Back from Thailand...Sort Of

Well, it's been almost a week since my return to the States. It's great to be home, but I do miss our group and the camaraderie. I don't know if I've laughed so hard or had so much fun in my life. It was truly the best vacation EVER.

My sleep pattern is something else I miss. I've lived the life of an insomniac the since being home and totally empathize with those who suffer from sleep issues. Since being back, my normal sleep pattern looks like this: wake up around 5 am bright eyed and ready for the day; hit a wall around 5 pm; sleep from 6 pm-9 pm; stay up until 1 am and then try to get back to bed. The past two days have gotten better, and I've only resorted to Ambien twice (half-pill only). No intervention is required yet.

Here are some photos from the trip.

The final part of our trip was so relaxing. We stayed at the Zeavola resort. There are only 48 rooms so we felt like we really escaped from civilization. One night, Dawn and I decided to visit Ton Sai village for shopping. We asked the concierge how to catch a taxi. Come to find out there were no roads leading to or from the hotel. We had to take a 45-minute water taxi (and inhale about the carbon dioxide) of a longtail boat to reach civilization. Aside from that one excursion, we stayed at Zeavola from Tuesday until Friday.

The one bit of disturbing news -- not just for us -- but the for entire country was reading the front page of the local newspaper on our arrival to Ko Phi Phi. I took a photo of it and pasted it below. Check out the bottom headline! The only warning buoy in Andaman Sea alerting Thailand to tsunamis is not working. The buoy which was paid for by a grant from USAID has non-functioning battery. The Thai government doesn't have enough money to pay for a replacement. Come to find out, the cost to replace it is roughly $5,000 USD.