Happy 2009/2552 from Ko Tao!

Yes, the year is now 2552 according to the buddhist calendar, and I hope it will be an auspicious one. It started off in the company of two of my favorites-- Vinny and Courtney. As a preamble to the following post, I want to say that despite the less-than-fantastic weather and other snafus of this trip, I still had a fabulous time on the island, relaxing, EATING, exploring, getting massages, having 'girl time,' and dancing.

It was an absolute struggle for Courtney and I to find our way down to Ko Tao, to the point where both of us (I think) were almost thinking that it might not be possible. We waited entirely too long to try to book train/bus and ferry tickets and everything seemed to be booked due to the busy holiday season. We spent many hours in front of computer screens and on the phone in our respective towns, banging our heads into one wall after another, but were finally victorious when I found one company that still had bus and ferry tickets left. Relief! We told ourselves that it would all be worth it once we got there. . .

Courtney and I met up at the train station on Tuesday night (Dec. 30) and when I saw how absolutely packed it was, I finally believed that all classes were sold out (even 3rd class hard wooden bench seats). We set off on our long and cramped bus ride down to Chumpon, where we arrived around 5 AM and then waited for the sun come up to set off by ferry for Ko Tao. The day started off cloudy and though the boat was rocking pretty heavily, I was able to sleep most of the way, even through the tumult.

When we arrived on the island, the weather was still really cloudy and rainy. Impossible, we thought! Monsoon season is past us and we haven't seen rain in months! Well, I guess we didn't really do our homework, because apparently monsoon is still going on in the southern Gulf area. Oopsies!!

We settled into our space at Save Bungalows in Mae Had (couldn't find any space in Hai Sairee, where we wanted to stay) and quickly made ourselves feel better by eating a banana pancake (the first of several) from one of the ubiquitous pancake stands. The banana pancake is really more of a buttery fried crepe, and in Thai it is actually called a 'roti.' Whatever you call it, it's absolutely delectable, especially when it has peanut butter and chocolate along with the banana! With pancake in hand, we headed to explore a bit and ended up getting massages (important after long bus rides!). After the massage we headed back to meet up with Vinny, or so we thought.

Vinny was supposed to get to the pier around 2:30 in the afternoon of the day we arrived (NYE). When she didn't show up by 4, I started to get nervous. Finally I saw her struggling up the path around 4:30 and she looked like death warmed over (sorry Vin, it's true!) I couldn't fathom what had happened, but I should have guessed. Seasickness! The rocking was terrible and the medicine she had taken hadn't worked so she was getting sick the entire way over (2-3 hours). Poor Vinny!

Eventually Vinny was able to rally and we headed off to find a place for dinner. We all agreed on an Italian place with an extensive menu. One of the highlights of the trip for me was definitely all the restaurants with varied food, something that is lacking in my everyday life. We split a Greek salad, gnocchi, and spinach and asparagus fettucine and though I had to check with Vinny and Courtney just to be sure, the food was excellent by regular standards, not just deprivation-adds-flavor standards. After dinner we headed out to the beach bars, where we could see fireworks, tons of paper lanterns floating up into the sky, some people in funny costumes, and lots of dancing. I wasn't sure if champagne would be available, but it was indeed, so we got our 2009 champagne toast after all. Actual NYE was decidedly a bit more low-key than I thought it might be, due to some of the circumstances of the day, but we made up for it a couple nights later, our last night in Ko Tao.

Though the weather was still rather gray on New Year's day we decided to make the most of it with a walk around the island. We got a nice bit of exercise in and had some pretty views of the island, as well as a quick (kinda chilly, by Thai standards) dip in the ocean at Tanote Bay. Once we made it back to town, we headed toward the massage place and followed it up with Mexican (yes, really, and good, too!) food. I was in heaven. Near the massage place, we saw a bar advertising a cabaret show that night and I was really curious about that so we headed back to check it out. Turned out to be a drag show, which included a bit of audience participation, but that is a whole other blog post . . .

We finally got a decent weather day, and though I had been adamant about wanting to snorkel, I instead beached myself like a whale all day, reading, while Vinny went climbing and Courtney went diving. But I think it was good for all of us to do our own thing for the day. We reconvened in the evening for another delicious dinner and a big (and late) night of dancing on the beach.

On Saturday afternoon, after grabbing something to eat at our favorite little Mae Had coffee shop, we headed toward the ferry. Vinny's anxiety was palpable and I felt nervous for her as well. I was prepared to leap into action if she got sick, but she just sat stoically on the back of the boat, listening to her iPod the whole way. Fortunately, she was spared from the intense seasickness the second time around and we made it across entirely puke-free (though I can't say the same for everyone else on the boat). Frankly, I was really nervous about times, not about getting sick, but about the boat actually tipping over. I had to calm my nerves about that one for most of the trip. Needless to say, we were all happy to make it back on land, even though it did mean an overnight trip by bus back to Bangkok!

---

---