Ethan Dylan Siegel's Website

Welcome to Ethan Siegel's Website

September 5. Well, after 30 hours of traveling, we are back in the States and recovering from some massive jet lag. We have a couple of days in Seattle, then a few in George, Washington -- yes, George, Washington -- to see the Dave Matthews Band. So far, we've been sleepless in Seattle, up at 4:20 the last two days.

We spent the last week in Thailand in Ko Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. It was totally beautiful and was the perfect mix of civilization and unspoiled paradise. We went scuba diving twice and were lucky enough to see a 15-20 foot whale shark. We also saw a black-tipped reef shark and some other great aquatic life. Back on land, we ran into another baby monkey, and for once I was neither attacked nor peed on. Thailand is just different than other places. We sat down in a restaurant on the beach and Lane's first question to me was "Is that a monkey on that dog?"

Before Samui, we had a week on Ko Pha Ngan for the full moon party. It was a total blast! We spent the night dancing with 10,000 of our closest friends on a tropical, white sand beach, staring up at the full moon. We didn't leave until an hour or two after sunrise, and the party was still going strong!

The trip home was arduous, but we made it and are glad to be back. It's quite nice to speak the same language as everyone and to be able to read all of the signs. And to eat our first bagel since March. We can't believe that it is September and that six months have passed. The trip exceeded all of our expectations and we can't wait to share our experiences with everyone and hear how you all are doing. We'll be home in a week! See you then...

Chaweng beach, one of the nicest, and busiest beaches on Samui. Other beaches were totally deserted, so it was nice to have the best of both worlds.

Many of the beach accomodations in Thailand are bungalows. This was our bungalow at Chaweng.

Soaking up the last of the sun's rays

Kelly broke into our sugar and Lane was not very successful in getting it back. She also grabbed my soda and started drinking from my straw before I could take my first sip...

Our first diving trip was to Ko Tao, an island not too far from Samui. We are loving the new underwater case for our digital camera.

Blue spotted stingray

Some sort of fish...

Our second trip was to Sail Rock, where we were lucky enough to see a rare whale shark. This one was a small one, only 15-20 feet. They can grow up to 50-60 feet long, which is a bit much for our taste. They only eat plankton, however, so we had no fear of being lunch. The fish around the shark are about 2-3 feet long.

Whale sharks are very curious animals, so I was trying hard to remember that whole plankton thing while it came up close to check me out.

Blue ringed angel fish.

So, six months have come and gone...we have flown more than 30,000 miles and driven perhaps another 8,000. We have loved every second of the trip and are looking forward to seeing all of you really soon!