big fish small fish

Erawan waterfalls is really beautiful. It has 7 tiers, lovely rock formations, the water is turqoise in colour, and there are lots of fish to swim with. But they nibble at you when you stop swimming. Small fish are ok, but when the big fish bite, i swear i can feel the teeth... It's the kind of place you cannot not visit when you are in the area... you have to see the photos, if i managed to capture even a bit of the magic there; i am at the moment incapable of describing it in a way that would do it justice.

Today's group was smaller: me, 2 dutch girls (them:"we rented bikes yesterday" guy:"a motorbike or a bicycle?" them:"we're dutch!), an austrian guy (only guy surrounded by 5 ladies in the back of a small jeep, poor thing, but has great sense of humor) and a german woman (5 mth pregnant and still gg to travel the rest of thailand..) who were a couple, and a french lady (animal conservationist/activist, here to spy on the 'tiger temple' (how do they make the tigers so docile? are they being drugged?), been travelling for 8 mths in africa, europe, indochina..). They're friendier and i had lots of fun with them. =))

finally met a singaporean at the falls. But he and his indonesian friend thought i was thai or indonesian/malay.. sigh.. i guess i have very 'versatile' looks.. he's a businessman in bangkok, taking a break..

last night at the guesthouse i chat with the australian guy for a while. He's here for a few days on the way to Taiwan to teach english. He doesn't know ANY mandarin. except 'hi hao', which doesn't really count. I am horrified, but he's the embodiment of the australian 'no worries' philosophy. He had taiwanese students while in brisbane (he's from UQ like me bro), and they've promised to take care of him there. For his sake i hope so.. i don't think I could survive in taiwan or china... btw there's another cute guy staying here. very quiet though, just sits and reads his book. Blond, curly hair, lean, always in loose jeans. The aussie and koreans make friends over beer. lots of it. the resturant closes, they bring it to the raft. sigh.

leaving for Bangkok tomorrow morning. Will probably try to meet up with one of the jap guys i met in Sukhothai (he just got a bit part in some thai movie?!) to go clubbing before i leave...

hmm.. i think i am getting better at this... meeting more people, talking a bit more...