Well I made it to Thailand, and it feels like a world away from Cambodia. It's been a crazy few days.

Friday morning we left at the crack of dawn in a tuktuk to the bus station. We had a 6 hour trip to the thai border, which was an adventure in itself. It was a double decker bus, that blasted (very very loudly) Cambodian music videos the whole time. We had a few rest stops that offered sites to see... people push starting vans filled with way too many passengers... vans that are overflowing with luggage and live chickens hanging out the back... It was an amusing trip. When we reached the Thai border, they unloaded all of our bags and left us standing on the side of the road. We walked up to a window, got our passports stamped, and then walked 200 feet across the border. It's a funny thing to walk across the border... they don't let cars drive across, so everyone just walks over. Rick, our teacher, was there to meet us on the other side. We loaded up and drove another 2 hours to catch the ferry over to Koh Chang, the island we were staying at for the weekend. We arrived on the ferry at sunset, and watching the mountainous island draw closer it looked like paradise.

Our weekend at Koh Chang was a little like paradise. We sunbathed on the beach for 7 hours on saturday, drinking 50 cent coconut smoothies and reading. It was beautiful weather and the beach is white sand, blue/green water, and surprisingly uncrowded. Saturday night we went to a restaurant on a pier that floats on the ocean. We watched the sunset, and it was incredibly picturesque with fishing boats and palm trees. On sunday morning we drove into to the national park, which makes up 90% of the island. We went for a short 15 minute walk, to a beautiful 50 ft waterfall, which we went swimming it. After we ate sticky rise and spiced chicken... thai food is incredible.

We spent 3 more hours in the car, and arrived in Pattaya tonight (Sunday). Val and I are sharing a small apartment above the languagecorps classroom. It's very modern here, and seems a million times different than cambodia. There are real roads (they drive on the left), legit traffic laws, and we even went to a supermarket that was better than walmart. It feels more like America than anywhere we've been, and its nice to have some comforts from home.

Tomorrow I start student teaching, which I'm very excited for and a little nervous about. Every day something new!