....and I'm back!

No, not in Europe, you sillies. I'm back to blogging. But then again the two people who still read this knew that anyway.

I've decided that it's pointless for me to try and play catch-up, so I'm just going to skip the rest of my time in South America and New Zealand for now, and start talking in the present.
I arrived in Phuket in Southern Thailand last night. The food here is amazing, I can already tell that the ASia section oif my trip is worthwhile just from a culinary perspective. While South America was ok, this is great: I started my day with a curry over rice, and it's been heaven ever since.....

I also want to say that although New Zealand was very nice and all - and ammentities like drinkable tap water and smooth roads, English spoken commonly, ets - I'm really happy to be back in an LDC. I walked past a canal this morning that smelled of stale water, rot and maybe a little bit like human waste... and was happy it did. Weird.

I'm staying in the hostel from the movie "The Beach" with Leonarde DiCapri. When I saw last night that it's here in town, I just had to stay there. And I'll tell you, it's just as creepy and grimy as in the movie, theyt didn't have to bring in any set-building whizzes to get it like that. I keep thinking i'm going to run into Duffy's body in the hallway or find blood running out from under the door. The only thing they've changed is that the mosquito netting between the rooms (at the top, where Duffy pokes through to smoke weed with Leo's character) has been replaced with wood. I'm guess too many people were reenacting the movie scene......