well hello again! seems like I've been updating this blog every day for the past week. oh well! finally we're in sydney and it's exciting! after all the waiting around to hear the awesome aussie accent! haha yes. so maybe I will start by updating our last day trip out to koh phangan. it was a pretty relaxing trip. we were picked up and whisked away to the pier and boarded a speed boat. took a 20 minute ride to another pier where we were singled out of 20 or so people and told to get off the boat! we were the only 2 people that had chosen the tour of koh phangan which was really strange!! so this is where it got kinda creepy and mom I'm sure you will probably not like reading about this. but we met up with a tour guide and his friend and a taxi driver and got into the back of a truck. it was scary! the whole time I thought why isn't there anyone else on this tour and are they going to attack us??? haha but no worries. the tour guide was about 4'11" and his friend was about 100 pounds soaking wet. me and linda were ready to go tae bo on their asses if they tried anything funny!!!

so they took us to a chinese temple in the middle of nowhere. it was a spectacular view in the mountains. lots of greenery. I attempted to take a panoramic shot so hopefully it works out if I ever remember to bring the usb cable to upload the pics! maybe tomorrow. haha. anyway, after that we went to a national park and saw a nice waterfall. it wasn't half as bad as the hike we had taken a few days before. they then took us to a nice secluded beach. the water was super clear and there was no one around. there were small bungalows along the beach that cost only around 100 baht a night which is like $4!!! they looked a little dirty though but still. we spent 2 hours on the beach, ate some pistachios and swam a bit. then we got lunch. it consisted of 2 chicken dishes. one was so spicy I almost collapsed! the other was chicken and cashews. really yummy.

then we took a nice bumpy ride to koh phangan beach where they have the full moon party every month. the ride was extremely bumpy and we thought we may fall out the side of the truck on several occasions or at least lose our lunches!! hehe the roads were really steep and windy too. but once we got to the beach, it was absolutely beautiful! probably one of the nicest beaches in thailand...really clear blue water and soft white sand. the sun was hot and I tried to avoid tanning but I had to. linda wanted to get a henna tattoo of a butterfly so I said I would get one too. the guy thought I wanted the exact same one so we ended up as twins. they turned out really cool. I guess it gets darker in the sun. we ended up paying like $3 each for them and they last for a couple of weeks. after our relaxing time on the beach it was time to get back in the truck and head for the pier. we got alot of great pics which I will try to upload later! we got back and showered and headed out again for some last minute shopping. there are so many things I really wanted to buy but alas, no room in my backpack! I think I may be sending some stuff home because I cannot continue to buy stuff and lug it around! oh yeah we had some east indian food for supper. it wasn't that great. I guess it just isn't my type of food and it was pretty expensive for thailand.

anyway, so that's about it for the updates for today. our flight went smoothly and we enjoyed the 3 hour stop in bangkok's airport where I bought some of the coconut coated peanuts that are popular in thailand. mmm so good. oh right, once we got to the airport here in sydney linda was rushing to fill out the customs form and accidentally checked the "yes" box that said she was carrying armed weapons/steroids/medications. hahahah!!! so they went through our bags and asked us 20 questions. she was rushing to fill out the card a second time after we decided that we should claim our peanuts on the card. haha hilarious. the asian customs guy was having a good time flirting with linda and bugging her ;) I love their accents!
anywho, the hostel we're staying at is pretty cool. our roomates are 2 girls from korea and they seem pretty nice. of course we get the top bunks and the room is pretty squishy. linda's still trying to get used to the cramped quarters and I'm just enjoying it like it's camping or college dorm life! everyone shares the kitchen and puts food in the fridge with their names on it. it's pretty interesting. some of the people actually pay rent to live there. we have yet to meet some fellow canadians but I'm sure we will in no time. I'm excited to see what's to come here in sydney! miss you guys and hope you are enjoying the snow back in edmonton!!! sydney is just starting to warm up and it will be hitting summer here soon! muahahaha....
love,
jazz