Coming up with a title is more difficult than coming up with an entire blog entry.

Wow I don't know if I remember how to use a keyboard anymore! Sorry about the lackage of updatings. Unfortunately, this blog entry will be picturelesque. When we came back from our trip to the south with our friends, the keyboard on our laptop mysteriously didn't work. Our computer has been having a lot of problems lately, and now we can't even upload pictures onto it. Anyway...

So, where to begin... A couple of our friends from the U.S. came to visit us over here for 10 days. We were able to do and see a lot, and we had nearly perfect weather, which is really unusual for this time of year. We started out in Chiang Mai, seeing the usual sights (elephant camp, old temples, etc.) After a couple days here we went to Chiang Dao. I blogged about it a little while ago, but it's a small town up in the mountains. We stayed in some beautiful bungalows that had an amazing on-site restaurant. It was all western food, but the food was incredible. The restaurant is known throughout Thailand because the owner is an English guy who studied to be a chef in England, and the food is incredible! We had a lot of fun doing some mountain biking through the beautiful mountain rainforest. We even saw a baby tarantula, special huh?

From Chiang Dao we flew to Krabi. We stayed in yet another beautiful bungalow close to the beach on the Tonsai peninsula. It is the low season right now and prices for accomadation are very cheap, so we were able to stay in places we otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. We had a few great days there doing some kayaking and rock climbing in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. And I caught a baby water monitor, which is a lizard that is related to the Komodo Dragon. It can get up to 8 feet long. This one was about a foot and a half long, and super cute.

From there we took a ferry to one of Thailand's most famous (and arguably most beautiful) islands, Ko Phi Phi. We swam in the ocean and enjoyed the surroundings there for a couple of days, but then it was time for our friends to head back home. Ko Phi Phi was completely devastated by the tsunami in 2004, and it's still very evident today. But they're doing a lot of rebuilding, and it's almost back up to 100%. Oh, and we saw another water monitor. It was 4-5 feet long and I was able to take a ton of pictures... Bloody computer...

We were expecting to go to Vietnam from there, but for some reason, every time we tried to book a flight to Vietnam, our card was declined. So annoying! We thought we'd try to book a flight with a travel agent in Bangkok, but as soon as we arrived in Bangkok, Kathy got an email that said that her grandma had had a bad fall and was in the hospital. So with Vietnam not working out and still two and a half weeks off of work, we thought it would be a good time for Kathy to go see everyone in Germany. So she did! Her grandma got a bad concussion from the fall, but was out of the hospital within a few days.

So this is where I'll blog about what I did for 2 weeks while Kathy was in Germany. I'll let Kathy blog about Germany next blog.

Bored yet? This is why it's better to blog often. It's getting pretty long already...

Anyway, I hung out in Chiang Mai for about a week doing absolutely nothing productive. Then a friend of mine, Steve, asked if I'd be interested in going to Laos for a week. So I did! We first went to a border city called Vientiane. Spent a couple days there checking out the city and eating really good Laotian food. It's right on the Mekong river, which is probably comparable to the Mississippi in size. Ha ha I can still remember how to spell Mississippi. Then we went to another city in Laos called Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng reminded me a lot of southern Thailand, big rocks jutting out the ground everywhere. The big thing to do there is the river tubing. You rent a tube, and they drive you way up the river and drop you off. On one side of the river, you float past huge limestone cliffs. It reminded me a lot of the Zion Narrows hike, but the river was much bigger. Anyway, about halfway down the river it started to rain, which was a little unpleasant cause the sun wasn't out and it got a little cold, but it was so amazing to watch. The rocks were surrounded by this mist, and the cliffs would appear and then disappear behind it. It was so beautiful!! I know I've used that word a lot, but if you don't believe me, come over here for yourself (or ask Karen and Teancum).

Kathy got back Saturday night from Germany, the same day I got back from Laos. We're starting our classes back up and we're back to earning our peanut money so we can eat more Thai food.

Sorry this entry is a little sloppy, just whipped it up in a half hour. Next time we'll have pictures for those of you who still won't come visit us in Thailand because you think it's not as beautiful as Kaua'i. :)

Love.