Quick Update

It's been a while since I last posted anything. After we left Chiang Mai, we spent several days traveling (both by bus and boat) through Laos. Like a few weeks before, I came down with some type of stomach ailment; therefore my time in Laos was tinged with the side effects of antibiotics.

We stayed in Laos for less than a week. Our main motivation for leaving Thailand was to renew our visa-- which expired February 14th. Unfortunately, we didn't reach immigration until the 15th and got stung with two fines of 500 Baht. Until recently, a quick bus trip to a border country would allow an exit, a re-entry, and 30 fresh days of Thailand travel. Now the re-entry only provides 15 days. Our plan was to take a boat into Laos and then a bus down to Vientiane to apply for a 60 Thailand tourist visa. After we arrived in Luang Prabang we were exhausted from traveling and dreading the additional 20 hours of cramped bus riding back to Bangkok. We decided to bypass the bus riding, immigration offices, and special tourist visa and just bought a plane ticket back into Thailand. Since we came into Bangkok on an international flight we got 30 new days and our immigration problem was taken care of.

We've been in Bangkok for several days now, going to supermalls and watching American movies. Tomorrow we fly (the domestic flights are really cheap) down to Krabi. Our friend Ryan arrives in Thailand this week and will meet us down in the South for cheap bungalows and sun burns.