Hello all! Sorry that we have not posted in a couple of days, for anyone who has been following along. We have left Bangkok after being there for a couple of days so that we could begin our island hopping. To recap our adventures up till this point, I'll start with our last day in Bangkok, which was a wash of all sortsa weird stuff. We decided that we wanted to go island hop, so we went to Hualamphong Station to get a combo package, which included an express train to Surat Thani, bus ride to the Don Bak(?) port, as well as the ferry ride to Ko Samui, Thailand's largest island. We settled for the second class train seats thinking that it would be suitable for what we needed. Unfortunately, it was not what we expected. The train was eeegh... lets just leave it at that. And a note if you ever travel to Thailand, or anywhere else for that matter... nothing is complimentary!! The next day, we spent rummaging around Siam Square. The square features all sorts of shops and restaurants for the avid tourist, and fit the bit quite nicely. Of course, we didn't realize that EVERY SINGLE THAI PERSON IN THE WORLD goes to the square on Sundays, so it literally took us almost 40 minutes to get through the traffic. Also, keep in mind that this is right after we have checked out of our room at the hotel, so we have all of our bags with us. Sweet eh? Alright, so we find ourselves in MBK mall in Siam Square completely emursed in People, Clothes, and any other consumable you can imagine. This place.. was un REAL. They have one floor devoted to JUST cell phones. Obviously this floor was full beyond any comprehension, and we could barely make our way through. After a couple minutes of carrying our bags, we made a very serious and important discovery. Our bags were simply too heavy. My back was giving out on me, and maria and I (still jet lagged and naucious mind you) were not down with the situation. We sat down to eat, and literally in the middle of the restaurant, went through all of our stuff to decide what we were going to jettison. Mom, I'm sorry, but the sweater idea?? Not so good. I turfed it. Along with a couple other things. We ate, and after we got rid of the stuff, our bags were considerably lighter. Phew! Now we could shop! We were and continue to be amazed at the sheer size of this mall (think metrotown times 20). Tons of floors, and so many things to buy, and the best part?? SO FRIGGEN CHEAP. Diesel jeans for $30?? whuuuuuut?? I managed to score a cool thai cotton shirt, and maria some pants and a watch.How much?? 20 bucks.. We didn't want to go crazy on our first trek, but oh we'll be back. Maria wants to grab a new cell phone, and I may just do the same. So after our long day at the mall, we needed to retreat back to Hualamphong station to catch our train. Upon arriving at the berth, we chatted up a British couple who were telling us about their horrendous day of getting hassled by the taxi drivers in Bangkok. They ended up buying 500 dollars worth of suits as she put it! Apparently thai people are very shy and will only talk to you if they are selling something or want to scam you. It certainly made us feel a lot better about our own situation, seeing as how we realized very quickly that the taxi drivers were always on the hunt for a quick buck. We finally boarded the train only to realize that the train was probably built in 1855.!! And nothing in Thailand is complimentary!! A long and hugely noisy and bumpy train ride and ferry ride and about 16 hours later, we haggled with a cab driver and we got a ride for 380bhat. Too much, but they werent willing to budge. Were gonna rent some bikes. Anyways, we found this cute little BASIC beach bungalow, not right on the beach but its quaint. No a/c though, so that sucks, but ityll have to do. Were gonna splurge tomorrow and probably go to a resort. I tshould be nice. Anyways, apparently there will be thundershowers for the next 5 days so we may be posting a lot. Keep in touch with your messages , it keeps us going and we love knowing you guys are watching!! Love you all, dont worry about us, were doing great. mia and Vlad p.s. here are some pictures of our trip so far (in completely the wrong order :)