Road trip completed
Don't let anybody tell you you can't drive in Asia

After and short week Michelle and I have made it back to AoNang intact and happy. Unexpectedly we travelled 1500 km all the way through southern Thailand, down into Malaysia to georgetown, and then back up again. Every minute was nothing short of exciting. We stayed in a different random bungalow or hotel each night except for in Panang where we just could leave the wonderfully clean and handy SD guesthouse on Love Lane. though we didn't plan it while in Panang we were able to secure a 60 day thai visitor visa so we won't be held to anymore dates of departure and can stay in the country until our flight Feb 11.

The lands of thailand (formerly known as Siam) are diverse and mostly wild. We saw many waterfalls pouring over limestone cliffs and met many friendly locals, with which we could not converse with but who were nonetheless happy to drink ad eat with us and laugh. the kids here are especially interested in us,as they know basic English, are sometimes the most fun for us to hang out with. In Satun we stumbled across an amazing terranced waterfall liek a mix of Yellowstone and niagra and we jumped from cliffs and swam with many local kids while the dad's rolled us Thai cigarettes in their primitive bamboo papers. They feed us for what is less that a US dollar and we shared the beers we had bought.

The roads weave through limetsone towers and along mangrove swamps. there are some 4-lane highways but the second lane is used for thais most common transport: the vespa. These 120-200 cc motorbikes are everywhere here. We have seen up to 5 school kids riding one home from school. We have also seen entire Muslim families weaving through rush hour traffic with the women sitting sidesaddle holding an infant. The Thais are truely industrius and many laws like seat belts and helmets that out governments impose apon us to keep us 'safe' haven't quite caught on in Thailand.

Ao Nong feels welcoming and homely now we are back. This afternoon we will hop the usual longtail taxi back around the penninsula to Tonsai and hopefully move back in to our very comfortable stilted bungalor called Countryside. Tonsai is exciting to retuurn to though we now know how inflated theprices are there, after so much time psent in touristless Thailand. We keep reminding ourselves we are paying still so much less than anything comparable in the US and that beachside, climbing side paradise is a hot commodity where one may be in the world.