Paradise!

Today we left the appartments early at twenty to seven to catch a motorbike taxi from the end of our road to Ko San Road (or backpackers paradise as its known!) To be honest I was too tired to worry about my drivers erratic and careless driving, I was surprised that I even held on considering I was still half asleep!
Once we arrived in Ko San, we boarded a coach and took a trip to a sea port on the south coast. After a few hours driving and reading a few texts from home (I think my Mum was worried I would come home having more tattoos) we boarded a small boat which took us to Ko Samet. I was amazed to see the hazy outline of some of the other islands considering the humid atmosphere. After being in dense city, followed by dense jungle, it was really refreshing to be near the sea and feel a warm sea breeze on your face.

When we arrived on the west side of the island, we jumped on the back of a pick up truck and were taken to our beach hut. It made me laugh to see a row of fairly plush air-conditioned small buildings and a manky little wooden lodge on stilts. And Yes, guess which one we had?? No surprise there I suppose you get what you pay for and it is only a place to sleep (other than the beach)! It had my little pony curtains and a Manchester United pillow case and a mattress like a sponge. Plus, in addition it also had a few hundred local residents included. YES - We had two ants nests, one in each bathroom.

This was probably one of my favourite parts of my time in Thailand. For the past 10 days we were rushing around trying to cram in as much as we could, and now we could finally relax. It soon started to get dark so then we headed for a restaurant on the beach front and the spent the rest of the night drinking around the tables on the sand. After spending a night in the hut (with the ants), I woke up with a really bad back. So left the hut early whilst the others were still sleeping and went and had a full body oil massage on the beach. I didn't quite fancy a Thai one, as the day before I watched a young bloke have one and it looked extremely painful. A young Thai woman was trying to twist his head 180 degrees and his feet were being bent backwards, no thanks! I think I'll pass!

I got a few sunbeds for us and picked up some fruit from the bar, then started to read the Dice Man. It wasn't long before it bored me so I went for a swim in the sea. The sea water was lovely and warm, the only thing which dissapointed me was the strong smell of diesel fumes from the speedboats on the shore. The others joined me a bit later on and we had lunch in the restaurant. Around the island there is a great sense of community life, it has small shops, quad bike hire and a tattoo parlour. I would have liked to hire a quad bike and explore a bit more north of the island, but as we only had a few days it was nice to just relax. Back at the hut meanwhile, the ants had found my crushed biscuits and croissants and started to invade my backpack. (I think a few may even have come home with me!)

That night followed a pattern of the previous night; eating followed by drinking on the beach and admiring fire breathers and dancers. The next day seemed to arrive so quickly so we started to plan the remaining part of our trip. (The usual tailor made clothes shop and the dreaded visit to Patpong) More of that later! We were on our way back to the sweaty Bangkok!!!

---

---