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Published: March 8th 2008
Since last I communicated with you, a lot of things have happened. We left off with me leaving Bangkok on a night-train and heading south which is where I am at the moment. I arrived in Ko Samui, an island in the south east of Thailand, on a Monday where I met a very nice American couple from Boston with whom I spent the majority of my stay there. I tried to ride a scooter, which is the transport of choice in the island, but mopeds are just not my deal. Fortunately, Caroline, decided scooters were not for her either and we rented a hot little two-seater, a Suzuki caribian, with which I had my first left -hand side driving experience ever. It was pretty fun although Thai people don’t usually stay on their side of the road which makes for some really confusing moments and a lot of self-doubt.
We drove around the island and saw the most important waterfall, of which you will shortly see pictures and basically hung out with the other people at our “hotel”, a term I use loosely to describe Rasta Baby 2. In the group were two older English fellows, one an art dealer
I call Keith because of his striking resemblance to the Rolling Stone and the other, as he described himself, “a gardener, but mostly an out of work actor,” who I believe looks a lot like Anthony Hopkins, to which he simply says, “thank you.” The other character I got to know was a Young southerner named Owens (the S is not a typo) who has decided to travel through Thailand for three months with a total budget of $1,000 USD. Even in Thailand this is a far stretch and Owens has been surviving on a carrot, an orange and people’s generosity a day. He also constantly curses the Tuk tuk driver he had in Bangkok who made him spend the mayority of his money on a blazer.
Thailand is full of “Armani” tailors who offer to make you any garment with double stitching and four whole buttons for “cheap cheap.” And as I had earlier explained, tuk tuk drivers receive a gas credit for every customer who goes into the stores. So Owens’ guy takes him for the ride and Owens’ feels guilty and ends up buying a $250 USD blazer from one of the guys. One quarter of his
budget is gone and he has to wait a month before even going for the second fitting.
As for me, Ko Samui was not my favorite place. Bigger island than I had imagined and touristy in the bad way. So, after four days I decided to move to the smaller island of Ko Tao. Truly paradise as you will see in the pictures as soon as I get a chance to post them. I am getting certified for scuba diving and should be in the water seeing the wonders by tomorrow. Today was all pool exercises which have left me starved and drained, but excited about the prospects. I’ll let you know what happens and post pictures as soon as I can. For now, goodbye and let me know what you’re up to.
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muma
marietta
Nos hiciste reir
Estamos en la casa de mami leyendo, que chistoso!! Mandale saludes a Owens, que le tenemos un abrigo buenisimo para el invierno en Tailandia por los $750 que le quedan. Mami manda a decir que a ella le encantan los mopeds y que se paseo toda Holanda en uno. Comprate una camara waterproof para tomar fotos de las bellezas submarinas.