That night we enjoyed our dinner on lounging platforms by the beach before Kim and I headed out to see what nightlife this place offered. The only bar we could find that wasn't full of dirty old men and Thai prostitutes was the Irish pub, so naturally we entered. A surprisingly excellent cover band from the Philippines was playing and we met three fantastic Brits who were having the time of their lives so it was a good night.
After helping one of the Brits find his guesthouse in his very drunken state, we crashed.
The next day we were joined by Anthony and all four of us enjoyed a lazy day by the beach and explored around a bit. That night we went out for dinner, then Kim, Anthony and I went out to explore Hat Chaweng beach. The rest of the night is a big blur of moving around to a lot of different places. We found two bars, around the corner from where we had been (which closed down) that were open air and right next to each other. Both packed, both playing good music, but two open air bars playing competing music right next to each other gets a little confusing. I found myself trying to dance to two different beats. It just doesn't work. After these bars both closed we managed to find a 'Black Moon' party. Sort of like full moon, only there's wasn't a full moon, we were on a different island, and it was much smaller scale. It was fun in it's own way, but we didn't stay too long. The sun still beat us, hence the sunrise photos in my photo album...
On our next day out, we rented a 4x4 car which Anthony was capable of driving, luckily. We went exploring and found a great waterfall, after a small episode of almost getting stuck on a very very steep windy road that we had to partly reverse down. THAT was interesting....
To get to the waterfall, we were guided by a Thai man up what was basically a cliff for what felt like an hour. We pulled ourselves up over rocks, using tree roots and random ropes to stop ourselves falling to our deaths. Near the top was a little pool that we swam around for awhile, going into the little cave area behind the waterfall etc. The highlight was probably just watching our Thai guide strip down to his skivvies and jump off the cliff into the water. No big deal.
The way down got more interesting when we had to half jump over a part of the waterfall. I had one good foot at the time, and my bad foot was clearly lonely, so I smashed my head into a rock, fell back into the waterfall and did a nice job on my knee and my previously functioning foot. Then Kim, Kelly and I watched as the top of my foot turned from pink to a very dark purple. Hmmm... The way down was slightly more painful, but our guide was awesome, he rubbed some plant on my cuts to help stop the bleeding and guided us through what I assume was the 'easy' way down. Then when we got to a part that was paved he drove us the rest of the way for free which was huge. Really I just did it all for the free ride.
That night we watched Taken. Very good movie, unless you happen to be a girl traveling for the first time with another girl...and you're in Paris. Watch out for those taxi rides.
So after some fun in Koh Samui, we discovered that there were no boats back to the mainland....so we headed to Koh Tao! What's another couple of days?! We're all really glad we did this, Koh Tao was our favourite island and I really recommend it. A lot of people say it's only worthwhile if you plan on doing some scuba diving, and yes there are a TON of diving companies, but it's still a beautiful island, not quite as built up as Phangnan or Samui, with plenty to do. We were able to relax, watch movies at an Australian bar and listen to some good live music, as well as go on an amazing snorkeling day trip. I swam with sharks! SHARKS! I did my best with the underwater camera, but sharks aren't cooperative when it comes to holding still for a snapshot. Can't figure out why.
On our trip we were taken to another island called Koh Nang Yuan which is actually three islands connected by sandbars. Really beautiful.
For dinner we ate on the beach and I had a red snapper that was probably caught that day that I got to pick out, grilled for me right by the ocean. Not a bad time. The photos are here.
After that, the honeymoon finally ended, we waved goodbye to Anthony who had one more day before a border run (gotta love having a long term visa) before heading to Bangkok to meet up with some of his Kiwi friends. The three of us arrived in Bangkok only to realise that it was too late for any of us to get a bus. Another night in Bangkok?! Yes please! We found an overpriced hotel and the next day after saying bye to Kim, Kelly and I met up with Waqas for lunch before heading to the CIEE office with him (where he works) to see our lovely coordinator, Phil! It was nice to have a place to hang out, and to see some familiar faces before getting on yet another overnight bus back to good old TWP.
After arriving at about 5 am on Friday, Lisa showed up! She'd been home for a week already at that point, my how time flies. Luckily she wasn't too demanding and we basically spent two days doing nothing while I recovered from the long journey home. It was good to see her again, when you feel like spending two days in your pajamas it's nice to have company.
So now it's back to 'reality' if that's what I can call it. Tomorrow I teach for the first time in.... well who's counting anyway. We'll see if I remember what to do.
By the way, my left foot (the one that turned purple) is back to normal. My right foot is still healing, but I survived. And now I have fun war wounds with cool stories, so that's something right?
I hope you all had a great New Years, whatever country you were in.
In case you missed the links check out photos for:
Now that the internet more or less cooperates I'll try to add more photos of previous events.
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