I thought you should know

...that the reason that I haven't been updating isn't because I've been kidnapped or died, simply because we've spent the last week doing nothing but relaxing on the beach(when it isn't raining) and hanging out with Emily and Solange.

The full moon party was insane, like I expected, and we hung out with a group of awesome australians and danced and drank the night away. It was a little too crazy for me, and I realized that my idea of a good time out is not a huge rave on a beach. There was just too many people and too much going on, and I was a little to drunk. I had a good time, but I don't think I'll be going out of my way to attend another one.

A couple of days ago the four of us decided to leave Koh Phangan for Koh Chang (Elephant Island in English) for a change of Scenery. We took a very cheap(bad sign) bus from Koh Phangan to Bangkok, from where we'd catch a bus to Koh Chang.

The bus ride to Bangkok was actually pretty good, we decided to sit in some of the seats in the bottom level of the bus where we'd have more leg room. Good idea in principle, bad idea in retrospect. The leg room was very nice but was overshadowed by the overpowering smell of urinal cake and sewage whenever someone opened the bathroom door. Unlike any of the bus rides we have taken in Thailand, the bus arrived in Bangkok early. This never happens. The bus arrived at 5 am beside Khao San Road, the main backpacker haven in Bangkok. We ate a very early breakfast at a twenty four hour restaurant, and giggled and dragged ourselves up the road to Soy Rambuitri, a very nice and quiet little hostel street we've all become very fond of. We found an internet cafe and I made some phone calls to some very surprised people. I finally got to talk to Jena on the phone and got very mushy and very homesick(well, I actually just missed her, really, really badly, sorry everyone).

Once the travel agents opened at 7am we got some bus tickets for Koh Chang that left at 8 am. I wasn't tired or grumpy after talking to Jena, and leaving Bangkok sooner than later was like music to my ears. On that bus ride, the drivers played some very bad(and by bad I mean terrible) Folk-Rock-Polka crap that was sung by a very bad thai singer singing in english, over the bus speakers. I wanted to die. I think we all did, actually I know we all did. We had been travelling for over 24 hours, and did not want to hear any Folk-Rock-Polka music ever let alone when we were trying to sleep. Thankfully they switched to some South African tribal music about Nelson Mandella(how bad is it when I'm actually relieved by that change). After about halfway we had a lunch break and when we got back on, One of the drivers came through and Joanna heroically asked him to turn the music off in the rest of the bus. Amazingly, he turned it off. We got to the ferry terminal, got on the ferry, and I had a chicken burger in a triple stacked sandwhich (or sandwith as it said on the menu) with a side of sliced hotdog wrapped in bacon (yummy.) We caught a sung thao to a beach called "Lonely Beach" and found a nice little hostel with a very posh outdoor bar and restaurant, and very unposh bungallows.

Sadly, Emily will be heading to bangkok to catch a flight down to Koh Samui to be with some relatives for Christmas in a day or two, but she'll be able to meet up with Jo and I again in Cambodia and Vietnam mid January.

Solange, Joanna and I are going to head to Siennaville in southern Cambodia, where we plan to spend Christmas. I'm most excited about this because of the reference to the very famous Dead Kennedys song "Holiday in Cambodia". Although in the song, Cambodia does not sound like a nice place to be for a holiday. Of course, it is an older song, and the Cambodian totalitarian regime the "Khmer Rouge" was still in place, and still executing massive amounts of they're own people. On a lighter note, Cambodia is thankfully a totally different place than it was even ten years ago, and Solange tells me the Cambodian people are incredibly nice. I'm really excited to get out of Thailand to see more culture, and less westernized everything. I'm also looking forward to going to Phenom Penh and Siem Reap, to see the Killing Fields and see the extent of the Khmer Rouge's damage on the Cambodian people (finally, some modern history). We'll also be heading north to Angkor Wat, the massive walled town of Temples, where we plan on renting bycicles for a couple of days to see it all. Tomb Raider was filmed in one of the temples in Angkor Wat if that helps anyone.

Solange is off to meet her loverboy Josh on January 4th, so Jo and I will be on our own for a couple of weeks. I hope that we'll all be able to meet up again though, we've had a lot of fun. "The Dinks", that is to say another group of friends from Victoria, will be in Cambodia and Vietnam around the same time as us, so we'll probably meet up with them along the road.

I think that pretty much brings you up to speed on everything, and I promise I'll post more when we get into Cambodia, because we'll actually be doing something other than hanging out in hammocks and reading by the beach.
love you all
-Ben