Way down south...

In less than 3 hours I will be on a bus headed out of Khon Kaen. For the next two weeks Koreana and I will be island hopping down south. We have vacation because the silk fair is in town, so we are getting out!

First we will take an overnight bus to Bangkok where we will catch a plane to Phuket. We will spend one night in Phuket before going to the east coast of Thailand, on the Gulf of Thailand. We are planning to go to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. The photo is one I found on the internet from Koh Samui. We don't have definite plans on any of the islands, but we want to explore as much as possible. Koh Samui is known for its very inexpensive snorkeling and scuba diving, so we will definitely be taking advantage of that! We would also like to see Ang Thong Marine National Park. This park is made of 40 small islands and is where the movie The Beach was filmed.

We plan to hike, ride motorbikes, swim, read, explore and most likely, get lost. It is hard to plan much in advance because of the lack of information available on the internet. While we can find places to stay and things to do, it is hard to find schedules, prices and other important information. Mai pen rai!

These next two weeks will be interesting. I will try to keep you updated as often as possible and to not get too many freckles.

Talk to you soon with photos of my own!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day!

After an early morning skype with the entire family at the Thanksgiving table, I realized how thankful I am for skype. It's a silly materialistic thing to be thankful for, but I am really, really thankful for it! Oh, and I want to put magicJack on the list as well. These two technologies have kept me in touch with everyone at home, and I haven't once had to think twice. They are free. They almost always work perfectly. They are absolutely amazing!

Of course I am thankful for my family and my friends, but skype and magicJack, my two best friends lately, are going to the top of the list.

So happy Thanksgiving to everyone at home! Enjoy the food. Be happy it won't make you sick. And eat an extra piece of chocolate pecan pie for me!

Also, here is the photo that I wrote about a while ago. This is the retouched photo where the people made my nose narrower, fixed my hair and got rid of my freckles!

mmMmmm Pad Thai

We have had a lot of delicious food here, but my mouth still waters at the sound of pad Thai. There is a reason that pad Thai is the most well known Thai dish in the US... because it is amazing! Thankfully, Koreana loves Pad Thai just as much as I do. We would be happy to eat it every single day of the week. Don't worry, we won't let ourselves eat it that often, but we would like to! We decided to find the perfect pad Thai while in Khon Kaen. A few were good, but nothing spectacular. And then we found the one. It is a small place located in the night market up the street. It is run by a husband and wife, and the son runs food. They are very nice, they now know us, and they make amazing pad Thai. It has just the right amount of spice. It has just the right amount of sprouts and peanuts. Gosh, it sounds good, even for breakfast!

While on our quest for perfect pad Thai we came across an interesting way it can be made. The noodles are made the same way, but the egg is not mixed in. Instead, the egg is prepared in a thin, omelet- like shape, and wrapped around the noodles. We happened to have this style of pad Thai one time by accident, and we have not known how to order it since. On Monday we decided to ask our Thai friends exactly how we would ask for it. They told us it is called pad Thai ho kai. Yes! Score! Dinner would be fabulous!

Koreana and I went to the night market, but our favorite people weren't there! There booth was completely missing. Well, we would just have to practice our Thai at another booth. I walked up and asked for song pad Thai ho kai... and he understood me. It was too good to be true. There is no way that I put the correct falling emphasis on the syllables. But ten minutes later our food was in front of us, just the way we had asked for it. It was pretty darn good, too! It wasn't quite our favorite little family operation at the opposite end of the market, but it was good.

It was good until Koreana and I both got sick. We were really sick. And it was bad.

So, my apologies for the delay in blogging, but food poisoning put me a little behind schedule. And while pad Thai still sounds delicious, we have both decided to steer clear for a little while. Or at least until tomorrow.

PS- This is a photo of pad Thai ho kai. It is clearly all fancy restaurant-ed up, but it gives you the idea.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Bri!

I hope you have a wonderful day. I miss you tons!

Love, Meaghan