Since I haven't updated in ages!

Hello to all my Western readers! This is not a true to form blog entry. I am in an internet cafe in Ko Samet (and island about two hours south of Bangkok) paying 2 baht a minute to use internet. For comparison, in my humble home of Nan it costs 10 baht for a hour of internet use, so you can see my need to be brief. I just wanted to let everyone know that Thailand is still amazing and I am still very much loving it.

The beaches are absolutely gorgeous. Clear water (for the most part), excellent snorkelling, mostly clear skies, and gorgeous mountains. It is the definition of a tropical paradise. The hotels are more expensive than some of the guesthouses we've stayed in in CHiang Mai but we haven't had to sleep on any restaurant booths. There are a lot of foreigners here. Mostly Scandanavians and Australians but a few Americans here and there. In Ko Samet, there are also a lot of Thai vacationers since it's so close to Bangkok. There are also a lot of lady-boys. Far more than we have ever seen in Nan. They are feminine, fashionable, and always willing to hand out compliments. It's actually really interesting to see. One of the most disturbing parts of vacation has been seeing hords of very old falang men with beautiful young Thai women. I mean you hear about the sex trade and you know the brothels exists. But seeing them in the pools and beaches with you (and by "them" I mean 55 year old Russians with 22 year old Thais) just makes things a little too real. But I suppose after a while you get used to it.

We get a total of 3 weeks off for vacation and I spent the first week on Ko Chang a less popular island to the south east. I'm spending 4 days on Ko Samet, the island near Bangkok, then a few days in Bangkok. The trip has been extremely relaxing but has made me miss Nan and my students a lot. When I get home I will share photos of the trip and tell you all about my students’ English competition, where we performed the play Snow White and the hilarious parties I had with 5th and 6th grade during the last week of school.