I'm so behind on posting photos, so let's wrap up the Thailand posts!

Our second (and last, unfortunately) stop in Thailand was Koh Samet. It's one of the closest islands to Bangkok so it was a perfect location for our short trip. It was hot hot hot (even the water!), but we had a lot of fun. We drank banana shakes, went para-sailing, stayed in the ocean for hours, got burned despite our best efforts, took afternoon naps to escape the heat and ate lots of fresh mangos.

The floating markets of Damneon Saduak are definitely a tourist trap but still manage somehow to be quite pleasant. While we didn't buy any kitsch Thai souvenirs, we definitely liked people watching and marveling over all the food some of these women carted around in their boats.

What magnificent creatures! Their rough skin, their huge toenails, their spotted trunks and ears, their beautiful eyes and eyelashes... elephants are really something else.

(Kudos to Mike for that unbelievable last photo!)

Mike's family came to visit us here in Asia at the beginning of April. We spent a day in Korea before we zipped over to Thailand for a short trip. Here are a few photos from the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Pretty spectacular!

We melted the entire time we were in Bangkok. Thankfully, our hotel had a pool! ^_^

Coming up next: elephants!

as temperatures have begun to dip plummet into the -30ºCs (-20s ºF), mike and i have been revisiting our travel photos and videos from the last year with reckless abandon (him - thailand + laos. me - greece + turkey). a beautiful, sunny, but ultimately depressing escape. why again, do we live in this freezing wasteland? why are we not wandering around outdoor markets, reading books on sandy beaches and racing around on scooters in asia? oh right... that's supposed to happen after i graduate.

in any case, allow me to offer you one of my favourite escapes as of late - a video mike put together of his time in asia last march. it's beautiful. feel free to get lost in it for awhile, but don't hate me if it makes you even more bitter and depressed about the winter chill...

*song: anoraak remix of 'psychic chasms' by neon indian = perfect accompaniment.

asian adventure from Mike Severloh on Vimeo.

*we have also been dealing with the cold by plowing through seasons of lost. another pleasant yet dangerous diversion.