Did a couple of days in Koh Samui and as I was warned - it wasn't really my scene. It's about 2 hours south of Koh Tao by ferry and I arrived around noon and got a cab over to Chaweng Beach, the busiest spot on the island. After staying at secluded Tanote Bay, I felt like being in the center of things for a change. Whoops. It's like I was at the Jersey Shore or Ocean City. It seemed to be all Italians in D&G roaming around being rude. And the Speedos!! Mama Mia!
So I grabbed a day trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park for a day of Kayaking, Trekking, Snorkeling, and an elephant ride. I had a blast on the boat full of fun people from all over. England, Germany, Barcelona (NOT Spain,) Austria, Iran, Canada, Israel, Australia, Czech Republic, Japan and China. And oh yeah, me, the lone American. It was like a mini-UN and really made me feel part of the world.
The kayaking was the best - around and under these huge limestone rocks whose cliffs rose straight out of the water like skyscrapers. At times we had to lie down in the kayak and pull ourselves along with our fingers!
Next was the snorkeling, which after a quick assessment of the vis, I smartly skipped to spend the time diving off the upper deck of the ship with some other guys.
After lunch, we journeyed through the park to Mae Koh island which has a marine lake at the middle - all you have to do is climb a huge bunch of steps almost straight up and then back down, and you are there. Great views too, and it was funny the way two separate groups of people dropped batteries and crawled under the boards to retrieve them...
Then we hopped back on the boat and chugged back to Samui and were herded into minivans for the ride to the elephant compound - witha "quick" stop at a souvenir store on the way. The baby elephants were very cute, but I didn't really like the conditions they were kept under, they were on a pretty short chain in a small enclosure. But, thinking back, I doubt they were kept there all the time - just when people like me came to gawk and feed them bananas. The 20 minute elephant ride was funny, you rock all over the place with no discernible rhythm and just when you get used to it, they go downhill and I was hanging on for dear life again!
I left Koh Samui on the ferry the next morning and headed to Phuket. The funniest thing about the ferry ride was the international red circle with a slash "No Durian" signs on the cabin doors. It's a local fruit that is really smelly but tastes completely different and I guess the management was trying to protect us from rude durian eaters! There's a funny pic of the sign on my flickr page. The bus ride across the mainland to the western side of Thailand was exquisitely beautiful. Huge jungle covered vertical mountains thrust up out of the forests and fields. I have absolutely no idea how they were formed! It had rained heavily here in Phuket the previous few days and I arrived as the weather broke and the green of the wildlands shone and glowed in shimmering wet wonder. Such beautiful light, I wish I had the camera skills to capture it.
I'll write more about my Phuket experiences in a few days, right now I'm off to the beach!
Ciao,
Clemente
