The Puzzle of Prague

Prague is one of the cooler cities in Europe for a weekend getaway, so I decided to surprise Sarah with a trip there as part of her Valentine's Day gift.  Since I'm so sneaky, I got a puzzle of Prague and put part of it together (with the help of my flat mates) whilst she was out of town and wrote a secret message on it, and then took it back apart again.  Thus when she got the puzzle for Valentines day and finished it, I had her flip it over and read the message on the back saying I was taking her to Prague on April 8th!  Life is meant to be fun and unexpected, that's why a man needs to be creative in his gifting.

I'd already been to Prague with my brother Bryn last summer, so I knew which part of town to stay in, albeit in a rented apartment instead of a hostel this time around :).  Sarah really needs to learn how to live with my Lowe standards.  Since our flight left on Friday night after work, we didn't have much time to roam around until Saturday morning.  We tried to grab some tickets for the opera, but unfortunately it was sold out, so we wandered around until we found a place called Dancing House, which was featured in the puzzle.  We then crossed the famous Charles Bridge and hiked up to Prague Castle, which includes St. Vitus Cathedral.  Outside of the Sagrada Familia in Spain, it's probably the most amazing church/cathedral I've ever seen...And that includes the Vatican.

The Dancing House

It's amazing what people can create

And he says I'm in love, I'm in love with a woman.  Yeah this is my confession, I'm leaving, I can't be a priest anymore, anymore. And oh my my oh hey hey, there he goes, the man of faith.  Left the church for a fiance, let him love, the man of faith.

There was randomly a food market on the backside of the Castle, so we were able to grab some Czech style potatoes for lunch.  The weather was actually better than forecasted, so we decided to take a scenic route back into town that went through a couple of different parks.  That evening we went on a cruise along the Vltava River.  I was starting to get grumpy, so luckily dinner was a buffet.  I'm like a reverse gremlin.  I require a lot of attention and food.  And praise, I really do like the praise.  Especially about my hair.

Since we had to catch a flight back to London the next evening, we decided to head back for an early evening so we'd have the full day to go explore the rest of the city.  We also started watching the Notebook that night, but didn't finish it.  I later found out that the movie isn't available on UK Netflix, since they have different movie rights than the rest of Europe, so I couldn't finish it when I got home!  Damn you cruel world.  You know I like girly movies, why would you do this to me?!?!

St. Vitus Cathedral

I really need to catch up on Game of Thrones....

Day two was all about checking out the various towers around the city and soaking up the good views.  Prague is probably one of the coolest looking cities I've been too, as all the buildings are painted different colors, but they all have the same rooftops.  The city is almost like a giant piece of art when you get to see it from a high vantage point.  The center of Old Town is also famous for it's astronomical clock, which is the oldest astronomical clock in the world that is still in use having been built way back in 1410!

The other really cool thing about the clock is the fact that it comes alive every hour, with various figures around the clock popping out and going through different animations to represent things like vanity, greed, death, and lust.  Luckily things like death and vanity don't apply to me because I'm both immortal and majestically beautiful.

Such a cool city.  Amazing architecture, wide open spaces, winding alleyways, and cheap beer.  I love it.

If you're down on your luck, don't get down on yourself, it won't do you no good.  Cus I've been there before, fought a hundred wars, and I'm still fighting for you...

I got changed by what I've been shown, for there's more glory in this world than I had known. It keeps me ramblin on and skippin like a calf loosed from his stall, cus I'm free to love once and for all.  And even when I fall, I'll get back up.  For there is joy that overflows my cup...

The Astronomical Clock! My favorite part is the little skeleton dude in the top right corner

We also wandered through the city one last time and found a restaurant that served the traditional meal of Goulash, which comes in a bread bowl!  Much like Carl Weathers, I am a man that loves a good stew.  Another weird thing about the UK is their lack of desire to have half shoe sizes, so Sarah can never get shoes unless we go to Europe, since they have a different sizing system. Damn Brits, always trying to be different, why can't you just go with the flow?  Thus after months of searching, we finally got my girl some football shoes.  Woohoo!

There is also randomly a communist museum in Prague, so we decided to Czech it off our list.  Yeah, I'm that punny.  It was one of the weirder places I've been, but definitely an interesting place to check out.  It's crazy to think about how different a world this place was even 70-80 years ago.  After visiting such a grim place, I needed to be cheered up with candy, so we went to a place called Captain Candy and then the Chocolate Museum.  I typically try and bring my coworkers some sweets after I travel places, so I also picked them up some snacks even though they're a bunch of smelly buffoons. And they didn't even save me any!  They ate them all in like 5 seconds.  Bastards.

If you put the seafood chowder we had in Dublin, in this bread bowl... Game over.  I'd die having lived a complete life.

Oh the sky could be blue, could be grey...It's such a perfect day

Prague was amazing, but unfortunately a man has to work, so we went back home to save up for our next adventure!  Until the next blog...


Random GoPros

This cathedral is so massive, the only way to get it in a single frame is with the GoPro

Mama don't cry, I was once your little baby boy so full of love and light.  By the time I turned 25, I was the lost among the pavement, lower than the basement and I couldn't stand to smile.  But mama don't cry, I found songs among the tragic, hung my hat on sadness.  Mom, I think they're trying to keep the grand romantic in me, down beneath where you can see.  But mom, I think I'm ready to free this grand romantic in me...

Oh-oh, I feel alive. I've gone and saved my soul! If all that you read is everything you believe, then let go, then let go, then let go! Oh-oh I feel alive, it's right here in my soul!  So if all that you read is everything you believe then let go, then let go, then let go....

 Sarah and Sean's Sensational Stockpile of Snappy Snaps

When you see a woman with crazy eyes....

Just giver her ice cream.  It fixes EVERYTHING!

Czech mates

This girl and her panoramas...

I'm so far behind on my blog that she has long hair in this photo...I guess there's a reason they call me slowe...

And here I was trying to take a classy photo... What a turd

Catch me if you can....

Fortune teller said I'd be free, and that's the day you came to me...

Suiting Up for Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

A wise Thai suit vendor once told me, "No suit, no life."  Thus after months of having no life, I finally manned up and made my way to Hoi An, which is the suit capital of Southeast Asia.  After taking an overnight bus to get there, Kaitlin and I met a Polish girl named Ewa, who was trying to go to the main backpacker stop, Sunflower Hotel, like us.  All the dorms were full when we arrived, so we ended up heading to a place next door.  After dumping our bags, we went out for a wander and I made it my mission to get a suit for $100 or less.

Destiny brought me to the suit lady I'd been waiting my whole life to meet.  She took my measurements and crafted a suit for $80 and an undershirt for $20.  Part of me was thinking about how purchasing a suit that I'm going to destroy is a huge waste of money, and I should just donate that money to charity instead.  However, I'm going to have some epic suit photos that will provide others with joy, so it all balances out.  I wanted to get either a pink or disgusting green suit, but the girls and my suit lady vetoed it, saying it would be too ugly and I should still get something I can use in real life, so I settled with a blue suit.  Psshhh whatevs, but at least now I can say I have a suit lady!  Sure she thought I was an idiot, but she loved me.

After I put in my suit request and Ewa put in a request for a dress, I went for a run while the girls went to do a little more shopping.  I ended up running to the beach and the girls turned up on bikes about 30 minutes later.  What occurred next was quite possibly the most impressive feat of physical greatness I've ever achieved, as I ran the 3.5 kilometers back to the hostel faster than the girls rode their bikes.  Sure they had to drop them off a half kilometer from the hostel, but still.  My cardio, after years of insubordination and resentment, finally achieved a new level of fitness, otherwise known as average.  

This life's too good to last, but I'm too young to care...

This is how I plan to spend most of my 40s

Too many tourists!!!

A pair of English girls I met in Cambodia, Sharon and Aman, were staying next door at Sunflower, so we all went out for dinner at a place called Morning Glory.  We also ended up meeting with another American, Mario, who had been travelling along the same route as Kaitlin and I, for some drinks that night.  The next day we picked up our new threads and went out for Kaitlin's birthday.  My suit was immaculate, perfection suitable for encapsulating the perfection it holds when draped around my body.  As soon as it touched my flesh every woman in Southeast Asia, nay the entire world, started to tingle.

Since my Laos girls were so good to me, taking me out for a birthday breakfast, I went out and got Kaitlin a mini birthday cake to give her a little taste of home.  The circle of giving!  We ended up going to a club called Volcano.  The bar deal you ask?  $3 for unlimited mixed drinks. .  I'm not talking unlimited drinks between 8-10 pm either, I'm talking all you can drink until 3 AM.  Yeah for a mere $3 you can get blackout drunk on bottom shelf Vietnamese vodka, whiskey, and rum.  It's pretty amazing really, I couldn't even get a single vodka red bull for that back home! Vietnam, you know the way to my heart...or at least the way to my corroded liver.

A few nights in Hoi An was more than enough as there's not really a lot going on outside of getting a suit or dress made.  Around this time Kaitlin's debit card and visa both stopped working, so our fates were tied as far as destinations since she has no money without me, thus we made our journey to Hue together.  Oh my little albatross.  Ewa, on her own dime, also went to Hue, so the two of us went out for some drinks that night since she was traveling to Cambodia the next day. 

Vietnam is pretty cool, the local beers change as you move along the coast, so we got to test out the three local beers for that region.  We set off to find some food round midnight but didn't see much.  However, as we were walking a moto passed us with a speaker blaring an endless repeating announcement that sounded exactly like Charlie Brown's teacher's mumbling.  Turns out he was selling steamed buns, which were being transported in the opposite side if the speaker.  You can't fight destiny, everything you need always seems to find you.

This was actually the least creepy statue I saw in Hue...

So sick of seeing animals packed into cages in Asia, it always brings me down

Holidays and public parks, I make all my friends after dark. So tell me how the future comes, it's the moments one by one.

Kaitlin and I decided to check out the Imperial Citadel the next day before taking yet another night bus, this time to Hanoi.  The Citadel was massive, having roughly a 10 kilometer circumference of fortification walls surrounding the complex.  It was kind of shocking when you walk in, because everything is written in grammatically correct English and there was even an 80 inch plasma playing a 3D construct movie of the complex and how it was constructed and used on a daily basis.  You can definitely tell Vietnam has a bigger tourism budget than the other countries in Asia.  

We ended up meeting a German couple as we were walking around, so we checked out the adjoining museum with them and then went out for a late lunch.  At the cafe we ate at, I also spotted two girls I had met in Cambodia, such a small world.  Our bus to Hanoi didn't seem to be in the greatest shape as it broke down 1-2 times per hour on average.  The journey was supposed to take 11-12 hours, but ended up taking about 16.  It didn't really matter though, as we weren't allowed to check into our hostel until 1 PM.  Se La Vie.

You can dress up like an emperor/empress if you have some cash.  I was too poor :(

I tried to put on the mask, but my head was too big...

The Downtown Backpackers is the place to stay in Hanoi, since the city has a curfew of 11 PM, so pretty much all the backpackers congregate there.  After meeting up with Kaitlin's friend from Canada, Aiden during our first night, we met up with the Danish girls from Saigon, Kristine and Stine, and two other Danish guys they met during their travels a few days later.  We went out for dinner and of course everyone got their meal but me :'(.  It was the second time that my meal had been forgotten that day, as my breakfast order never came either.  Apparently the universe felt the need to tell me I'm fat.  While waiting for our food, we kept being accosted by old ladies to buy donuts;  One of whom drew a reply of, "No thanks brah", from me, which delighted everyone at the table.  Apparently it's not appropriate etiquette to call a 70 year old local women bro.   

Ha Long Bay is one of the most famous places to visit in Southeast Asia, so I sold my body on the street for a few nights in Hanoi and procured a 2 day 1 night cruise for $75.  Not bad for a kid with a deformed nipple and no chest hair.  With everything in place, Stine, Kristine, Kaitlin and I were able to get on the same boat together!  The tour is heavily dependent on the weather, as the fog can be so overwhelming you can barely see any of the mini islands.  On the other hand, if you get a sunny day with blue skies, you'll have photos that can make even Bruce Jenner look human.  The weather we got was somewhere in between;  It was pretty foggy, but you could still enjoy the scenery.  Besides, do you really want to see every destination in perfect weather?  It was spooky cool to see the boats sailing into the mist.

Hanoi - 8 million people, 8 million motos

She will go down with her ship, like a good captain.  You're sitting on the dock playing for an audience of one...

And all my enemies, I want their eyes to see their captain walk the plank.  I'll destroy them rank by rank

That vessel looks like a rundown piece of ship

You essentially pay for the quality of boat as every tour does the same stuff;  You check out the main cave, do some kayaking off the boat, and otherwise sail through the rocks.  If you stay 2 nights, you can spend the second night on an island, but we didn't deem it worth the cost and seeing as the weather is foggy every day, I didn't expect it to be that amazing.  I knew we were in for a treat when Stine and I had to separate from the group before boarding our boat.  It turns out there is a 15 person limit for boats when leaving the harbour, so we had to get on a mini boat and have it transfer us to our boat after it launched from the dock. 

Once we got on board, we found that instead of having 2 rooms with 2 beds each, the three girls were now sharing a room with 2 twin beds and I was sharing a room with a smelly French bastard.  My worst fears were only reconfirmed when I entered the room and he told me we had to sleep with the window open, because he was afraid the boat would sink in the middle of the night and if the window wasn't open to let in water we wouldn't find out until we were at the bottom of the ocean.  Fate is an elegant, cold-hearted whore.  She loves salting my wounds, oh she enjoys nothing more....

I suited up for the night's festivities and got approval from all the women and even the gay guys on the boat, so apparently I am pulling it off.  We played the usual drinking games, which didn't work so great with 17 people, but I was able to enjoy some more girly cocktails with the girls since that was the special.  Luckily the boat didn't sink overnight, as I awoke into my drafty room to the call of breakfast.  I will give props to the cooks, because the food on the boat was pretty damn good.

That is one hard co... I mean rock

Totally looks like a pair of pirates sitting on the cliff edge.  One with legs, one with stumps

Me and my ladies!  Love is the coal that makes this train roll.  Let me be your everlasting light.

Google+ felt the need to add David Hasselhoff.  I can't blame them

When the tour concluded, we were taken to a coffee shop to wait for the bus to arrive to take us back to Hanoi.  The road back was pretty sketchy, as traffic goes both ways down the same lane, because the other half of the road is under construction.  So what happens next you wonder.  BAM, for the second time in a month, I was in a car crash.  Some dude started driving directly toward the bus and made no move to swerve out of the way and ended up swiping the side of the bus.  The car didn't even stop, instead opting for a hit and run, so our driver got out of the bus and started running after the car in flip flops.  I'm not exactly sure where he estimated his foot speed, probably somewhere between a snake and a mongoose... and a panther.  But alas, he wasn't able to catch his perpetrator.  Our bus was just stopped in the middle of traffic lane for about an hour, so traffic was getting backed up around us.  The solution, traffic moved over to the other set of lanes that were closed for construction...Only in Asia.  There's no rules out here.

Men follow me to victory, we'll drop their ships, we'll sink em fast.  For when our canons roar, their bodies dance ashore.  A pirate's life for me, I won't go quietly!!!

Sometimes I feel like one of these ships, drifting through the fog and into the unknown...Lost at sea

All that drama for one busted rim?

Sapa was my only remaining destination in Vietnam, so I booked a train to get there.  My first train on this trip!  How I lasted this long using only buses, I'll never know.  Sapa is the peaceful, scenic place to visit in Northern Vietnam, so I decided to do some trekking there.  It was there I made my journey to the highest mountain in Indochina, but that's a story for another blog...

Random GoPros

A mini-model in the park, it even replicates the amount of garbage surrounding the building to perfection

A model of the Imperial Palace during it's zenith

Life could be harder....

Ha Long Bay with Stine and Kristine

I'm on a cruise, I don't want to have to do physical labor.  Why you making me kayak bro?

You can't avoid it.  Even locked in my room on the boat, they find a way to hassle me to buy their overpriced goods.  If only the window was closed!!!

Making spring rolls!  Much like their creator, mine were the best looking ;)

New Years Eve....Thailand Full Moon Style

After Christmas I decided to make my way accross Thailand to get to the East coast islands.  My island of choice was Ko (Alternatively spelled Koh, it just means island) Tao, which is the most popular place in Thailand to get your scuba diving certification.  To get there I had to take a minibus from my hostel to the main bus station, then take a bus to Suratthani.  Once it Suratthani, I was supposed to be picked up from the bus stop and taken to an overnight boat that went to Ko Tao.  However, the lady I bought my ticket from forgot to contact them apparently, so they weren't expecting me.

Luckily their office was only a few blocks from the bus stop, but once I arrived the people working there didn't feel the need to help me as the main guy was playing an intense game of Chinese checkers on his computer...  His little girls did hook me up with a free water as I waited though, which was awfully sweet of them.  After 30 minutes he finally made a call and after another 30 minutes of talking to people, they were able to find my reservation and I finally got taken down to the boat.  Always an adventure :)

Boat Dorm

First time sleeping on a cargo ship!

The boat docked into Ko Tao at 7 am, so I had breakfast while waiting for the ticket shops to open and then booked a ticket to Ko Phangan for 3 in the afternoon, since you have to arrive a few days in advance of the full moon parties to procure a room.  It was the easiest haggle of my life, I asked the lady if I could get the ticket for 400 baht instead of 450 and she was just like ok, plus she let me store my big bag while I wandered the island.

I was able to wander to the main beach on the island and was amazed by the views and overall cleanliness of the place.  The water there is unbelievably clear and has the multiple hues of blue that I love so much.  I really wish I had more time there so I could do my open water diving certification.  You could do it for between $250-$280, which included accommodation and breakfast for 4 days.  Most other places it's around $370 and often doesn't include accommodation, Australia would be between $600-800.  I guess I'll just have to make my way back in the future!  I also had the most amazing chocolate banana fruit shake, it was life changing.  I got Garlic naan, Thai vegetarian red curry (which for some reason contained a 500 grams of chicken) and that shake for 165 baht.... Roughly $5.

Koh Tao!

The beach is clean because trash is dumped into this forest apparently...The entire back half is cardboard boxes

A little jealous of the rich bastards that can afford to stay in that hotel...

Definitely want to come back and do some diving here

Now this is the view you should expect from a bar!!!!

Once I took my boat over to Ko Pha Ngan (alternatively spelled Pha-ngan or Phangan), Peppe was waiting to pick me up with the scooter like a legit tuk-tuk driver.  He also found a pretty sweet hostel for 200 baht a night, which was crazy cheap because most places double or triple their prices before the big parties.  We checked out a makeshift market, which operates once a week by shutting down a few blocks in order to erect vendor stalls.  Then we grabbed dinner at the night market.  That place is amazing.  Sushi is 10 baht, so 3 pieces of sushi is less than a dollar...I ate it every day.  A plate of Pad Thai was 30-40 baht.  And the fruit shakes were only 30 baht each.  You could get up to four different pieces of fruit in them.  Fruit and ice, occasionally some milk.  Healthy and delicious, I drink one or two a day and love it.

That night we took the scooter up north and then ended up going to a bar near our hostel.  Upon learning I was American, the bar hostess immediately yelled at her girls, thus we were joined in our game of pool by a pair of prostitutes. Another thing I've been dying to check off my bucket list. I can't even make this stuff up, life is so random when you're a professional backpacker.

Day two involved taking the scooter out to some waterfalls, which we proceeded to climb down for fun.  We also witnessed some of the worst scooter injuries I've ever imagined.  One girl's leg was completely covered in blood, with giant chunks of flesh missing from both knees.  The look of pain and anguish on her face was like nothing I've ever seen, but luckily there was help on the scene and none of her injuries were life-threatening.  We also took a journey out to a bar called Amsterdam, where you could buy weed directly from the bar.  In a country where using drugs can lead to the death penalty, I find it strangely ironic how you can get drugs so easily.  After hanging out at Amsterdam bar for a little while, we headed back to the hostel for a few swigs of rum and then headed to the Jungle Experience, which was a massive party in the middle of the jungle.

Who can resist smiling when they see two dogs playing on the beach? Well I mean other than Kim Jong-un and Satan

Random lookout point

Waterfalls are normal for me now, just normal everyday bits of scenery

It was a little pricy to get in at 300 baht ($10), but we figured how often do you get to party in the jungle.  A huge space was cleared out, so there were bars set up in congruence with the DJs blaring techno music.  Getting a drink was a huge hassle as there were maybe ten bartenders to serve several thousand people, but that's why you buy buckets!  For reasons unknown as we were dancing amongst the crowd, some British girl couldn't stop staring at me.  I mean of course this is normal for me, seeing as I'm ridiculously good looking, but it was super weird because she was there with her boyfriend.

Into the mouth of the lion

After I stopped dancing with crazy eyes, an Italian girl we met was like yeah, that's super weird she's still staring at you, you should probably find another girl here, one that isn't here with her boyfriend.  A few moments later when I asked her where her boyfriend had went off to, she leaned in and whispered, "Oh, he's not my boyfriend".  I'm not sure if it's because I trimmed back my unibrow or wiped before pulling my underpants back up that day, but for a few brief moments I had game son!  When the buckets come out and the DJs start spinning, well tables they turn sometimes!  Peppe and I stayed out until 6 AM and then rolled back to our hostel to get a few hours of sleep before heading down to the main beach for the pre-full moon party.

The pre-party was built around competitions; Including sand volleyball, soccer, and of course a bikini contest.  There was also a sexy man contest, which got hijacked by a dude with a Santa thong.  He got interviewed by the host after coming on stage and said he was Frank de Tank, which was pretty damn funny. We also hit up one of the greatest buffets I've ever been to in my life.  For less than $10, you could eat unlimited grilled meats, fish, and prawns (shrimp).  In addition they had salad, potato salad, spring rolls, and a few other appetizers.  My only downfall was that my stomach has shrunken smaller than that of an anorexic gnat's, since I eat the minimum amount of food needed for survival.  Thus my ability to gorge was rather paltry.  After the buffet we roamed for a few hours, but then decided to have an early night back at the hostel since we were planning on getting crazy drunk the following night for New Year's Eve.

Bikini Contest

Since it was our last day on the island we decided to do a big tour.  Thus we ventured out to climb another waterfall and hike around the surrounding woods to get to a lookout point.  We also checked out some Buddhist temples and finally drove to one last lookout point before heading to a restaurant to get a fruit shake.  When we got to the restaurant, we noticed the tide was low and some people were hiking on a patch of sand that had risen out of the ocean , so we walked a hundred meters or so through the jellyfish laden waters to end up on the mini island.

Climbing Waterfalls

Watch your step...

They call it a full moon for a reason!!!

My gong song...Not quite as epic as Sisqo's Thong Song (We both know you're youtubing that song right now....)

Enter the Dragon

Maybe someday I'll follow this and be goody goody....but right now I'm feeling naughty naughty

This is so the creepiest statue ever, it's all skeletal and veiny, my god it's like looking into my future

This is where I want to have my fortress of solitude

View from a random pier

Lookout Point

Random patch of beach that rose from the ocean

I love islands...so flawless

Jelly!!!!!!!

After getting back to the hostel and showering, we got some M150 to mix with our bottle of vodka, which we proceeded to empty in 30 minutes...probably a terrible decision as we both went to an epic level of blackout drunk.  We were supposed to have a Gili Hostel reunion with Daphne at a bar that looked like a ship, but we couldn't find her in the midst of the huge crowd, well that and the fact we were both shitfaced beyond redemption.  I vaguely recall scaling the ship wall in our attempts to find her, but it's all a blur, so who knows if that memory is real or imagined.  Sometimes I'm not sure how I'm still alive.

At some point we ran into some Dutch girls that we also shared a room with at Gili Hostel...crazy small world.  In their drunken state of confusion, they found me attractive, oh beer goggles, how I love thee.  So my New Years started off by sharing a few kisses with a pretty Dutch girl, not too shabby eh!  I was so drunk, I don't remember meeting them, and I'm not sure I even realized they were the same girls from the hostel until the next day.  At one point, she started leaning into me really hard as we were kissing and I was so drunk I lost my balance and we went tumbling into the sand.   That's the risk you take ladies!!!!

The next thing I remember is roaming the beach by myself and realizing Peppe was gone and I should probably go find him.  I have no idea what happened to the Dutch girls, as I was blacked out during the part where they left me or I left them, who knows.  I wandered around for what seemed like forever, but was probably about twenty minutes, in the massive crowd of 50,000 people and couldn't find him.  Just when I was about to give up, I ran into him on the street.  We went back down to the beach to grab some egg rolls and then decided we should just head back to the hostel.

I was drunkenly asking cabbies if we could throw the scooter in the back of their truckbed, to which the universal answer was no.  However, at some point Peppe decided he could drive, so we hopped on the scooter, which was probably the scarriest/most dangerous thing I've done yet. The roads in Ko Phangan are insanely hilly and curvy, so with the combination of drunkenness, other drunk drivers, and taxis driving people all over the place, it was an accident waiting to happen... Our accident came when all of a sudden all the cars stopped while we were going uphill, so Peppe had to slam on the brakes and as we came to a stop, the moped fell over on him.  Having sobered slightly to the level of a highly functioning alcoholic, I was able to catch myself without falling to the ground.

The funniest moments came when we woke up the next morning and realized neither of us remembered what happened the night before, other than the Dutch girls and the scooter incident.  Then Peppe opened up his phone to see if he took any pictures and sure enough there were loads of us doing poses with random people, wandering the beach, and a video with Peppe screaming, "Happy New Year, I Love You" at every living creature and probably some imaginary ones that crossed his path.  At one point a girl just asks him if he's ok, it was awesome.

Peppe's iPhone Photos

Playing pool with some Thai hookers...yeahhhhh

I have mad game with prostitutes, they all want me...

Let's drink for this time we have earned :)

"Happy New Year Everyone, I Love You"

2 for me, 1 for you bro!!!

Between Peppe's hat and my Hello Kitty sunglasses, we were accessorizing like real badasses!!!

No clue who this dude is, but he's clearly pretty awesome

We apparently went to give some love to the people at the amazing buffet!

You should always be afraid of where your girl will be, cus who knows she could be alone with me.... :p

It was also around this time that I was informed that I was covered in body paint, though I have no recollection of that happening.  I also spent around 700 baht, which will remain a mystery.  After grabbing breakfast, we headed down to the docks because our boat to Ko Tao left at noon.  I wanted to go to Ko Samui, but the boats were all full, so I figured I might as well go to Ko Tao since I could get to Bangkok cheaper from there.  Once we arrived, we struggled, but eventually found a hostel as nearly everything was full.

We roamed the beaches for a while and then I went on a quest to find a boat to Chumpon so I could bus/train from there to Bangkok.  However it turned out that the train option was booked through the next 9 days and the bus for the next 3, so my only option was to go back south to Surratthani and then bus to Bangkok from there.  This option cost an extra 500 baht ($17), but it was the only way I would have enough time to see Bangkok before heading to the elephant sanctuary.  Effin tourist peak season!!!  The journey didn't exactly go as the itinerary stated, but that is a story for another blog....


Random GoPros

Ko Tao

Para Para Paradise...

How did mankind stare at the sun and moon, see they were both giant round balls and then assume the Earth was flat... For hundreds of years.  That's always struck me as odd

Just a friendly cat taking a nap in the grocery store...

Ko Pha Ngan

Someday this tree will stand in my shadow....

Waterfallin

Paths are for pansies, real men climb!!!!

The world's a jungle gym, play with it

Lookout Point

Some pics just look way cooler with a gopro

The Scooter

Back on Ko Tao

I'll be back again...someday

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope 2014 finds you with everything you've been hoping for...

Jellyfish video