Ok i REALLY am leaving this time...

so if you are wondering how to get from the island back to the airport, here it goes! so a taxi from the bungalow to the pier on the other side of the island. then a boat for 4 hrs, followed by a bus for 7hrs. THEN... a taxi, a touk touk, and 2 trains land me back at the airport. its 1030pm now and i check in for my flight at around 4 and take off at 540am thru tokyo, detroit, and finally landing around 330pm wendesday local time. now its the waiting game. theres not anything except my bank account that suffered my extended stay here and as much as i look forward to adentures back out west i simply did not want it to be over yet. forr our last night we had dinner, the 4 of us (al, gem, chantelle, and myself) and then went to our favorite bar for some final drinks. everyone at the bar bid us farewell with a house round of sambuca shots and playfully said that they well see us next year, because we are the types to keep coming back. its a nice thought and to know i have a place halfway around the world where im welcomed. i thank all off you for your supports and well wishes while ive been away and i cant wait to see you all.

Local hospitality

So after some debating we decided to do the rest of our stay here. It's a slow relaxed way of living here and is just what I need before heading back into life in the states. We enjoy our rituals here of tea time and reading in the hammocks, as well as the daily trips into town for fresh bread, eggs, and fruit for a day or two. But the real thing keeping us here is the people. We have Al and Gem that are our regular people to hang out with. We have drinks with them and they have us over for dinner for proper Thai food. There's a small group of seasonal locals, most of which are in the dive scene, and they all stick together. So its always a celebration at night with bdays, or dive certs that get everyone together for some laughs and drinks. Tonight we went up to a dinner party and had proper fish and chips as well as a Portuguese chicken and rice. We sat in their pool and veranda to watch the sunset over the bay. Mind you this was a million dollar view anywhere else in the world. It's just great after being here for such a short time to feel at home rather than a tourist that just get looked at as an atm. It's great to hear stories of how all the locals came to be here and the different ways they make it work to come back every winter. People here have opened their homes, kitchens, bars, and most of all their hearts to welcome a couple of new arrivals. Its also nice for me to stay put and not move around so much because its the transitions that get you in expenses. I'd rather live it up in a place I really like than put pins on a map of all the cities I saw for a day or two. My only regret is that ill leave the island a day before the Thai new year where everyone has a nation wide water fight. I will be taking the bus on the 12th back to Bangkok to sleep a few hours in the airport before heading back on my flights. Miss you all and its just about a week before ill be home. This extra month has flown by so fast I can't grasp it. But time flies... when you don't own a watch!!
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The sun makes a come back

After what seemed like ah eternity of rain the sun has finally poked out this morning as I looked out from bed. It's refreshing to know that I might not have to use a dry bag and poncho to drive the bike, or worry about getting wet on the porch. Finally we can do laundry and maybe start to explore more of thia island. For those of you who don't watch the news, this was some horrible flooding and locals said it was the worst rain in ten years. There were roads washed out, power lines down, and the bridge by our bungalow even collapsed. Let's just say driving a bike around now takes a bit more skill. The Thai military even showed up a couple days ago and had a volunteer evacuation on a giant aircraft carrier which took around 900 people from the 3 islands, one of which is ours. We decided to say since there really was no need for us to go elsewhere. We have food and water and local connections so it seemed better to stay. Were talking now about where to go next considering I only have about 10 days left. The original plan was to head south, maybe climb, but the weather is still not consistently dry to climb and the south got hit so hard we don't really know how it will be down there. There were a lot of displaced people and some deaths, so we might head north around central Thailand for warm weather and some exploring. Were throwing around ideas now and Chantelle has to at least wait til the 4th here to catch a boat to do a visa run before we head further away from Malaysia. In conversations with Chantelle I am getting really excited to get back to climbing and adventures out west, as well as seeing familiar faces. I'll keep you all posted on where we end up going next. For today, food shopping, laundry, and what there is to do on this island when it doesn't rain!!

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