I was lucky enough to go to Thailand two times while I was working in Malaysia.  The first trip took me to the southern part of Thailand; and on the second trip, I went to the Island of Phuket, and finally to the Phi Phi Islands.  In Phuket, I met a guy named Will who worked for the American consulate.  He married a Thai woman, and they had a little place on the beach called "Friendship Beach".  They had little cabanas that you could rent for the night for small fee.  Will's wife also ran a small outdoor restaurant, and she made the best coconut green curry you've ever had - it was like nectar.  Every third Sunday of the month, they would have a jam where musicians come from all over - however, I missed the jam by one night.  That would have been fun.

Next I went to the Phi Phi islands - this is where they filmed the movie "The Beach".  It is a spectacular place with beautiful, clear water, coral, and an amazing underwater sea world.  You can see below some of the pictures of the island, the ocean, and beaches.  I took some shots of the boats called "Longtails", that belong to the local fishermen which were docked for the night.  I thought they were cool looking.  The way they get around on the island is by use of a motorcycle, with a carriage on the back.  You can see a pic of this below - if you look closely, you will see that the two persons on the right of the carriage are what they call "Pondans" (or he/she transvestites) - there are a lot of them in Thailand.  Finally you can see some pics of the cabins that I stayed in on the island, and a place where you can get a Thai Massage for about $2

I also went scuba diving off the coast of the Phi Phi islands, and saw a bunch of sea turtles, among other interesting sea creatures.  Diving in the coral reefs there was like something out of National Geographic.  My dad is a retired scuba diving instructor, and now I know why he enjoyed so much.  It's a whole other world down there - you get to practice your breathing as well, so you don't suck down a tank of oxygen too fast.  You will notice some pictures of caves we passed along the way.  The large one is called "Viking Cave", and supposedly was use by nomads hundreds of years ago.

The other pics are of some of the temples I visited in southern Thailand; and some from a temple in Malaysia as well.  The color they use in the temples is just invigorating.  The attention to detail is incredible - it really is a work of art.  I could hang out there for hours, and I did.  There is one picture a pagoda - you can go inside and spiral your way to the top.  One each level, there was a different scene of Buddhas, and prayer alters.  This one had five levels.  Some of the pics are from looking down from the balconies.  The last set of pics are from the only resort I went to - they had cool private cabins scattered about in the woods.  The resort was built right on the beach, but had a great pool as well - the whole place was also landscaped with great care.  Finally, I captured the sunrise from my apartment window one morning, so I threw that in as well.  I hope you like the pics...