some thoughts so far

I'm still in Karon beach and definitely enjoying the sun (maybe a little too much... I'm thinking I'm going to need to use some of that skin whitening lotion they sell in the stores here before I meet up with Ryan... I don't know that he'll recognize me like this.)

Tonight I went out for dinner and decided that I didn't want Thai food. I've been eating a lot of Thai food and I know that when Ryan arrives there will be even more Thai food. So instead I went out to a restaurant owned by two Swedish chefs (most tourists here actually seem to be from Europe). I ordered something that was kind of Greek inspired and was very pleasantly surprised. It was REALLY good. And exactly what I was looking for (oh, tzatziki... how I love thee!)

I started thinking about my trip so far (I'm about to start phase 2 of the trip) and trying to figure out what to do with my remaining two days and realized that no matter where I would be in Thailand right now I'd probably be feeling the same way I am right now - I'm kind of bored. I started thinking that maybe Bangkok would make me less bored but I didn't really like Bangkok all that much and for a big city it didn't really have that big city feel. I find that in comparison to Hong Kong (the only other big city I've visited this trip), Bangkok did nothing for me. I could've probably spent another week in Hong Kong easily without getting bored. So many people everywhere, so many things to see and walking from place to place is a possibility. One thing I've really noticed in Thailand is that walking is kind of difficult. There aren't always sidewalks, traffic is insane and it's also pretty polluted and hot. I like walking - I spend a lot of time just walking even when I'm at home. This all got me thinking - what was it that I didn't like about Bangkok or that I liked so much about Hong Kong. Maybe it's the really tall buildings that gave me a feeling of being insignificant / invisible to the rest of the city. Bangkok isn't a very vertical city - it almost felt like to get anywhere took forever because the city just seemed to go on forever and everything kind of looked the same. Maybe I just didn't spend enough time there?

So with that I think I'm going to stay in Karon Beach for the last two nights before heading back to Bangkok. There isn't much to do here other than to enjoy the beach (which is what I did today until I thought I was going to pass out from the heat). The water is amazing so I went swimming a couple of times too. The thought of heading back to Bangkok occurred to me and doing day trips from there is a possibility but I've already got my flight back to Bangkok booked and don't really feel like going through all the work involved in going on day trips (there will be a lot of that in the next few weeks anyway).

As I've already said, I'm entering phase 2 of the trip. Ryan arrives on Tuesday (it's Saturday night right now) at which point we're heading off to Cambodia for a few days. To be completely honest I've been counting down the hours until he comes since that horrible day I had in Phuket Town. I really miss him and can't wait to travel with him again (though I hate our fast paced grand tours I do also love the fact that we always seem to be up to something when we're traveling.). I really enjoyed doing Hong Kong by myself but Thailand for some reason I'm finding harder to enjoy alone. Maybe I'm just getting lonely?

Also... I've been thinking about how I was sick last week. It was really quite strange how it disappeared all of a sudden. That's really not like me - when I get a cold it usually lingers much longer than that and tapers off near the end. And up until I was in Phuket Town I really didn't feel sick at all. So now I'm starting to think that I was having some sort of allergic reaction to the pollution in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. It actually seems pretty consistent with allergic reactions I've had back home only that it lasted 3 days straight... And I think I may have been somewhat dehydrated by the heat and the runny nose which would've explained why I felt like (and looked kind of like) I was going to pass out.

Yep. I've got a whole lot of nothing to talk about here... Alrighty... hope everyone's doing well back home.