the engagement

it's been so long...i've been neglegent with this thing. easy to do when you're having the time of your life. not to mention the sky high prices for internet on the popular tourist island of koh samui in thailand.
the real magic happens on koh phangan though. and i'm not talking about the infamous full moon party (of which we had absolutely nothing to do with), but the nightly shows the sky puts on - heat lightening. wow. it was during one of these shows, with the power out (but no rain) that ken proposed. whoa! i was blown away and because it was so dark i guess he couldnt' see my facial expression - jaw dropped, eyes popping out of head - and i was just in such shock that i didnt' respond at first. i mean, obviously my answer was "yes" but he couldnt' see the sheer excitement and shock on my face and wasn't able to read that answer based on my expression. so i guess after a few painful moments, he was like "is that a yes"....and of course it was.
i couldnt' be happier and it couldn't have been more perfect. chalok lum beach on koh phangan is on the northern part of the island and is basically a little sleepy fishing village. we had a cool beachfront bungalow where i spent a lot of time in the hammock - i still think i have the mesh imprint tattooed on my back!
our time on the beach was spent mostly relaxing - which was a nice break from our hectic busy schedules in previous cities. it was nice to take a breather and really soak it all in. and that we did...i've got a mean tan right now, but being in hong kong and having to cover up cause it's freezing (actaully only a balmy 18-20 degrees), i'm afraid it might lose it's darkness.
most of our days on the thailand islands of phangan and samui were spent chilling and trying to stay cool - it's blazing hot there and cold showers were a must several times a day. none of our places had AC, but we did have fans, which were blasting on us as often as possible. fruit shakes were a good way to cool down too and the freshness of them....amazing. we indulged in several thai massages - 5 dollars for an hour - and my first one was definitely the best massage i've ever had. no "happy endings" here (thank god!) but they did come dangerously close to private regions....yikes! other than the aformentioned private regions, pretty much none of your body goes untouched by these people with magic hands. i could seriously go for one right now.
right now we are in hong kong. did i mention it was cold? i thought i was done with long pants and sweaters after we left tokyo? speaking of which, this place resembles tokyo quite a bit. large volumes of people crowd sidewalks, except teh difference here is that people in general have no concept of personal space. it's hard to get used to and you just have to be aggressive. it's generally a pretty clean city with signs posted everywhere informing people of the penalties for littering and spitting. yuck. the food is something we're not so sure about. first of all, vegetarian food is hard to come by in authentic chinese restaurants and the meat looks questionable at some places where they display all the chickens adn fish on ice outside. hmmm....we've stuck to ramen noodles for the first couple of meals and have definitely had our fill of MSG! yikes. definitely missing the food in thailand....delicious curry and pad thai....my mouth is watering.
tonight we're off to the night market in mong kok - hoping to exercise our bargaining skills (something that was big in thailand and apparently at the markets here) and get a few more things to shove into our bags before we go home.
can't believe it's almost over, i'm enjoying every last minute of this crazy, exciting trip (figuratively and literally).
will post more soon.....
jules