Loving the Gulf of Thailand

---

Hey All!

Sorry for the delay! I tried to update the blog when we were in Ko Samui the other day, but for some reason it wouldn't work!

So we made the full-day journey from the Andaman coast via Long Tail Boat to Bus to Ferry and Mini Bus and landed in Ko Samui on Friday night. We thought we had our accommodation all sorted out when we made a stop en route to Surat Thani to get the ferry. We booked our first night in Samui with the travel agent who told us about this great guesthouse that included breakfast. We thought, perfect! we won't have to worry about it when we arrive. Well...it was so NOT perfect! It was in a pretty ghetto area to begin with. Our room smelled bad, the toilet wasn't even clean, and the bed sheets did not look fresh. Basically we dropped our bags and got out of there ASAP.

After a long day to get there, the first thing we wanted to do was find somewhere else to stay. We ended up wandering up the main drag and found a nicer bungalow. We paid for that night and the next and went back to try to get some of our money back from the other place. The guy was nice but told us that his 'boss' already took the money to/from the bank? Either way, we were NOT going to be staying there. We kissed 900B good-bye. (about $30).

So after that escapade, we managed to relax on the beach in Samui. It was definitely much faster-paced than Railay, and there were a lot of vendors trying to sell stuff on the beach. Ryan was most annoyed by all the tailors along the main street that would shake his hand and then hold on to it so he couldn't walk away. There were tailors within a stone's throw of each other, so we'd speed up our pace and walk by as fast as possible to avoid them. Who's the ruder people?

We ended up staying another night in Samui and yesterday decided to move to the next stop: Ko Pha-Ngan. We got a taxi/ferry ticket and boarded the boat around 10:30am. As we were riding across to K-P-N, we could see dark clouds hanging over the island. Looking back at Samui...cloudy, but clearly a LOT nicer! Doh. Sure enough we landed in a downpour and Ryan's umbrella sadly did not make it through that one.

We thought we knew where we wanted to stay, Coco Hut, but after paying 100B for a songathew (truck with picnic benches in the back but covered), we discovered that they had raised their rates enormously and were asking 2500B for a bungalow! (We'd been paying up to 1000B for a nice A/C bungalow). Another couple were in the same boat (from Israel) and the guy had been there before. He ran next door and came to tell us to try there. They ended up with the last of the reasonable places. So where to go?

We used my cell phone (kind of scared to see how much that will cost) to phone Palita Lodge Resort which was north on the 'Sunrise' Beach of Hat Rin. They were great! Even sent an employee to come and pick us up. So far this is our favourite place. Breakfast is even included and it is amazing! There's a beautiful pool, it's beachfront, has a restaurant with a pool table and ping pong etc...

Unfortunately because our flight to Bangkok out of Surat Thani (on the mainland) is at 1pm on Thursday, we can't afford to risk leaving here Thursday morning. So, we just booked tickets on the 1pm Ferry tomorrow (Wed) and will have to stay in Surat Thani overnight to ensure we get to the airport on time.

As for Bangkok, we are staying in the Ramada Hotel D'MA. We booked it online. Our flight back is Saturday!! Time has flown and we wish we could have seen more!

Hope you're all doing well. Must sign off as Internet is very expensive here (3x more than Ko Samui).

Love, L&R

---