Today's entry is from Bill so please lower your expectations regarding the food descriptions. Now don't get me wrong, the food is definitely one of my highlights, I simply don't have the extended vocab that Angie has in this area.

Be sure to take a look at the attached pictures to get an idea of how we spent our day today. We boarded a mini-bus for a quick 5 minute ride to the departure point this morning. We boarded a 32 ft speed boat and headed to an island in the Gulf of Thailand called Ko Tao. As you can see, it was nothing short of incredible. The water was some of the clearest I've ever experienced and the coral and colorful fish were spectacular. We didn't bring an underwater camera so you just have to take my word for it! This was a snorkeling trip so we weren't encumbered by all the scuba gear which made for a pretty low effort experience. There is a picture of one of the many "long" boats which are typical for Thailand. They are generally well decorated and have these very extended propeller shafts so they can manuver in shallow water. The long boats we saw in Kanchanaburi were total hotrods with V-6 engines...the ones we saw today had more like lawnmower (or snowblower for you folks in the north) engines.

You'll also see some very quaint bungalows in the picture which dotted the perimeter of the island. The only apparent access to these shacks was by boat..very idyllic and something we working stiffs can only dream about.

The ride to Ko Tao took about 1.5 hrs whereas we headed north from Ko Samui. It was a very smooth ride and I had a few moments where I was longing for a water ski.

Anyway, on the ride back I had a great conversation with a guy from Philly who has been working in Beijing for the past 3 years. He sells trains for GE so you can imagine that he was pretty busy. Part of the great opportunity trips like this create is the chance to meet and talk to folks you might not otherwise ever have a chance to talk to. Yesterday we met a guy from Germany who lives in Bangkok and has a second home in Ko Samui and just this afternoon we met a guy from London who met a gal from Japan, married her and has lived in Ko Saumi for the past 5 yrs.

The Brit told us of a great restaurant called "My Friends" which was about 3/4 mile from our hotel. We just returned and completely filled our senses and stomachs for ~$15.

Tomorrow we start another adventure as we leave Ko Samui (on the Gulf of Thailand) and head for Krabi (Andaman Sea). We're alittle nervous about the chances of getting into a good hotel since we're rapidly approaching XMAS but so far our luck has been quite good. No need to think it will change so we're going for it!

It's great to hear from the Park City folks...we dearly miss you and hope you get some great snow for the holidays. A special hello to Juan, Drew, Rob, Bobby, Tim, Eric and the folks at PAML. Please keep your comments coming, we enjoy reading them...