Longhorn Lovin' & Koh Chang

Sorry it's been a while since I've written, school has been killing me....grrr Thammasat University.

Since I've last written, Kyle, Alex & Eric, all friends from my home university, UT, who are studying abroad in Singapore and Hong Kong, visited. They all 3 arrived on Thursday night, and we proceeded to get the night started with a trip to RCA, the club strip on Sukhumvit Street. After a fun night out, we wake up early to begin our travels to Koh Chang for the weekend. Once we arrive in Koh Chang, we found a bungalow right on the beach, and head into the town to grab dinner. After dinner, we spent the next few hours hanging out at the hotel's gazeebo on the beach, and then headed to a bar, where I met some Brits and kicked their butt in a round of Connect Four games. Then I got my butt kicked by the Thai bartender... I think she has had some practice.

As we're walking home from the bar, I start to not feel very well. Next thing I know I'm vomitting as MJ, my totally drunk roommate for the weekend, is holding back my hair (the sober one). How ironic. Anyway, I sleep for a few hours and then proceed to go back outside and continue vomitting until all the food from my stomach is officially gone. When Eric comes to wake me up the next morning for elephant trekking, I can barely sit up straight, let alone get up, shower, and walk somewhere. Not happening. So I spend the entire day in the bungalow, watching CNN, while the rest of the group goes on a trek through the jungle. The bad side: I thought I might have contracted malaria. The good side: I now know the life story of Sarah Palin. So, I literally eat 3 crackers and a cookie all day and finally by around 7pm, I feel strong enough to get dressed (this takes about 25 minutes) and make the trek to 7/11 about .5 miles away (with about 4 breaks along the way). I finally make it, and find the rest of the crew about to rent motorbikes. Noooo!!! I try to stop them, but as I walk into 7/11 for a yogurt, MJ gets on her motorbike. Mistake # 1. Then MJ starts the motorbike. Mistake # 2. Next thing we all know, MJ and her bike are now halfway in a store, after crashing into a clothing stand. Ha! Good thing she was going about 5 mph. At this point, I really don't understand what is happening, but the Thai lady who rented them the motorbikes sees me and immediately offers to take me to the pharmacy (ya, I looked that bad). The pharmacy was closed, so she just took me back to the bungalow, where I promptly passed out. Until 2:30 am, when I am kindly awoken by my friends and told to put on my bathing suit, we're going for a night swim. Well, more like a night waddle through the water, as the tide is low and we can walk straight into the ocean for 20 minutes and still be only up to our knees in water. Nonetheless, it was a pretty amazing midnight ocean stroll, and also the cause of us missing our 8am snorkeling appointment. Instead, we spend a long time at breakfast and then splash around in the ocean for a few hours before heading back to BKK. Pretty exciting weekend, right? Okay, maybe not my best. As for my 24-hour illness, 1,000 baht to the first of you who can guess what I contracted.

This is it for now, enjoy my shortest post yet!

Cheers!