Thailand Part Deux

So Saturday morning, after a night eating King Prawn Thermidor and Pad Thai while reclining on wicker beds on the beach, and 10 solid hours of sleep, Danny and I were awoken refreshed to a 7am call from the front desk saying Brett Dawg had officially arrived. =)

In no time we were devouring another amazing breakfast buffet of omelets and guava juice, before heading right out for more fun in the sun. Since it was Brett's first day, we figured another low-key day was in order, and though be began bartering for beers on the beach around noon, we spent most of it pool hopping from infinity pool to infinity pool up and down Chaweng Beach... Apparently as long as you're white and act like you belong, every hotel assumes you're one of theirs. ;)

Later in the afternoon we decided to splurge and accept an offer from some beach side masseuses, and the three of us laid down for an hour long massage right there on the beach... Danny got the oil massage, although Brett and I both got the Aloe massage as I had already started to fry despite my best sunscreen efforts... An hour and $10 lighter I was totally relaxed, and we decided to walk through Town for some evening shopping... World Tour Lesson #1 by the way... If you're ever backpacking through Southeast Asia, pack LIGHT, as in, don't even pack any clothes... you can buy them when you get there... That was Danny's strategy, and every night we'd leave the hotel with him clad in nothing but shorts and sandals... Then we'd browse some of the street markets on the way to dinner, and each night he'd buy a new shirt. =)

Saturday night was also pretty tame as Brett was incredibly jetlagged and we'd decided to book a snorkeling trip which was leaving the hotel at 7:30 AM the next day, and thus it was that the next morning we found ourselves with about 10 other tourists on a speedboat to Koh Tau for what was undoubtedly the best snorkeling I've ever done... The coral reefs are vibrant, with elk horn, and brain coral and fire coral and every imaginable shape and color dotting the seafloor while vibrant tropical fish in blues, greens reds and yellows swim about EVERYWHERE... We then had lunch on Koh Tau before heading over to a tiny beach island called Koh Nangyuan for some more snorkeling (and lounging in the shade).

The whole day the three of us had been joking around with one of the funniest Aussie guys I've ever met, as he and his wife were on their honeymoon after having just been married in Las Vegas... This guy was hysterical, and his wife was a lot of fun too, so once we got back to Koh Samui we made plans to meet them for dinner which included an enourmous whole fried fish in tamarind sauce, some curry crab and lots of king prawn and grilled squid... Amazing meal. That night, the three of us went out and partied like rock stars, including drinking some 99 baht ($3) buckets... but not buckets of beers, literally buckets of vodka redbull, which are plastic toy buckets filled with vodka, redbull and ice... about a liter of it... again for $3... ridiculous. ;) All in all it was a great night: We hit up lots of bars, met some cool people, evaded the ever-present lady boys... which is a scary, scary phenomenon (Thai boys dressed like girls looking for company... shudder) before stumbling home to much welcome beds.

The next day's adventure highlight was elephant trekking.... yep, that's right. We rode elephants. Through the jungle. ;) We left the hotel at 10:30 and drove about 45 minutes down the island to an elephant reserve where Dannny and I rode one while Brett rode the other... We've got some great pictures to share ajnd I'll try to upload them soon, but those beasts are HUGE and although trying to get them to do what you want them to do is an endeavor for the brave, they're also REALLY smart... At one point Brett's sandle fell off his foot, and the elephant he was riding automatically picked it up with his trunk and handed it back to Brett... How COOL is that!!!

That night we set out for Bangkok, and we were stoked! That said, I think I'm going to wrap this up here and save Bangkok for another day. ;)

Everyone loves a cliff hanger, and my hour on this comp is about to end!

Till then!
-Tom