Thailand round 2

Wow, so returning to the lifestyle of Asian chic was quite a contrast from the poverty in Cambodia. When I arrived to Bkk I was absolutely floored! I met some friends on the bus: Daniella(German) who I shared accommodations with, and John(English). The 3 of us spent 8 hrs at our favorite mall in BKK: MBK. Yes, 8 hrs! This place is that amazing.
On the way to our room the 2ND day I ran into an Irish friend from Halong Bay, Vietnam, and invited her out with us that night. While I was getting ready Nichole's friend: Ingrid, contacted me and we all met up at 10 p.m., completely dressed up, and we went out to a bar for the 4th of July to an American cover band bar. I had a great time. I even befriended a 60 yr old bearded man who looked like a member of ZZ top, and invited him over to our table for drinks. He was intensely spiritual, I found out, and had lived in India for 20 yrs, amongst many other cool places. He was quirky and made my friends chuckle, but I liked him a lot, so much in fact, that he and I sat in front of my guesthouse talking until 5 a.m.

Ingrid and I met Nichole and Ben in the Women's facility at the BKK international Hospital for her monthly prenatal checkup. Her due date is Aug. 16Th! We drove to Hua Hin, about 2 hrs south, and stayed in Ben's father's house, which is a gigantic mansion in the middle of the jungle. This home was incredible. I loved staying there with the sarcastic English in a comfy room with Ingrid. We had A/C, a huge bed with clean sheets(no worries for bed bugs), a stream shower, clean water, and healthy food in the fridge! OMG! The next morning Nichole, Ingrid, Ben's new mother in law: LoLa, and I saw a cobra in the backyard, and a bird swooped down and tried to eat it, but missed. It was the 3rd cobra I've seen in the wild on my travels. :)
Us three girls cooked a 4 course meal for Steve(Ben's dad) and LoLa to show our appreciation. It was delicious. I was in charge of the Boiled Beef stew with veggies and dumplings. This took me all day! It was such a pleasure to have a kitchen to cook in, and have regular veggies that weren't fried.
I'm so sick of fried food!
The fresh salad was my favorite. :)
I enjoyed my time there with my friends, but the next day I needed to leave and meet some friends in Koh Tao, so us girls went out and got pampered at the spa, ate good food, shopped at the night market, and then they dropped me off at the bus by 11 p.m.

I arrived in Koh Tao at 9 a.m. tired but happy. Rhys met me at the pier and helped me get all checked in to an affordable bungalow on the beach. I took a much needed nap. He, Kelly, and I are all meeting at the pier at 3 p.m. for a day of fun. I met Kelly and Rhys in Nihn Bihn, Vietnam and traveled with them until Mui Ne, so for 3 weeks. They're my dive master friends who I'm very fond of. John and Diedre are here as well, and we're all meeting for dinner at 7 p.m. tonight. I'll probably move in with them to cut down costs tomorrow and throughout my travels to Ko Phangan and the full moon party(world renown chaos party on the beach).
Kelly is going to teach me Poi, which is fire dancing.
I'm looking forward to getting the partying out of my system before my yoga and meditation retreat in 2 weeks.
I'm happy, but a little concerned about Australia. The tickets there are so expensive!
I'll keep you all informed.

xo