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Archive for February, 2006

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Phuket Island, Thailand (Post #91)

Monday, February 20th, 2006

Whew! Michele here…I am finally caught up on the blogs!  Yeah! Today is Saturday, February 18th and we are currently on Phuket island in southern Thailand. We arrived here on Monday, February 13th with the hopes of seeing Dr. Luba Matic, the dive doctor Mike had talked to while we were on Ko Tao. We were also considering seeing a cardiologist so that Mike could get his heart examined.  Upon landing at the airport we had two plans in mind depending on what the doctor(s) told Mike. 

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Ko Tao and Ko Samui, Thailand: A Saga (Post #90)

Monday, February 20th, 2006

Hi…Michele here…

In the last blog I wrote about going to our tuk-tuk driver’s house (actually a hut) in Siem Reap, Cambodia to have dinner. I talked about how we drank from dirty glasses, how everyone ate off the same plate, how the meat was from the market (where it probably hung from a wooden cart all day or for several days) and how the guy serving the beer was using his bare hands to put ice in our glasses.  (This is potentially a problem because there is no running water and certainly no toilet paper used in the village.)  

The morning after this dinner, we flew to Bangkok, Thailand.  We stayed there for two days…..which brings me to the end of the last blog (#89) where I wrote, “On February 7th we flew from Bangkok, Thailand to Ko Samui, Thailand (an island off the east coast of Thailand).  From Ko Samui, we took a ferry to Ko Tao (another island) where things did not go as planned.  Read the next blog for more on that.” 

This is that blog.

While in Bangkok, I developed a fever.  In addition to that, to put it bluntly, the toilet was my new best friend.  I figured this wasn’t a big problem and that it would eventually go away after a day or two.  By the time we got to Ko Tao, I was having terrible pains in my abdoman.  It felt like someone was digging their fingernails into my intestines.  Meanwhile…

Mike and I had gone to the small island of Ko Tao in the Gulf of Thailand for one reason – to take a scuba diving course and get our PADI Open Water dive certification.  Ko Tao has beautiful beaches with crystal clear water, some of the best diving in Thailand, and it is one of the cheapest places in the world to get an Open Water dive certification.  For $230 each, we were going to stay 5 nights at the dive resort and take the 4 day dive course (that included 4 dives). Here are a few pictures of Ko Tao:

[read on]

Siem Reap, Cambodia (Post #89)

Monday, February 6th, 2006
Michele here... We took a 6 hour bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Cambodia on January 31st.  The main reason for visiting the small town of Siem Reap is to see the nearby temples of Angkor Wat.  Upon exiting the bus, we ... [Continue reading this entry]

Phenom Penh, Cambodia (Post #88)

Monday, February 6th, 2006
Michele here writing about Phenom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. After arriving by bus in Phenom Penh (pronounced "penom pen") at night, we decided to have a tuk tuk driver take us to the riverfront. We read in the guidebook that there ... [Continue reading this entry]

Crossing the border from Vietnam to Cambodia (Post #87)

Monday, February 6th, 2006
Crossing the border from Vietnam to Cambodia on Friday, January 27th was quite an adventure (yea, yea, I know I'm behind on the blogs...someday I'll catch up). The adventure started out when we went downstairs to meet the travel agent ... [Continue reading this entry]

Vietnam Pictures! (Post #86)

Monday, February 6th, 2006
Michele here...and today is February 6th - exactly 8 months since we boarded the plane in Baltimore for our around-the-world trip. After spending 10 days in Cambodia, we are now back in Thailand. Today, Mike and I spent many hours ... [Continue reading this entry]