We're baaaaack!

Well, the vacation is now officially over. As I type this I am sitting in our apartment back in Pohang, in the cold weather, feeling sad.

The trip home was almost uneventful, but there were a few things that I enjoyed about it. First as we were leaving Thailand, there was a torrential downpour of rain. So much rain that several roads to the airport were under at least 6 inches of water -- Thailand was as sad to see us go as we were to leave it. Once we got to the little aiport (By the way, the Picture post will happen but we're both tired now so we'll do it later) we found out that instead of the cool little turbo prop plane that we flew into Koh Samui on we were going to fly in a sweet little Boeing 717. Yeah, a 717 -- awesome. This means that the only Boeing jets I've never flown on is the origional 707 and the newest 777. Chances are I'll eventually get to ride a 777 but I may be out of luck for the 707. Okay, so I'm a bit of a plane nerd...

The transfer in Bangkok to our Korean flight went smoothly except for the fact that Bangkoks brand new international airport (Opened this past September) has a few kinks that needs to be worked out, some of the signs direction people where to go are hard to see or are outright missing, but we got to our transfer check in with plenty of time to spare. Both Jo and myself slept most of the 6 hour flight back to Korea and after a series of busses (though we found a new and better route to get to Busan's airport from Pohang) we arrived home and safe.

Our trip was wonderful.

Grand Rock Resort was an excellent place to stay, it was on one of the nicer beaches, but it was also not smack in the middle of everything, so if you didn't want to deal with loud bars it was no problem -- but for the times when you did, it was merely a 5 minute walk down the beach, or a short scooter ride (Rented a scooter for 220 Baht a day or about 7$ plus gas -- cheap).

Thai Food was better then any other asian food I've had in my life. I think Jo agrees. It's going to be hard to go back to consuming the crap on a plate that is Korean food after eating such wonderful fare.

On the last day I went to Samui Shooting sport with Jo and got to shoot an honest to goodness AK-47 -- Jo took a few shots as well -- We also shot this BEAST of a revolver, honestly looking down the barrel it had to be close to half an inch in diameter, it had a name but not one I recognized. Even in my massive hands this gun looked huge. That was an interesting thing to try. I kept my target sheets so I can admire my mediocre marksmanship. Though I did hit pretty well with the rifle from 100 feet, and the pistol from 20.

We bought lots of nice clothes from several different tailors. That was definitely an interesting experience. Getting measured, going for fittings, having maximum control over the entire production was neat. I reccomend it to anyone going to Thailand.

We also saw a honest to goodness Thai Ladyboy Cabaret show. They danced and lipsynced and put on an entertaining 45 minute show.. It was free and had decent priced beer. It was a bit strange having all these guys acting, dressing, and LOOKING like women but not in a creepy eww way, just in a wow.. Thats not a girl, thats a dude! kind of way.

Jo already talked about the Elephant ride, that was sweet, I named our Elephant "Miss Stompy McCrush'n'smush" as she obviously was an elephant that would have no problem squashing anything that got in her way, buildings, cars, people, other elephants poo.. you name it, she'd step on it. The elephant in front of us had this star shaped brand or tattoo (its hard to tell) on its hip.. I called her Tramp Stamp, which is a common name for those tattoos that women (and Thai Ladyboys) get on their lower backs, in recognition of this elephants fondness for the body art.

The weather was great. Not a drop of rain fell except when we were sleeping and as we were getting into a taxi to take us to the airport to go home. It was hot, and sunny, probably in the 27-33 degree range for the entire week, and rarely humid.

Thailand is one of those places that everyone should visit at some point. I am glad that we got the chance and can honestly say that should another opportunity arise, it is pretty likely that we would take it.

That's enough for now, its time for me to take a nap..