I made a decision yesterday! Life's too short to waste it on an island that I'm not having any fun on.

With the slow season here, it looks like it would be at least another week or so before I have any chance to pick up some work, and that's about when I need to leave. So, I've booked passage off the island and up to Bangkok on Saturday. I'll stay in Bangkok for a few days to pick up a package that's coming to me at the Fed Ex office there, and then I'll catch a looooonnnnggggg bus ride to Vientiane, Laos.

Here's the thing though. This journal entry won't be posted until after I get there. Why? Because I'm not going to tell Val I'm coming and I hope to surprise her when I get there. The hard part will be figuring out where she is staying without her getting suspicious. I've got a few days to work it out, but she flies into town on the 6th and the earliest I'll arrive is the 7th and likely the 8th. If I could have been there before her, I would have just met her at the airport. I could have pretended to be one of the cab drivers or hotel touts that are always hanging around.

In the meantime, I have contacted the Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok to alert them that I am coming early and to see if I can change my reservation there. If not, I have the names of several other places in the same neighborhood. The Fed Ex office is right there and I want to be close to it so I can grab my package and hit the road.

I've still got another day or so on the island to get things packed up and finish off everything in the fridge. There are a few things to take care of like the book exchange, a final meal at my favorite restaurant, and letting the dive shop know I'm heading north. It's too bad because I think it would have been fun to work with the folks there.

I will continue to write journal entries describing the trip north and my time in Bangkok, but they won't be posted until just before I leave Bangkok. I'm hoping Val won't check the site while I'm on the bus, but it's a chance I'll have to take since I have no idea what internet access will be like in Laos.

That's it for now. Check back and see how the journey goes!

Eric