Leaving Paradise…for the Next Big Adventure

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I am sitting on the largest bed in the entire universe right now. This would comfortably sleep 4 adults. I have never seen a bed so large. It reminds me of the bed that 10 of my friends including myself once snuggled in Fire Island.

Today was quite the day. I started off with breakfast then I hung out on the beach. A storm started and it knocked out the electricity at my hotel. As soon as the rain stopped I lugged my luggage down 4 flights of stairs in order to get a taxi to the airport before the rain started again. I drove through about 2 feet of water. I made it safe and sound to the airport (a 15 minute drive). I even got on an earlier flight out of Koh Samui. This plane was PACKED! My flight to Koh Samui was super empty going, so I was surprised to see it almost full leaving (as there is 15 or so flights/day back and forth between Bangkok). After speaking to a few of the people on my flight, based on the weather forecast, they decided they were better off spending their time in Bangkok as the rain was just going to continue in Koh Samui. Upon arriving in Bangkok, I headed straight to the hotel’s pool. I decided to treat myself to a massage. Hmmmm…. This was the nicest spa I have been to my entire life. Due to hotels.com super duper policy – stay 10 nights, get 1 night free, I decided to use that 1 free night on the airport hotel (which is a luxury pimped out hotel). I know an airport hotel sounds weird, but it was recommended to me by a friend (RKY) as I have all of 15 hours in Bangkok (including sleep time) before heading to Ho Chi Minh City. Instead of exploring Bangkok (which I will be doing after Vietnam), I wanted to relax before my adventure begins. Anyhow, back to the adventures of the spa in Thailand…

Day 1 in Koh Samui I treated myself to a pedicure. Before the pedicure, they clean your feet before it started (cleanly factor). Their pedicures do not include a foot scrub or a massage (as I am used to in NY).

Day 2 in Koh Samui I treated myself to a Thai massage. But wait, instead I got an Aloe Vera message. It was ok – no magic hands. Did I mention I had to shower before the massage? As my aloe massage was so-so, at nighttime I treated myself to a foot massage – again, my feet were cleaned before they were massaged. My shins actual are still soar from this massage!

Day 3 in Koh Samui I treated myself to an oil massage AND a foot scrub (as the lady insisted I needed it similar to the ladies in NY telling me years ago I need a mustache and eyebrow wax). Long story short, my feet are pretty darn smooth but I ended my massage 15 minutes early. The little Thai lady was sitting on my ass and kept turning around to whisper to her friends. I was about to freak out when I told her to stop the massage. She then got quiet and got off my ass and went behind my head. She put a pillow in her lap and told me to lie down in the pillow in her lap. She started scratching my head. Ouch. Not massaging my head – scratching it. I gave it 3 minutes thanked the lady and got dressed. OYE. Just like the other times, I showered before it started… this time in the bathroom (dual shower/toilet jammy) before my treatments. This is where I realize, I need to spend a little more than $15 for an hour massage as I wasn’t feeling the Thai magic (peace, comfort, relaxation, etc…).

Day 4 in Bangkok (at my pimping hotel) I treated myself to an aromatherapy massage. This cost 5 times more than the other massages (still ½ price to NYC), but it was fantastic. The room was PRIVATE; huge… there was a shower, separate from the toilet and a HUGE bathtub. There were orchids everywhere and the smell was phenomenal. They even had flowers under the massage table so you can smell them when your face down. Lovely…

Anyhow, after the massage I came back to my room and got into my own HUGE bathtub. This was my 1st bath in 2010 (I think). There was even some bubble action. This was the perfect way to spend my last day before the start of ‘wakey wakey’ for the next 13 days…

So, to tell you a bit about Thailand so far… The people are outstanding. They make me smile every time they slightly bow with their hands in front of their face. Most of the Thai people who work in tourism, speak enough English to get by so people like myself don’t get flustered. Thai people are NEAT freaks – love it. Everything is super clean. I even watched the streets being cleaned and power washed (this is Koh Samui – I can’t speak for the rest of Thailand quite yet). In about 90% if the stores I went into, excluding 7-11 of course, I had to take my shoes off before entering the shops. It was really nice. I would normally think about foot fungus of some sort, but I know damn well, I could eat off these floors (well, you know what I mean). I was shocked that all the spas requested that you take a shower before the treatments start. This was new to me, but I respect it.

Koh Samui was an interesting place. There are too many hotels and not enough people coming to the island. The amount of hotels is extraordinary. I remember booking my hotel back in July, just to see that there were so many more that weren’t online. The majority of the hotels are boutique hotels. I checked out a bunch while I wondered around and they were super beautiful, but pricey. I liked my little inexpensive B&B. It was clean and the folks who worked there were wonderful. They even got mad at me when I carried my luggage down. I assumed with the power out they had bigger problems than my luggage. The only crazy thing is that they charged an arm and a leg to use the internet! It ended up costing my something like $70 for a few days. That is more expensive than staying at their hotel for a night!

After the flood on day 2, I asked the powers that be to give me at least one day of sunshine as I did want to lounge around a tad on the beach. Wish granted! The sand is almost white, like powder. The lounge chairs were super comfortable and the beach area was practically empty. There was a nice breeze so it wasn’t too hot to lie around. There are no waves, so going into the ocean was like walking into a lake. What was strange is that the entire time, even though the sun was shining… it looked like it could rain at any second, but it never did. HEAVEN I tell you! At nighttime I stopped by many shops, but didn’t buy anything as everything seemed cheap looking (well it is cheap). I started my dinner when someone came in the restaurant. I asked if he was alone and he said yes so I told him he was welcome to join me. His name was Christian and he was from London. He had spent the past 3 weeks in Thailand and Koh Samui was his last stop. He seemed like a very smart guy – we talked business? Not sure what I know about business, but I guess I know more than I thought. We shared so many of our ideas with one another that we started thinking which ideas were the best! It was Christian’s 1st time traveling alone and he was on the same page as me… sometimes AMAZING, sometimes amazing, but a tad lonely. He was impressed by an American girl doing these sorts of travels (pat myself on my back)… Anyhow, he asked me to join him for some drinks, but I was honestly super exhausted (as I forced myself to get used to the new time zone and wake up by 9am) and he wasn’t so much my physical type. I guess he felt weird or something when I told him that because we walked 10 feet from the restaurant and he just said bye and said he had to go back to his hotel for something (maybe he had the shits)… anyhow, it was a lovely day followed by another lovely day… in Bangkok (BTW – the flight is about 50 minutes – quicker than getting from my apartment on the UES to Long Island).

Off to Vietnam tomorrow morning. I am SO excited to see Vietnam and to meet my new tour mates. I really liked many of the people I have met on my previous tours, so let the luck continue. I will have a stranger for a roommate, so I only cross my fingers she isn’t an asshole. I have learned to be the best travel mate/hotel room sharer over the past few months.

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