I’ve been living the island life for the past few weeks. Arrived to Koh Tao after returning to Thailand from the short visit to Cambodia. Spent nine days getting certified as an advanced open-water diver. It was a great change of pace to be able to lounge around a sandy beach and slow things down for a while. After Koh Tao, Donavan, Chris and I headed over to Koh Pha Ngan for a few nights to enjoy one of Southeast Asia’s greatest traditions: the full moon party. Haad Rin beach was jammed full of party-goers last Sunday night, pouring in from nearby islands and the mainland. Lots of music, dancing and general debauchery well into the early morning.

I took two long travel days to get out of Thailand and to meet back up with my friend Nicole. We are now on Pulau Tioman (fun fact: Tioman is where “South Pacific” was filmed), a small island in the South China Sea off the Eastern coast of Malaysia. We are staying in a town known locally as “ABC” which can best be described as a mixture of Finland, MN and Gilligan’s Island. It’s a beautiful location — awesome diving, sandy beaches, warm water, lovely sunsets, etc. — but has a very charming, homey atmosphere to go along with it. The locals here are extremely nice and caring, often going out of their way to cook us food (it’s currently Ramadan — Muslims fast from sun up to sun down every day during September — so most restaurants are closed during the day). It’s been another great chance to slow life down and take some time to really relax. I’ve been reading in a hammock the past two days after returning from my days diving.

Another fun caveat: a hurricane knocked out the internet satellite in ABC two months ago. I had to rent a bike and ride to the next town over to make this post… I hope it was worth it.

I’ve been loving life and having a blast on the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. I’ll get more posted soonish… I promise. The beach calls!

Three days in a third-world country can really make you happy to be back in civilization. Never thought I’d be so happy to be back in Bangkok.

Had an adventure getting to Siem Reap, home of the historic Temples of Angkor. My travel partners, Doc, Donavan, Chris and Michelle, and I took a 6-hour train from Bangkok to the Cambodian border at Poi Pot. We were packed in on hard benches with little air movement — thank God for my seat next to the window. After arriving and getting our Cambodian visas, we were greeted at the border by a man who worked for the Cambodian government to help us through immigration. We followed him from the Thai office to the Cambodian one, filled out our forms and got our passports stamped. We boarded a bus and rode a couple minutes to the “taxi station” where we could hire a car to take us the three-hour trip to Siem Reap. Conveniently, there was a money exchange place right there, so we all turned about $100 USD into Cambodian Riel at 3200 Riel per Dollar. Then we boarded our $60 taxis and took off over a road that makes each and every road I’ve ever driven in northern MN seem like a highway. The road was nothing but rolling bumps, hills, potholes, sharp turns and dirt. It turns out the exchange rate is actually 4200 Riel per Dollar. We each got screwed out of $20. And to boot, every single store, stand, hotel, attraction and beggar in all of Cambodia accepts US Dollars straight away.

Day two went quite a bit better. We hired a Tuk-Tuk driver for the day to take us through the temples. The closest word I can use to describe these temples is “astonishing”… and that doesn’t do them justice. They are relics from over 1000 years ago, free and open for exploration… no real rules as to where you can or cannot go or climb. We spent seven hours walking through temples, feeding monkeys, and bargaining with local merchants for t-shirts, bracelets, paintings and many cold bottles of water throughout the day. We caught a breathtaking sunrise at the first temple, Angkor Wat and an overcast sunset at our last. A phenomenal day, considering we were all still a little bit sore about being scammed on our arrival to Cambodia.

We took a bus the next afternoon down to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. We spent a night out on the town mingling with other backpackers — it was great to be back in a real city. Before flying back to Bangkok, we took a seemingly mandatory trip to the famous prison and execution fields of the Khmer Rouge. Nearly a third of Cambodia’s population was killed off in order to establish a society with only two classes — working class and farmers. Anyone with any education or good job was killed so that the leaders of the country could maintain their status and rule without being checked. A bit depressing of a morning, but good to have seen.

Donavan, Chris and I are off to Ko Tao island tonight for SCUBA certification, sun bathing, and general tropical activities. We were all set for a train from Bangkok but found out that due to the current protests here, the southern train line was all canceled today. We were lucky enough to secure overnight bus tickets so we can still make it there by morning. Wish us that our luck will continue!