the islands of thailand

in the end we decided to forgo our side trip to hong kong and stay at the islands just a bit longer. we are here in koh tao, a small island off of the `elephant trunk` of the southern area of thailand. is it absolutely gorgeous.

the food continues to be great, the chicken cashew has become both a luxury and a staple.

the island itself is small and in the past several years has become significantly more developed according to the locals. just a few years ago there was no electricity after 10pm, but now koh tao has all of the modern conveniences except for flushing toilets and toilet paper. and air fresheners. but dont worry! the massages are still going strong!

we had another beautiful dive not too far from where we are staying, this island is often referred to as `the diving island` with dive outfitters nearly every other store. this area is known for `pinnacles` which are huge rocky formations reaching up to the top of the water. the colors are amazing, and we have seen tons and tons of the clown fish hiding in the anemones. the schools of fish are gigantic and so amazing to see. overall scuba diving is just an awesome experience, it is so serene and peaceful and absolutely beautiful.

the majority of accomadations are bungalows, so for about $35 a night we have an amazing ocean view, as long as you can ignore the occasional stentch that wafts up from the mediocre `sewer` system. the mosquito tents have so far kept us protected from the spider (we swear it was a tarantula!) and bugs that we find scurrying about. it is kind of a romantic tent, until we realize that, oh yeah, i guess it is actually meant to be functional. not so fun anymore.

there are also cicadas that at precisely 6am start chirping, which is actually more like a high pitched whailing type of scream, and it lasts just long enough to wake us up enough so that we can:t fall back asleep. we later saw one lonely cicada, and were amazed by the volume that little guy produced.

in a few days we are heading off to koh samui, for the half moon party. we have heard all about the full moon party, and apparently there is now reason to celebrate the full moon, partial moon, half moon, no moon, and any other moon you want to celebrate.

until then...