Should have read the sign

---

---

Saturday, Feb 16
We awoke this morning and the hotel taxi took us to the airport to meet my mom (Toi), and her friends Ad, Ead, and Cow (no joke on the names). The 6 of us made our way for one night’s stay at a resort in Kao Luk. This area had also been devastated by the Tsunami, but was slowly being rebuilt. I imagine this area will become the next big tourist attraction like Patong Beach. We mostly stayed around the hotel that evening although Stu and I ventured down the road for dinner by ourselves. We pointed to some pictures on the menu and enjoyed the food they brought us. The meal was followed by a complimentary plate of fruit and two shots of Thai Whiskey for dessert. No wonder they were giving that stuff away as it tasted like butt. After dinner we enjoyed foot massage #291 (who’s counting) and then ended the night with a Banana Colada waiting for some dumb girl to get off the internet so we could use it. She never did so we went to bed after 30 minutes of waiting.

Sunday, Feb 17
This morning we woke bright and early (5:30am) to try and get on the internet (successful) and have time for breakfast before leaving for the Pier. We enjoyed another speedboat ride for an hour and a half before arriving at Surin Island. The area used to be for marine and government employees only, but they’ve opened it up to anyone to stay. Our deluxe accommodations included a Bungalow with beds made of plywood covered with a sheet, a pillow as soft as a coconut shell, a shower/toilet/sink combo, and a ceiling fan. The room was a sore sight, but luckily the beach was incredible. You could walk out 100 yards and still only be waist deep in the water. Stu likened it to what he pictured Bora Bora or Tahiti to be like. The water was perfect…warm and calm. After swimming and reading we cleaned up for dinner. There was actually a restaurant/kitchen with one menu and an outdoor seating gazebo area.
Stu and I feasted on fried rice and whatever my mom and her friends ordered which typically ended up too spicy for my poor bland tastebuds. After that we played some cards and managed to lose 200 baht ($8ish) and called it a night. We read a bit before falling asleep to the gentle hum of the single ceiling fan and the sound of the waves below (69 steps up to our bungalow) through our screen door. Of course that didn’t stop us from waking up around 11pm when the generator stopped and we were without fan. Let me say sleeping without A/C for 3 nights was looking to be a B%!&(MISSING)$#.

Monday, Feb 18
The morning awoke us with stuffy heat, stiff backs, and the fan returning to work…and oh yeah….my gasp as I looked up to see none other than a MONKEY IN OUR ROOM. Just as I screamed he darted back out our screen door with two oranges in his hand. He decided to sit on the deck and eat them staring (aka mocking) us as Stu fumbled for the camera. We shot off a couple pics of him walking away and jumping to the next roof. Bastard. From then on we shut the sliding door when leaving the room. We joined the others for breakfast and commented on not having the fan all night. My mom’s friend informed us that her fan had worked. To our chagrin we had not properly read the sign next to the fan switch. Apparently all you had to do was flip a switch when the fan went off at 11pm so it would run off the alternate generator! That tidbit would come in handy for the next two nights.
After breakfast we prepared for our first dive (and Stu’s first Thailand dive). We went out about an hour in a long tail boat and after getting all our gear on, submerged. We stayed down for about 45 minutes and enjoyed seeing sea turtle, tons of colorful coral, small beautiful fish, oh and water (Stu threw that one in). Stu’s ear hurt so after lunch we choose to snorkel instead of dive. Snorkeling turned out to be even better than diving. The fish seemed to be more abundant there. We saw so many different varieties and colors of coral.

That night we had for dinner none other than…fried rice. We played some more cards, read a little before bed (no mindless tv to watch before falling asleep) and when the fan went off we were prepared. Surprisingly I was even a little chilly that night.

Tuesday, Feb 19
Today was pretty much the same as yesterday. Get up, eat fried rice for breakfast. Or wait…maybe we changed things up and had milk and cereal we brought…things tend to run together when you’re on vacation. We did a morning dive and saw lots of eel, sea anemone, some little crabs, and even some baby shrimp. We lunched on fried rice and fish. Nap time. Then on to our afternoon (and final) dive. This time we saw more of the same, a couple lion fish, and Stu saw a Manta Ray (I was looking the other direction and missed it). We had dinner (by this time we were a little sick of fried rice and fish, but choked it down anyway), then played more cards, read, went to bed.

Wednesday, Feb 20
Our final morning on Surin. We enjoyed a last morning of snorkeling. The water was extremely choppy and it felt as though we swam a fricken’ mile. Stu saw a reef shark of some sort swim off which he was hoping to see while diving. As usual I must’ve been looking a different direction. We cleaned up, had lunch (fried rice), and then hung around the dining area until our speed boat taxi arrived at 3pm. Holy crap the ride back was one of the roughest ever. It didn’t even compare to 4th of July weekend at the Ozarks. This was 10 times worse. Mom sat like a trooper at the back of the boat and got soaked from the spray. We finally arrived at the pier, but only after I lost my visor in the wind. Driver was there to meet us to take us back to the Kao Luk resort for another nights stay before heading back to Bangkok. She informed us that an earthquake had hit Sumatra and there was talk of another Tsunami being possible. As we drove back to the hotel Stu and I realized there was no Tsunami warning since people were calmly walking around the roads. That night at the hotel we enjoyed our first non-fried rice meal and ordered two pizzas. It was delicious. That night we slept with soft pillows and air conditioning. The simple things you take for granted.

Thursday, Feb 21
Today we woke up around 8, enjoyed breakfast and a dip in the pool, then made our way to the Phuket airport to catch our flight back to the condo. After checking our 40+ emails we are getting ready to gorge ourselves on a hotel dinner buffet with my aunts. We had dinner at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in the heart of downtown Bangkok. After 4 days of fried rice, nothing looked better. There was a sushi bar, lobster tail, prime rib, tomato soup (a personal favorite), dessert bar, salad bar, lamb, Indian food, and much more. We ate until we could barely move. After dinner we made it home and read before bed. Stu purchased a new book at the airport in Phuket and managed to finish it within 12 hours of purchasing it. Dumb.

---

Photos

Surin Island
Where we stayed in bungalows

Damn Monkeys
This one stole oranges

Scuba Stu
Getting ready to dive...yea!!

Oriental A/C
Ceiling fan. Der.

Surin Island Beach
You could walk out 200 yards and still be waist deep

Downpour
Mom getting soaked on boat ride

We miss you...
but are happy we're not at work.