The City of Angels: Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.

I vote spend it on Koh Chang!

What an incredible past 4 days it has been. Thursday's celebration carried on long past the dancing processional to the temple. I made use of my "connector" skills ((read: The Tipping Point)) and finally had Ben and Lauren meet. They bonded over Chappelle skits and Thai beer; it was nice to see my worlds come together and to see Ben's more relaxed side.

Earlier in the night word came in from Amy that her flight out of LA was so delayed that she had missed her connection in Tokyo to Bangkok. Instead of arriving Thursday night, she was due to arrive Friday afternoon. Since I already had prepaid bus tickets and a hotel room, I wasn't sure what to do. I knew Amy was well traveled and had already made it across the globe by herself, so we spoke and came up with a new game plan. I was still going to leave early Friday morning, but now Lauren would take Amy's bus ticket and join in on the fun. Amy made it to Koh Chang Saturday morning. Success!

The three of us had a blast, wandering the long white sandy Klong Prao beach, going from hotel beach bar to the next, making time for rope swings, pool hops and lunch. We made great friends at one particular stop. It was a little hut on the beach with some speakers and a standard liquor cabinet with about 15-20 half filled bottles. Later in the afternoon, when we returned to this bungalow, we were invited to sit with six very friendly Thais, cooking shrimp on the beach. Over seafood, snacks and shots Amy was introduced to Thai life. Everyone here is exceedingly nice and inviting- quite a drastic change from her last few weeks in NYC.

As the sun dropped below the horizon we set off on an adventure back to our hotel. We could no longer go back the way we had come, along the beach, because the tide had risen quickly and swimming with a purse filled with cameras and cell phones was not worth the risk. Wandering through other resorts, we were easily distracted by new pools, surrounded by dim "mood setting" lights. This one pool, which we all agreed was magical, was begging us to jump in. So under the guise of nightfall, we jumped in to explore. Walking behind the resort, out to the main road proved more difficult than we had expected. We realized we were on a peninsula, trapped by water. We spotted a funky, retro looking B&B, splashed with bright colors, off the dark path- wandering through we spotted a man on gondola-esque boat delivering dinner to the hotel staff. Instinctually we pointed to the boat and then pointed to the mainland, a mere 15 feet away. The older man waved us on. On the other side, we were surprised to see mini-guest houses stacked upon one another with restaurants sandwiched in between. With so many people buzzing about, no one noticed how lost and confused we looked. We started to follow the flow of traffic out to the main road and made our way back to the Klong Prao Resort, where we were staying.

Like all good nights, what looked like a low key night at the start, turned into a quest to find Sabai Bar- a recommendation from the cute Brit riding his motorbike close enough to the back of our open taxi the night before that we could communicate with him. I had heard before going to Koh Chang that it was a very quiet Island, where families came to relax. (I also later learned that Koh Chang is supposed to be a national park, with NO building on it allowed, hence the Jurassic Park look, but $$$ talks and thus the entire west coast of the island is lined with resorts.) Well, if there was only one place on the island with a dance floor and live band, naturally we would find it, and we did. The three of us danced into the night. Lauren headed back to Bangkok the next morning, Amy slept and I manned the beach. The beauty of Thailand is that regardless of clouds and a breeze, it is always warm enough to lay by a beach in a bathing suit. I read for five hours and finished my book. When Amy rose, we walked the beach, drew in the sand, had lunch with the waves crashing by our feet and talked about school, people and life on the oversized beach chairs until the sunset behind the green mountains.

The next morning we planned to get up early, grab breakfast and head out to find the Klong Phlu waterfall. I wish we had had more time. A taxi drove us into the jungle, to the "National Park". We followed the well-worn path, which is monitored by the staff, back into the wilderness, until we heard it: the crashing sound of white water. We looked at each other and smiled - if there was anything that made us think of Ryan, this was it. It was magnificent- the rapids flew off the cliffs, surrounded by lush wilderness. Amy and I talked about the power of water and its strength. When we finally looked down, we realized we were able to swim in the pool created at the bottom of the waterfall. We were there early enough in the morning that we were the only "falang" or foreigners in sight. We shared the moment with a half dozen natives, wearing their clothes and goggles. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

As I dosed in and out of consciousness on the six hour bus ride back to Bangkok, Amy and I joked about how we first me before orientation at SIT. Our friendship began canoeing on the Connecticut River and had come full circle, with us reunited on the other side of the planet, taking in the crashing sound of waterfalls on an island off of Thailand. We laughed saying, "you just never know, huh?" This year continues to surprise me and I look forward to what comes next.