Or, in English, Happy New Year!

Happy Thais in a jeep who wanted us to take their picture

A second after I took this picture, she re-thought her attack plan and squirted straight into my face

Michael and friends

Songkran means "passing into", and it's celebrated in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia under different names. Here, it occurs at the end of the dry season, and it's a massive water party in the hopes that all that good-spirited water warfare will bring blessings of lots of rain during the rainy season. It's also a religious holiday, when the monks bless the statues of Buddha. Mostly, though, it's an all-out sopping wet party in the streets throughout the country, and nowhere is the party more rockin' than in Chiang Mai.

Surprise attack!

Killer instinct

I can't remember when I've had more silly, ridiculous fun. My favorite part was watching the children get so excited about chasing people down with buckets that were almost too heavy for them to carry.

like a crispy, thin pancake made from lots of strings of batter. It was yummy.

Coconut ice cream in a coconut

Shooting on the run

Oh, and the best part: you get to make resolutions again! So, it doesn't even matter that mine (staying better in touch) never really got off the ground in January. World, get ready for a whole new, e-mail-whipping-out Katie! But, world, please don't set your expectations too high. I'm still drying off.

Drenched

We're back in Bangkok again, after an amazing week on an island paradise spent fine-tuning our travel plans and unwinding from the craziness that is huge Asian cities. Ko Chang is a relatively large island off the south coast of Thailand, and its name means (as you may have guessed from the blog title) Elephant Island. Michael and I arrived the Tuesday before last, and stayed on the west coast at a place recommended by some friends and the Lonely Planet for the first night.

Michael, soaking up the beach vibe

Our view during dinner, our first night on the island

The first place we stayed

Me and the water buffalo that liked to graze near the bungalows

reading in the hammock we bought in town

Michael, in true "Survivor" style, managed to open a coconut using two rocks he found. It was yummy.

a picture we took when we took a little break from driving around the island

So, once we found the new Treehouse and made our way back with our backpacks, we weren't in any hurry to leave.

View from the other restaurant at Long Beach

The dining/hanging out area ( Treehouse)

Thai coke, in appropriate surroundings

Another view of our bungalow (Treehouse)

front view of our bungalow at Treehouse

doing a little hiking

We're back in the chaotic, past-meets-urban-progress juxtaposition that is Bangkok now, but we haven't done much in terms of touristy stuff here. Mostly, we've been taking care of things like making future travel arrangements. Next week is one of the biggest holidays of the year in Thailand: Songkran, or Thai New Year. It involves spraying people with water guns, so I'm really excited. Apparently the place to be for the celebration is a city in the north called Chiang Mai, so we booked what could very likely be some of the last tickets to get there. It's going to be a (gulp) 10+ hour sleeper bus ride that we had planned to break up a bit by stopping in some different cities. However, due to all the holiday traffic we were lucky to get any space on a bus (all the trains are booked) out of town at all.

Anyway, my time is about to expire and I'm all out of the correct coins to feed the machine to keep the internet going, so I'd better run. Michael is here too, having a great time also, and sends his best.

written by  katieandmichael on April 9, 2009 from Trat, Thailand
from the travel blog: Katie and Michael's Travel Blog
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a Banyan tree - they grow horizontally by sending shoots down from the branches that connect with the ground and make a new mini-trunk. I guess they don't want this one to get any bigger

A shrine and a huge highrise building - an appropriate summary of Bangkok

Our new Thai food discovery: Tom Ka Gai. Yum Yum Yum.

This afternoon, we took a series of public ferries that taxi people of all ages down the river that cuts through Bangkok.

A little stop along the river, when we were in the river taxi

A street near the Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Tonight we're going to take it easy, because in the morning we leave for the island of Ko Chang. On Ko Chang we will stay in a place called the tree house, on lonely beach. It sounds like a great place to be, but not a good place to use the internet. So, you may not here from us for a while. Each of you are in our thoughts and we hope that all is well. As for us, we couldn't possibly be better. Katie sends lots of love and we hope to post more really soon, including some pictures.

written by  katieandmichael on March 30, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: Katie and Michael's Travel Blog
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Our tiny (but clean, with SUPER friendly staff) room at our hostel

Sorry I haven't written sooner, but the last couple of days have kind-of been a bit of a blur. Our flight was a bit of a mess, but then I've come to accept that they usually are, really, and that's just a part of the whole traveling experience. Anyway, if I may offer a tip, don't book a flight with a one-hour international layover against your better judgment just because Orbitz says it's okay.

A pagoda in a little park sanctuary in the middle of the city

An Irish pub, complete with token red-haired guy

Lots of crazy fruit

written by  katieandmichael on March 28, 2009 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong
from the travel blog: Katie and Michael's Travel Blog
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