tomward

i went to thailand over my birthday. it just so happened that i arrived in bangkok the night of the coup. needless to say there wasn't much to see. i did't even know about it until i turned on the news. but i got some concerned emails from my folks back home...worried that i wasn't going to be able to get out of that place...geez, that would be horrible...stuck in phuket. it's funny how the US govt completely blows things out of proportion. it must have to coincide w/ the 'terror meter'...what color are we at these days? orange? they want to keep everyone scared and paranoid so we can feel protected by them. i actually believe that there are 'travel warnings' for most of south east asia...including china. i've been here for almost four years and the most dangerous thing out here are the drivers and the diahrea...
here's a pic of the beach from that horrendous movie, 'the beach.'
on koh phi phi island...

the other one is the main area on phi phi. it was pretty much demolished by the tsunami. there is still a lot of rebuilding going on. it is mainly an out of the way spot for divers and chillers...so there weren't as many deaths from the tsunami here as there were on phuket, which is about an hour boat ride away...