I'm back!

My last month in Taiwan went by like a flash. I was in Taipei for a few days, before heading down to Fengshan, a suburb of Kaohsiung, in the south. Aside from visiting Lukang and Kenting again, I didn't leave Kaohsiung. I helped my mom move into her new condo in Kaohsiung and buy a car, and my dad arrived just in time for the Chinese New Year's Eve festivities (lots of eating). I relaxed and did little touristing, which was quite nice after over a year on the road. Before I knew it, my thirty days were up (that's all that's allowed when you arrive without a visa), and I had to fly back to Thailand. I optimistically left all of my cold-weather clothing in Taiwan.
I've been in Bangkok for the past three nights, staying at the Woraburi Hotel and Resort in the Sukhumvit area again. I love it here. The first day I met up with Simon and Annabel from my overland trip across Tibet and Kathmandu. We had a picnic in our room (proscuitto and Camembert!) and enjoyed the rooftop pool. It seemed like we had just enjoyed each others company just last week! They had spent five weeks in total visiting the south of India before heading to Cambodia for a few weeks. They left for Myanmar yesterday. Their six month travels will be ending mid-March when they fly back to the UK from Bangkok. Time flies when you're on the road. I met up with Emily's parents from the UK yesterday. They have arrived for a two-week packaged "adventure holiday" in Thailand through Explore. They're headed up to northern Thailand for some hill-tribe trekking before returning down to Bangkok and then to Ko Samet for a couple days. Today we took a ride on a super long long-tail boat through the Klong Bangkok Noi, one of the canals on the western side of the Chao Praya river, the river beside which Bangkok resides. It was great seeing a part of Bangkok that I never knew existed. After a few minutes, I felt like I was ride through the Mekong Delta again -- no high rises anywhere. Last night, when showing Emily's parents Khao San Road, I bumped into another familar face -- Stu, the intrepid Brit that I met in Xi'an, China, and who was huddled next to me in the trunk of the bus as we snuck into Tibet. He had just returned to Thailand earlier in the week after visiting India. I had last seen him in Varanasi the evening I left for Agra. It is certainly a running circuit here in southeast Asia.
Tomorrow I head off to Sukothai, the ancient capital of Thailand. It was only a few hours from Mae Sot, but I never made it there last summer. I will also return to Mae Sot to revist my old haunts before going to Chiang Mai to meet up with Emily's parents again.
It's great being back in Thailand. My passport is getting crowded with entry stamps for this awesome country. But it was certainly relaxing being in Taiwan with my family again. Photos forthcoming...