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I don't know how many of you have had the honor of traveling to the beaches of Thailand, but if you have you know what I mean when I say this is the greatest place on earth.

We are currently staying on Haad Yuan, a small beach on Koh Pha Ngan a little north of Haad Rin (the party beach) Our beach is fairly isolated and due to the rough seas it truly feels like it is a world away from civilization. Aaron and I took the night boat out to the island a few days ago and it did not disappoint. First let me point out that we had spent over 24 hours on a train simply getting to the pier and we were immediately warned that it would be a rough ride. I went straight to the 7-11 and bought a large bottle of Whiskey and some water to use as a chaser. There were only 20 people on the boat that night and most of us were in the mood to party. After a long debate as to whether we should play kings using european or aussie rules we decided to just play two rounds. Needless to say I pulled the final king both rounds and proceeded to fall asleep immediately. Aaron was not so lucky, he spent the rest of the night puking off the side of the boat.

We arrive in Koh Pha Ngan early in the morning and loaded up into the back of a pick-up truck. When we got to Haad Rin we were bumbed out to find that the waves were too heavy to send water taxis out of the sunrise side of the beach so we ALMOST CONSIDERED STAYING IN HAAD RIN. If any of you have been here you know how terrible it is to stay in Haad Rin. Luckily I ran into this German girl who said they were sending boats out of the sunset side of the beach and they would take us to Haad Thien which was the beach next to ours. Needless to say the boat ride was rough. Aaron and Jasper, this dutch guy who is staying with us both got sick again and I lucked out, I only got soaked. We made it to Haad Yuan after an hours boat ride in choppy waves (it usually only takes 10 minutes) Once we arrived we hiked over from Haad Thien and got an awesome bungalow at the Barcelona and partied the night away at Eden.

Today's hike into town wasn't too bad, but it still took 2 hours. That said, it was free and that made it a lot easier to bear. We met up with a girl named Princess and she let the way through the jungle and we only got lost a few times. In a little bit I will head back to Haad Yuan since there is a jungle party some time after midnight on an adjacent beach.

In a few days Cressica and Dora will meet up with us and if either of you are reading the blog please e-mail me you ferry information to my hotmail account at mark5136@hotmail.com

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Be good,
Mark