"Spicy now, good long time!"

Well, we made it out of the US finally!

We flew directly to Tokyo from Seattle for a 3 hour layover, then flew to Bangkok, arrived at the hotel around 1 a.m., fell asleep around 3 a.m., and woke up at 7 a.m., completely wide awake. We had a few hours to walk around by our hotel, bought a few things, and was back at the airport 12 hours after arriving at it the day before!

The entire wedding party (about 25 people?) flew from Bangkok to Koh Samui (1 hr. flight) where all of our luggage was piled on top of a truck with nothing to secure it from falling off. Despite how potholed and bumpy the roads were, nothing fell off en route to the ferry (1 hr. ride), which took us to Koh Pha Ngan. Here we all piled onto the back of pickup trucks which took us out to our bungalows overlooking the ocean (Gulf of Thailand). It was a long day of transport and I still couldn't sleep well due to the jetlag, even with 10mg. of Ambien. However, I was somehow awake enough to get up at 7 a.m. to do yoga for an hour.

The whole wedding party went on a dive/snorkel trip to Koh Tao and Tong Nai Pan; really fascinating underwater scenes straight out of the Nature Channel or something. Lots of coral, reef, brightly colored parrot fish, and sea urchins. I really want to learn how to dive while out here if possible.

I had my first Thai massage ever yesterday, and this tiny woman who gave the massage was really powerful. Just what my body needed after lots of travelling, snorkeling, swimming, and yoga--ouch! The massage therapist could hear me grunting as my body was pulled like taffy as smashed back into alignment, and she laughed and said, "Spicy now, good long time!" If you have never had a Thai massage, I highly reccommend it--very intense; kind of like doing passive yoga as your body is squashed into different positions and pulled on simultaneously. "Thai massage like Thai boxing", she said. "Same thing--hurts!"

Yesterday was Rebecca and Frank's wedding in a small fishing village called Chaloklum in this beautiful bar called Shisha; very laid back and comfortable, right on the beach. (Side note: I tried Mackerel for my first time this week, and I heard there was Barracuda served a few nights ago but I'm not sure if I got any of that). The food last night was amazing, and it was quite the romantic spot to pick for a wedding. Paul's comment to me was, "How are we going to top THIS?" and I know he was joking of course; but just so you all know, don't be surprised if we try and lure all of you out to Antarctica for our wedding, ha-ha!