End of the Road

It's time to head back to the States! There's a mixture of both happiness and sadness that comes with the end of a journey like this. We have had such an amazing experience over here, and even though it hasn't been easy, we have truly connected with the cultures and people over here. On the other hand, we are more than excited to get home and spend some time with family, friends and the dogs. Thanks to everyone who followed us throughout SE Asia and kept us company with your comments and encouragement. We look forward to being stateside and catching up with you!

Wrapping it up

We are pretty much wrapping up our little journey and preparing to come back and enter the real world. Yikes. Nothing much to report except that we finally caved into the pirated media world. They seriously have every DVD/CD you can think of no matter how new they are for less than $2. This one guy took us to his back room which stocked thousands of DVDs and we couldn't resist. They have movies that aren't even out yet and most have proven to be of surprisingly high quality. You can get Simpsons all the way through season 15 as well. We spent a week at one of the nicest resorts in the world on Phuket for free. Quite a change from the exposed wire, non flush toilet, and general squalid room we have become accustomed to. Thank you Marriott Rewards points for finally being useful and to the years of reckless spending on my CC that provided those points. The beach was virtually empty for miles because Marriott paid off the government to declare the area a National Marine Park so no one else could build around them. Needless to say, it was incredible. Between our free week in Samui and now Phuket, we have become quite spoiled again. Perfect for our return to the west.

Phuket

So we have left Ko Tao and moved on to the other side of the Thai peninsula. Ko Tao had some great snorkeling, but not much else going on. The little bay we stayed on had a nice reef with all sorts of fish, stingrays, etc. to check out. People staying there also got to see a shark or 2 right off shore, but we were not so lucky. We wanted to go on a snorkeling trip specifically to see sharks, but they weren't running it when we were there. Something about the tide. Kind of disappointed, but I think Jenn is pretty happy that it wasn't an option even though the black tip reef sharks don't attack and they take tourists out there all the time. Would have been fun. Not much else to say. Just been bumming around in the sun and relaxing. Will post some more pics when we get a decent connection.