Earthquake and Koh Lanta

I found out about the Japanese earthquake just after I finished writing my last post. It's horrible. I was able to catch some BBC news and it just looks awful. All my thoughts and prayers go out to those in Japan and their families and friends. It seems as though this part of the world has taken a real beating lately. But really it's everywhere. In the past year there have been major earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and now Japan, and terrible floods in Pakistan and Australia. I can't help but think that this is mother nature's way of showing us that we have done too much damage to her and that we need to stop. I wish more people paid attention to these things and thought about what kind of impact we've been doing to the planet. I can't believe that I live in a country where our prime minister doesn't belive in climate change. Maybe he should take a trip over to Christchurch or Haiti or northern Japan and try to tell the people that have been affected that.

It's a little bit nerve-racking to be where I am right now because I am in the exact place where the tsunami hit in 2004. But I am on the opposite coast of where the earthquakes are happening now and I'm only here for another nine days so I think I'll be okay. It is still freaky though to see the evacuation signs that they have posted along the roadof this island in case something were to happen.

Me and my friends Jeni and Ben arrived in Koh Lanta yesterday and it is so much better than where we were before. I've decided I'm going to stay here and chill for a week. Last night we went to the last night of a cultural festival called Laanta Lanta which only happens once a year and it was really cool. Traditional musc and dancing, food stalls, carnival games, and a night market. We got there on a motorbike(all three of us piled on) and I forgot how much fun motorcycles are. I just took Jenni and I on the bike down to the pharmacy which was so much fun. We found this amazing place to stay called Sonyas which is super cheap, clean, and friendly with free wi fi AND they have cats! In a few days I'm going to do a day trip to koh phi phi which is where the movie the beach was filmed. It's crazy touristy and really expensive so I won't stay there. I'm just going to take a boat there and see what paradise looks like!