've been to so far. I got sick my first night there and spent the next day sleeping all day. The crew I met was set on going to this concert the next night featuring Job 2 Do, a Thai Reggae band of considerable popularity in Thailand. I was still not feeling 100%, but I went and had a good time. Apparently I went to bed just on time because about an hour after I left someone was shot on the street outside the venue. One of the Australians I met on the boat saw the whole thing, but was too drunk to comprehend the severity of the situation at the time. During my days on Lanta I cruised the island on a rented scooter, which was super fun and a great way to see the island. All in all I didn't really get into Lanta though. I can recommend it to people who aren't looking for a scene, but just want a beautiful beach to hang out on with their beloved or family. I will head back up to Bangkok for a bit and then up to Chiang Mai to check that out.

bye bye Morgan and Alex

Ko Phi Phi (pronounced pipi) is the tourist destination of this area. Big limestone cliffs soar out of turquoise water and the beach is never empty. The scene is party by night and hang on the beach by day. I enjoyed it for a few nights, but wouldn't be able to handle it for too long. Some people stay there for a long time just partying forever. Morgan and Alex went back to Bangkok yesterday to start their long journey home. I will miss them, they were very easy to travel with and took good care of me, getting me on my feet. Now I am ready to face the rest of my journey on my own. I came to Ko Lanta today and met 3 Australian girls and a german girl on the boat. The island is very quiet, especially compared to the bustle of Phi Phi. We finally managed to find a place to stay, so I am sharing a rusting bamboo bungalow on the beach with my new German friend. I think I will rent a scooter tomorrow and check out the island a bit, it's pretty big compared to the other islands I've been on.

deep water soloing

I have heard so much about deep water soloing, and this is a premier place to do it, so I payed up and got on a trip. We took a longtail boat to a nearby island and then canoed up to the cliff. There are rope ladders to help you get onto the rock, and then you start climbing. I loved it, but it was scary too. The highest I got was about 15 meters and I had a hard time jumping down from there. It was great value too, it cost about 23 dollars for the day and that included the ride out there and a delicious chicken fried rice lunch followed by some snorkelling. The day ended with a ride back on rough waters for added fun.
I also have some pictures from my trip so far:
Alex chilling on Ko Tao island, enjoying the few minutes of sun we got there.a sandcastle I built on the beach on Ko TaoSunset on Phra Nang beach at Railay. This is the most beautiful beach i have ever been too...so far.

Railay

A miserable travel day to get here, but it was worth it. We took an overnight ferry back to the mainland, taking 8 hours on the same stretch that we covered in 1 and a half hours on a high speed catamaran on the way out to the island. We met a bus and it took 5 hours to get to Krabi. Along the way Morgan realizes that her wallet is missing, oops. When we get to Krabi we have to take a 40 minute longtail boat to Railay beach, but we don't want to do the ride in pouring rain, so we have to sit at the harbour for a few hours. Now we are here and it is unbelievable. There are beautiful beaches and these amazing limestone towers topped by jungle. There is tons of climbing here. So far I've just done a little bouldering, but tomorrow I'll rent a kayak and look into the deep water soloing scene. We are still waiting for the sun to show up, but today it hasn't really rained much. Soon we will head out the Phi Phi (pipi) island, where the movie "the beach" was filmed.