Between the 10th and 14th, we were in what i will deem from now on real thailand.....and hour4x4 ride from Haad Rin (total distance--17Km) and we were out in the middle of no where going through orange dirt roads and getting ourselves to the Panviman resort---which there is a link to off the left of this.  It was beautiful...the infinity pools were specacularly set against a double crescent bay and partially rock (aka boulder) beach.  But after 3 days of rain, the jungle roads turned from fun adventure into downright nuts.  The steep orange roads were laced with apricot colored veins of mud, seeping into crevices in the road, and the 17 kms took an hour and a half to pass. It was an incredible color contrast against the bright green coconut and palm trees of the jungle mountains. Back in the chaos of Chaweng, it seems a different planet.</div> 

The last day there, i stayed in bed all day, enjoying the rain--while jonnie went and rented a motorcycle and rode around for the day.  Somehow the prospect of being sopping wet was only appealing to one of us ;)

Skip forward a couple days, after a flood in chaweng (the water was over knee high on me and stranded us playing backgammon in some random bar for 3 hours) we took off out of the airport, which looks like a little island airport should, "sponsored by toys-r-us"...a build your own hut 'terminal' and get on a little tram to go to the plane sort of dealy.

Back in Bangkok, we spent last night in Phat Pong, its known for two things (and i am leaving all blog commentary about it at that) 1. shopping --night market.  2. the infamous sex shows, where girls perform acts of sheer i don't know what you call it, but unbelievable comes to mind.  We are staying in the area known as "little arabia" so i suppose that helps to ease the adjustment to coming back home.  However, i did get a nasty glare from the lady in her full chador thing in the elevator---i suppose the halter top and jean mini-skirt weren't such good choices in her eyes.  Sigh.

You know, bangkok, and thailand in general, are real see it to believe it places. Never in my wildest dreams would i have believed the hype prior to being here. Whether that is good or bad i think its for the individual to determine....but the trip has been great--seriously too short.</

We are staying in a bungalow 5 feet from the water at high tide. The food costs 2$ for dinner...the shopping even less...and the water is this fabulous green color. NAH-Nah-Nah. Ok, with that out of the way, Bangkok was a blur of little Thai girls clinging to nasty fat 40 year+ old men, Thai massages parlors, and this incredible market---which on no sleep i was just not properly geared up for. However, i am apparently getting this bartering thing down and now get the clear "you pay Thai prices" plastic bags versus the colorful "tourists are idiots and get ripped off" bags. We took a fan tail boat along the river and through the backwater 'klongs' of Bangkok...i was struck by the beautiful mansions interspersed between corrogated metal leanto style huts. The kids jump in and out of the river constantly--allaying my fears that it was more polluted than Haifa port. Jonnie got to play with a monkey--which i think is the highlight for him so far, that and puppy that tried to eat his shoes in the restaurant next to the "big Buddha" today. Big Buddha is a legitly MASSIVE thing here on Koh Samui....saw it today on the drive around the island. Motorcycle rental was like 15 NIS for the day----so while i was honing the 'i'll give you a third of what you just told me that cost of those damn frogs were' skills, jonnie couldn't pass it up and had given away my passport to some woman who swears she takes it home at night. Somehow, her moto and my passport aren't equivalent in my head. At any rate, i think tonight is the long awaited clubbing night....after maybe dinner on the beach, which is supposed to be very romantic and if we go to the place next to the bougie (bougeois) place then the fun sport is to make fun of the trendy people... So, lots of love from the gulf of Thailand...where my nose is sunburnt as always.