One night in Bangkok

As soon as we arrived in Bangkok, we wanted to leave. It's like Las Vegas/4 times Rocky Point to the infinity power. Our first mistake was to head to Khao San road, where all the kids hang out. Although the accommodation was cheap and the street food outstanding, the shirtless frat boys, Jamaican music and endless string of bars offering buckets of whiskey for less than $3 made it an insufferable place. We determined there was nothing worthwhile there, so we headed to Chinatown for a stroll, then headed to the red light district. The girls were alright, but boys' town was much more interesting. We grabbed a front row table at one of the bars and spent the evening watching the action, mainly involving middle-aged white men and young thai boys flirting over drinks (Nate got a backrub).

The following day, we headed to the travel agency only to find out the next bus to southern Thailand didn't leave until late evening. Faced with another day in Bangkok, we headed to Siam Square, a huge, air conditioned shopping mall not unlike Scottsdale Fashion Square. We spent the entire day there, bowling a couple of games, then watching Quantum of Solace (review forthcoming).

The bus ride was long - 8 hours - followed by a 2 hour boat ride to Koh Tao. It's lovely here, the air is fresh and the water is warm. Except in our room, because we don't have hot water. We will be here for a few days, getting our diving certification. More on that later.

We hung out with a cool Italian couple last night and Nate is trying all the panang curries he can find. Wi-fi is slow and not at our hotel. So shutup about the lack of posts.

Tomorrow we hit the open water for our first couple dives and the following day is dives three and four. More on that later. More on a lot later. Nate is free-handing some future posts as we speak. Life is so tough in the Third World when you can't remember how to make a cursive 'Q'.