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Published: July 25th 2006
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Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all well. I'm in Koh Samui now, which is an island off the mainland of Thailand. Getting here was not very pleasant, but it probably could have been worse. I flew to Bangkok and had about 5 hours to kill while waiting for my train. I went to a local shopping area. The air quality in Bangkok is absolutly awful. It's a very crowded and busy city. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had someone with me who knew where to go and what to do.
I boarded an overnight train around 7:30pm. The train itself was dirty, but my bunk was clean and cozy. I was bummed because I didn't get to see any of the country during the ride. I ended up falling asleep to the sound of 2 little girls chattering away in Dutch, which I thought sounded cute. I decided it wasn't so cute anymore when all 10 of the people in the family were yelling in Dutch at around 4:00am. Apparently, they get up a lot earlier than us Americans.
After the 12 hour ride I got on a bus. After the
train
the overnight train from Sarat Thani to the ferry for the islands 30 minute bus ride, I got on a boat. Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin were the music of choice. The boat ride was about 3 1/2 hours and I'll be okay if I never hear either one of them again. I met a girl on the boat who is also traveling alone, Jess, so now I have a compadre from England. I was originally suposed to go to Koh Samui first, but I changed my mind just before I got on the boat because I heard Koh Pha Nang was more my speed. It's kind of weird because the first thing she said when I met her was that she was thinking of getting off at Koh Pha Nang instead of Koh Samui.
Koh Pha Nang is famous for a full moon party every month. As many as 10,000 people from around the world gather on a small beach every month for this party and you have to walk into the ocean to get through the crowd. I was relieved that it wasn't happening while I was there. I think it would be a bit much. I read that the psychiatric hosptial near by has to double their staff
massages for $5 an hour!!
I couldn't resist getting a massage every day during the party and on the day before and the day after because so many people freak out from drugs and such. Anyway, when it isn't the full moon, they have a more relaxed atmosphere with mats and candles on the beach with dancing and good music. I had heard that there were fire twirlers, but I just pictured a few hippies out there doing their thing. Not the case. There are a group of locals who are very dedicated to fire twirling and do it for their job. I was so amazed watching them. It was absolutely incredible!!! I watched them for hours. At one point I looked at Jess and said, "Wow, look how pretty the sky is. It's starting to lighten up or something". I had no idea that so much time had passed and that the sun was going to come up soon!
I really liked the atmosphere of Koh Pha Nang, but the beaches weren't that spectacular. My friends from Cambodia went straight to Koh Samui after Cambodia. They offered to pick up Jess and I on their way to the island Koh Tao for their snorkeling trip. Sounded like a great idea! Then
we wouldn't have to take the ferry back to Koh Samui AND we would get to go snorkeling! Due to a family trip years ago, the thought crossed my mind about motion sickness on the snorkeling boat (Matt & Mama, you know exactly what I'm talking about), but I had my new friend, Ginger Gum, so I thought I'd be just fine. We set out on the boat and within half an hour I made friends with the side of the boat, if you know what I mean. The driver was smiling about it and said "no worries", so I was happy about that. But what got me through is that I kept thinking, Ãnce I get off this %*#@!& $#%#!&* boat, I'll feel better and I'll get to see some beautiful fish". I did actually snorkel for a few minutes, but I had to get out and get on land or I was going to be sick again. I just enjoyed the scenery and napped while they finished up. The area was so gorgeous with cliffs and turquoise water. Okay, so lots of self-talk and dramamine later, I was prepared to get on the boat for the ride back.
First 20 minutes were just fine. I started out laying down this time and it was working well. I had my eyes closed and must have fallen a sleep for a minute. I opened my eyes because I started getting wet. I looked up and I actually thought that they had started to pull down dark gray covers from the roof to shield us from rain. Um, no. That was the sky. The driver looked at us and said, "You get ready". Okay then. How does one "get ready"? I was so scared that I actually started to belly laugh. We all were laughing so hard because there was not a thing we could do about the waves crashing in over the sides. This was not a very big boat. I would say it was twice the size of a speed boat. We were all soaking wet and freezing and bracing ourselves for each slam and wave. This went on for about 2 hours. At one point I could hardly hold on anymore. Kim tried to adjust himself and sat on my head. It was really intense for a while. I thought a few times that we were going to
tip. But....I didn't get sick!!!
We arrived to Koh Samui and it is very beautiful. The beaches are fantastic! This island has more resorts and is more built up than Koh Pha Nang. At night near the bar area, there are women (or men who I swear look exactly like women) who try to get you into their bar or massage parlor. "Meeeeester! Laaaaaaady! You come in!" Getting hassled is very avoidable if you don't make eye contact or just say no.
There are many, many legitimate massage parlors and this morning I got a one hour massage on the beach for 5 bucks. Later I'm going to get some type of aloe vera massage. I really like Thailand a lot. The people here are very beautiful and kind. Jess and I are going to stay another night or two and then I'm headed to an island called Ko Phi Phi in the south-east part of Thailand in the Bay of Bengal.
Take Care!
Peace,
Nikki
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