Koh Phangan - 'Haad Rin'

After a bumpy boat ride from Bottle Beach (Walter was white-knuckling it all the way there) we arrived on the beach that started off our trip in May; Haad Rin. Although the weather was pretty crappy while there, we made the most of the nights. Jess and Gabe still had three days until they joined us, so until then we partied on the beach sharing vodka and soda buckets and dancing all night on the white sand beaches.






So as you can see Jess (and Gabe) arrived safetly from the Phillippenes, although Gabe was pretty sick from some fungus or something and wasn't quite up to par since the beginning of his trip to the Phillippenes. Poor Gabe.

Here we are at the half moon party that took place in the jungle! Not quite as crazy as the full moon party, but fun nontheless. As most of you know Jess is not much of a drinker so it didn't take much for her to get all glossy-eyed and had to take a little break for a bit, but she was back in action in no time.

Just a few days after Gabe and Jess met up with us on the island, Cindy was soon to follow. We actually met up with her walking along the main strip in her bikini top and backpack! Seasoned traveller I guess. It was really awesome to be hanging out with Cindy in THAILAND!!! Surreal. She got a guest house right near ours and we grabbed some beers from the convienient store and quickly caught up on the past 3 months. That night we had a "date" with a couple from Toronto that we met earlier that morning and had some drinks with them at our guest house before heading down to the beach. She's a lawyer and he's in the process of getting his PHD. Unfortunately Cindy was still jetlaged and stayed behind to get some rest while the rest of us hit the buckets.

Koh Phangan - 'Bottle Beach'

It was once again time to go back to the beach. We choose to go back to the island where we first started our trip on, Koh Phangan. This time however, Walter and I wanted to check out another beach that wasn't as busy with stores and tourists while we waited for Gabe and Jess to get back from the Phillippenes. We took a 12 hour bus ride from Bangkok, waited another 2 1/2 hours at another location, then took a 3 hour ferry until we finally arrived on Bottle Beach. Much more quiet than any beach or island we've been to, Bottle beach was extremely relaxing and was free of people asking us to buy things and take taxis. We also scored a really cute hut just steps away from the beach for only $9 a night! A really nice change of pace for our last few weeks of vacation.


Every beach and city in Thailand has their own type of dog roaming and lounging around. We'd find them sleeping in the middle of the roads or under our tables while we're eating. Here on Bottle Beach these were the kind of dogs that were running around, little furballs! Totally cute. This one here looks like he's actually posing for the picture when really he was watching the volleyball game going on on the beach and I interrupted him! Well after time well spent on this beach it was time to pack up and get ready for the main party beach where we would soon meet up with Gabe, Jess and eventually Cindy too!

Kanchanaburi

After Auytthaya we wanted to see what other history Thailand had for us to discover so we went to Kanchanaburi. About three hours from Bangkok, the main tourist attraction here is the "Death Bridge" built by the prisioners of war during World War 2. Thousands of prisioners; Dutch, British, Austrailian, Americans and even some Asians were forced to build a bridge that connected Thailand to Burma under the Japanese command. Due to the inhumane conditions under which these prisioners had to work; from sunrise to sunset, malnourished, wounded and deathly ill thousands died while building this bridge through the jungle and mountains. This took just over a year to build when in reality it should have taken several years. The reason for the Japanese to have the bridge built was so that they could have a way into Burma in hopes of overtaking their country so they had no mercy on the prisioners and used whatever means necessary to get the job done, they stopped at nothing. This bridge is in use today.

We also went to visit the cemetary where those who died are buried. Although the American soldiers that died were sent back to their own country as their final resting place, all the other soldiers lye in peace here in Kanchanaburi. Rows upon rows of tomb stones list those who died so that others could live and many only in their twenties. It's too bad that so many lives are taken because of greed and hate and the cycle still continues today.