catsup

Ko Lanta:

We took the train, two ferries and a van ride from Bangkok to the small Island of Ko Lanta. We found ourselves on an island filled with Swedish, Finnish and German families. Ko Lanta was beautiful and incredibly relaxing. I followed a grandma-like schedule : getting up really early in the morning to catch the free breakfast, read corny novels on the beach, slathered 50spf sunscreen on myself religiously (because seriously who wants wrinkly, sun spotted skin), ate dinner before 6pm, and went to bed around 9pm…I was kind of boring.

It wasn't all boring we managed to find a few things to do while in Ko Lanta. We rented a small scooter bike that ended up running out of gas in the middle of nowhere because the gas gauge was broken (curse you lady who rented it to us and said it was 1/2 full) – V drove it most of the time – for some reason I had a hard time braking. We went spelunking in a cave and saw some bats and a huge, fake spider the guide had rigged to scare tourists. Ate lots of fresh seafood and drank fruit smoothies. We took a cooking class and made a spicy, chicken salad, spring rolls, green curry, and sticky rice with coconut and mango. Swam in the ocean and in our hotel pool. Rode bicycles around the island until I refused to ride any more in the 90 degree weather. Drank some smoothies. Went to a hippy bar and drank some Chang beer.

Ko Lanta is very low-key and has really beautiful beaches. Even though it was peak season we often found ourselves alone on a stretch of beach. The locals were all very friendly and the accommodations were inexpensive and very nice. We stayed in bungalows that had small resort areas – pools, restaurant, rentals, etc. Ahhhhhh if only we were there now.

view from our resort's restaurant

spelunking

Thai Cookery School

one of our bangalows

After our 36hour airport adventure back to Korea we had about 36 hours to do some laundry, repack our bags and sleep until we left for Japan.

My school invited V and I on a 4 day trip to Japan sans students - only the teachers and administrative staff.

Summary:
- we took a long, overnight, ferry ride to Japan
- got our tangerine quarantined
- visited like a hundred castles, palaces, and temples
- ate some sushi
- went shopping
- drank some asahi
- rode the ferry home
- V entered a karaoke contest and won 2nd prize
- slept all the way home on the bus

The trip was fun and jam packed. You know those Asian tour groups you sometimes see on the UW campus or at famous landmarks - we were those Asians. Snapping pictures and posing with two fingers we were almost exactly the stereotypical Asian tour group, except we didn't have matching outfits. We might make fun of tour groups like this but I really underestimated them - we visited a 3 temples, one castle and toured a Japanese village all before lunchtime...

Anyway, it was a once in a lifetime experience one of these days we'll go back to Japan to visit it at slower pace.

ferry ride

tangerine quarantine

photo op

sushiiii