Went to Ko Samet this last Friday morning by ferry with a few friends - Amber (of course), Martin (the most amazing Scottish man), Ryan (crazy Arizonian) and Leah (guitar playing Canadian wonder woman) - first thing we did was have a few drinks and some Indian food - for some reason the food on this little tiny island is some of the most amazing food that I've had yet in this country. We then went and found a few bungalows at Jeb's, which is a few beaches down from Naga, where we were last time. I wish I had gotten a picture of Jeb's for y'all to see...Amazing beach paradise - really hard for me to actually believe now that I'm not there. Ocean moving into beach moving into lounge chairs into wooden tables on the beach into tiny muddy road into jungle and more wooden tables up into hillside full of pathways and bungalows and plants - butterflies and huge huge spiders with epic webs - laundry hanging - I know should have taken a picture....That night after meeting up with more friends - consisted of eating on the beach - low tables, cushion chairs, fire shows, drink buckets, music - karaoke - and lots and lots of dancing - somehow it was 5 in the morning and Amber, Martin and I were sitting around a table and he was singing old Irish tunes...in the morning (or I guess a few hours later) Leah and Stew and I went to breakfast - the craziness of this island (she had the Indian breakfast, Stew had the Mexican and I had the English) and they were all delicious and totally different - this is only a few hours after the island was in total party mode - and now coffee and sun and silence on the newly cleaned beach - dogs everywhere of course - making beds out of sand - that day was spent on the beach and then snorkeling - after the boat took us to a few different spots we stopped at the "fish farm" which consisted of wooden slats tied to floating devices that created a tic tac toe walkway - where in each square of water a different kind of sea animal - sharks and turtles and spitting fish - we were given little bags of fish to feed them - at one square we found these huge and I'm talking mammoth fish (prehistoric fish, like I'm older than god fish)....that night one more dinner on the beach and then some much needed sleep
the next morning Amber and I packed up our stuff and headed for the ferry to take us back to ban phe - on the way there we saw Martin on a four wheeler driving towards us (we'd lost him around 6 in the morning that first night/day) - one of those serendipitous moments that makes you smile - ran into a few more of the guys on the way and we all took the ferry back over together
Went back to Condo Chain to pick up our bags and say good-bye to Mama Kai and giver her the hat we'd gotten her as a thank you gift for being our impromptu travel guide...Amber and I then went to Rayong to get a bus to Chaing Mai – we had a five hour wait so we decided to hit the local mall – hadn't been inside one yet really so we were a little curious – the department store wasn't much different but once you stepped out into the main mall things got a little strange – namely the loud pumping music – karaoke rooms everywhere, kiosks in the middle – signs and more signs – lots and lots of cell phone stores...and then the little food court in front of the movie complex with cooked pig heads – yum yum - wish they had those back home before I stepped in to see the latest romantic comedy! We decided to go see a movie since we had so much time to kill – and as usual for us when stepping into a place a manager comes over to help us – everywhere we go we are watched and treated in a certain way ... hard to explain – so he tries to explain to us that there are no movies in English (they're all dubbed) and there is only one with English subtitles – so we decide to go for it and see what happens...oh man – my tendency to do that has been getting me into all sorts of interesting places and meals this last month but man oh man this movie was – well – it's called (in English – there was no Thai title) Black Family...yes I know (crazy!) and it starts out with this man singing to a few animals who start singing and talking back to him – at this point Amber and I are looking at each other in shock and can't help from laughing out loud – which is a problem because no one around us is laughing – so it moves into this story about a grandfather who plays the lotto loses the farm and all the land - the father, wife and son (who'd been singing) all decide to go to the big city (bangkok) and rob a bank... ok ok – makes some sense right? But then throughout all of this are scenes of this cabby driver who keeps picking up this man who is all kinds of creepy and people making fun of the Chinese and lady boys – we left after about an hour because I felt that i'd had enough culture shock as it was and probably couldn't handle any more....
So then the bus ride – we got a 2nd class bus with air con and we'd heard it would take 12 hours to get to Chaing Mai – which would put us in about 5:30 in the morning... we got two seats next to each other and settled in for the long ride – which consisted of cockroaches (not just a few but I'm talking a whole tribe) creeping out of the cracks next to me, the ceiling dripping water, the man sitting in front of me randomly and suddenly flinging his chair forward or backward – causing me to either be hit in the head or falling forward – and through intermittent sleep waking up to stops in who knows where at all hours of the night but it was all quite bewildering because we couldn't understand the announcements so weren't ever clear where we were – i'd open my eyes at like 4am and we'd be stopped – i'd close my eyes and feel like maybe i'd slept for 10 minutes but when I opened my eyes – we'd be stopped again and it would be like 3:45 am – crazy overnight bus times – when 5:30 hit we started to get exited until we tried to get off and the guy shook his head at us – the ride ended up being about four more hours – which hey – wasn't all that bad considering the awesome thai music videos they kept playing and the soothing water from the ceiling and my new great friends the Smith cockroach family of 24.....
so we made it to Chaing Mai and tomorrow we're on the slow boat to Laos, baby
