Movie theaters don't exist in cambodia. it's impossible to go to the movies. so when I needed to kill a day in bangkok before heading off on my scuba adventure my buddy and I decided to spend the day at the movies. We decided to see Transformers even though I saw it the day after it came out in america. Cambodia may not have movie theaters but it does have a fabulous black market where bootleg dvds cost a dollar and are sold in every market in Phnom Penh. The highlight of the thai movie experience is definitely being forced to stand and honor the King before the movie starts, while a video montage of the King posing in front of all sorts of wildlife scenes plays on the screen. I think we should implement that in America. but not with anyone of any importance, just random people. How great would it be to honor Mike the auto mechanic or Joanne the grocery store clerk? They would wear their uniforms complete with patches and name tags, and their images would be super imposed in front of the Rocky mountains while random music blared. If this happened, I'd feel like I was getting my $10 worth.

To get to Koh Tao from Bangkok, I had to take an 8 hour night bus and then a high speed catamaran. The bus trip was rather uneventful and we arrived at the port around 5:30 am and we all hop onto the catamaran. Within about 15 minutes the first passanger booted. About two minutes after that, a second person threw up. After the first 30 minutes the ride deteriorated into a cacophony of spew. The chorus of wretching continued for the next 2 hours, as I sat in my aisle seat praying that no one would puke on me. Luckily I made it to Koh Tao vomit free - unfortunately some other patrons weren't so lucky.

I aced my diving test and I'm now a certified scuba diver. According to the instructional video I watched as part of the course, I now have more fun than every other group of people in the world. Diving was incredible, a little indescribable and a lot of fun. There's really nothing like floating next to and between massive schools of fish. I saw a shark, a sting ray, a giant puffer fisch, a bunch of different types of fish (i can't remember any of the names) and i held a sea urchin. I can't wait to go diving again.

The rest of my time on the beach was spent relaxing. Even though you move as little as possible when diving it's extremely exhausting. I also spent a fair amount of time drinking heavily. There's really nothing like a $3 bucket of thai whiskey, red bull and coke. fantastic.

Vacationing to a beach in thailand after living in Cambodia is like living anywhere in America and vacationing to the Jersey Shore. The people look very similar, but really they're different. The language the natives speak sounds the same, but yet it's really hard to understand them. You eat foods unique to the place - in thailand its pad thai, in jersey it's fried cheese balls. The similarities are endless.

After spending tuesday night at the bangkok airport, I made it back to Cambodia without any problems.

I've stopped shaving in Cambodia. Instead I go to the barber every few days and have him shave me. It makes sense economically. I figure it takes me about 10 minutes to shave. It only costs $1 to get a shave. Since I value my time at more than $6/hour, it's cheaper to go to the barber shop and get a shave. (I have no idea why I value my time at more than $6/hour, especially since I don't get paid. But I do. I also have no idea how much my time is really worth or the exact price I think my time is worth, but I'm going with more than $6). So last night I headed to my barder for a shave. He normally just uses his buzzers and I'm out of there in about 15 minutes. Last night for some reason, I decided I wanted a real shave. When I told him, he eyed me curiously and looked a little scared. He asked if I was sure and undettered by his demeanor I said yes. Everything started out well, but by the time he got about half-way down my right cheek, he needed to change razors. A few more strokes and then another change of razors - this routine quickly became comical. It took him about 45 minutes and he went through at least 5 razors. Everyone else in the barber shop constantly looked over, laughing that he was still shaving me. By the end of it, I felt bad for the guy. I had no idea it was such a laborious process. I ended up paying him $3 and he did a pretty good job. Still, I think next time I'm going to just have him use the buzzers.