ko Samui Island, Thailand

December 26, 2006 by zankbennett.

From Bangkok, took a 13-hour overnight bus ride to Surat Thani, the jump-off point to get to the main Thai islands in the southern Gulf of Thailand.
The bus would stop every few hours for food/bathroom breaks. The double-decker bus had a video system and they played American movies with sound at, roughly speaking, about 100 dBA at 2 metres…about as loud as someone yelling in your ear. So I watched most of it with a finger stuck in my right ear…then out my headphones on to reduce the sound. It was brutal. Loved it. The bus had disco balls and colored flashing lights on the ceiling. The interior was every color imaginable. This love-bus took us to the connection point where we had to wait 2 hours for the mini-bus to the ferry landing….all very exciting. The 2 hour ferry took 5 1/4 and everyone was throwing up. Mmm!

Ko Samui is a aquare-ish island shaped like Portugal & Spain. I stayed on the north coast in Hat Mae Nam with clear views of the island Ko Pha-Ngan to the north.
It was quite windy for the four days on the island and so while it was beautiful, the water was never clear enough to snorkle.
Days were spent scootering around the island and visiting waterfalls and finding amazing food for very little $.
The main beach, Hat Chweng, was bananas with people and clubs and tourist stores everywhere.

All the stores/stands sell Diesel, Ray Ban and everet other brand like I’ve never seen. Want a Rolex? $3. Want some sued trunks? $10. Want the latest jeans from any label? $10-20. It’s ridiculous and everywhere. How about some pad thai for lunch and a Gucci watch? No problem!
Aly’ from SD, has been here on this leg of the trip and We’ve been having a blast seeing all of this.
Christmas was really mellow. The Thai people don’t celebrate Christmas so it’s not a big deal here. Refreshingly so. We went out for dinner with a pair of German girls from the bungalo next-door and had a great time. We sat at a table about 3 metres from the water and small, lapping waves. No windows, just open sky and water and far-off lights of Ko Pha-Ngen.

Today, 26 Dec, it’s off to Krabi, a great jump-off place to reach many of the famous and most beautiful beaches that were hit by the tsunami, two years ago this month.

Everything’s going very well, with some comedic adventures sprinkled in…
-my WAMU visa card, the one that has been cancelled FIVE times by “fraud prevention”, has become demagnetized. I’m still too upset to comment on this one. Please send money and the name of a REAL bank!!!! My phone bill to them alone could sustain a Thai island for months.
-I left my mini-guitar in the first bus today. Got out and realized 20 seconds later what I’d done. White-boy was hailing-ass down the middle of the street after the bus waving arms wildly…I actually passed a couple of mopeds as I weaved in and out of the moving traffic Caught the bus no problem. Everyone got a good laugh.
-although not offensively loud, (or maybe my tolerence is high) they’re playing Thai music now on this bus and the karaoke monitor is showing the words. They’re SERIOUS about it here. It’s glorious.
-a few minutes ago I pulled something hard out of the bite of rice-cake I was chewing. It was a metal staple. I’m having a difficult time with this one. It’s much worse mentally than the rock I pulled from my mouth last week while munching a good plate of pad thai; I really chewed that staple good! My mouth tastes like chewed metal now.

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