koh samui

we woke up early and had breakfast at the hotels restaraunt on the beach...the morning was beautiful and it was still sort of cool and comfortable. the flies however were REALLY bad and it was a race between me and them to see who could eat my food faster! we were to be picked up at 7:30am for our journey over to koh samui. we had spent most of our time on the western coast of thailand in the andaman sea, and now we were off to the eastern coast in the gulf of thailand to the island of koh samui. we were hoping to hop over to the island of koh pha ngan (prounounced...ko pan yang sort of!) which is where they have the full moon parties. for me the reality set in that our time was almost done and i started to hope the next couple of days would go by super slow. NOTE: my camera is still dead at this point.

we drove to meet our van and we were off. i was trying to take everything in and make sure i would never forget what an enchanting and wonderous place thailand is. christa and i slept for a while on the drive to krabi, but i remember our driver being a bit of a maniac. well. the thing you should know is...in thailand...when there is a road with one lane, usually there are people on motorbikes, trucks, vans, tuk-tuks, etc. making it into sortof two lanes. and a whole lot of weaving in and out of lanes. nothing is really set in stone. when we arrived in krabi town about 2hrs later, were were dropped off a little travel center across from the peir. we had time to kill and ventured off to find some snacks. the prices here were unreal. we got 4 bags of chips, cigs, candy, water,and iced coffees for the journey ahead! cheap.cheap.cheap! note to self: always stock up when in rural areas...the prices are 3-4times more when you get to your destination! we sat back at the travel center and the sun began to beat down on us! christa and i painted our nails and christa fixed up her cuts from the coral reef with my super handy first aid kit! we just kind of chilled waiting for the next ride. when we were booking our tickets the previous night in lanta, i overheard some swiss guys trying to make arrangements to get to samui as well by air...i noticed that they were paying....3750bahts each...and arriving oh about an hour before us...so i suggested they take the scenic route...and pay only 650bahts each like christa and i did! so...they were also there at the travel center along with random other backpackers and travellers. we spotted some cuties as well! the van arrived. it was the standard a/c van...kind of like a minivan. with NO luggage space. so. i stood there in amazement as the driver tried to pack luggage for 11 passengers. into a space that i couldnt even fit in. so. without further ado, we were shuffled in and the rest of our luggage packed in wherever there was space. christa and i were stuffed in the front with all our snacks and blocked off by luggage that was all the way to the roof right behind us! so we chatted and enjoyed the ride! our driver dropped us off...somewhere. where again: they tried to screw everyone. they told us the ferry couldnt cross because the tide was too low and that we would have to pay more money to get on some sort of speedboat. basically we were all sitting on the side of the road...with all our shit being told that we would have to sit here until 6pm to wait for the ferry. well. i tried to hold out. but everyone but us....bought the damn tickets. i knew we were getting screwed...but i finally gave in and got tickets and in we went! at least christa got sat next to the cute guys! next we got to the ferry...the water didnt look low to me, but well. im not an expert. we missed ours so we had to wait for the next one. at this point we began to mingle with the guys! it was actually pretty fun sitting there on the ground with all our stuff. christa got one of those yummy little drinks that taste like candy, and i got a coke. turns out these guys were quite interesting! so finally we board the ferry...bear in mind the previous blogs notes to self about lugging 100lbs of luggage up a huge and tiny metal staircase. but finally we settled in on the nicest ferry we had been on! we sat with our new mates and chatted away! they bought us some heinekins, the breeze was perfect, they both had puters with em so we listened to some music...making the journey...quite great actually! these guys are the shit man!



introducing: leigh the scotsman and gavin the australian! this was turning out good as we hadnt really had much time to get this aquainted with anyone on the trip thus far. at this point we had spent a long day of travelling together! i had gotten some pretty nasty bubbley rash and sun poison type of thing on my shoulders and back for which i had yet to find any reasonable type of cure or releif from the itch. it turns out leigh would be my saving grace as he had packed all kinds of remedies for every kind of ailment! he was my own personal medicine man........sweet! i put on this steroid creme and took an oral antihistimine which i had been looking for for days!!!!!!! almost instantly.i felt relief. we talked and laughed and gavin even let me read a passage from a book he had about ......strange facts i believe! (he too would turn out to have a world of interesting things in his bag!)
finally we disembarked from the ferry and got loaded into our van to head off to our hotel! basically i was a little fearful about our hotel knowing it was up in chaweng lake area and not by the beach. samui was absolutely beautiful. we drove up the windy roads, as we passed the ocean the sun was setting and the tide was pretty far out. i wish i had a photo of the moment and image that is stuck inside my head... we finally reached our hotel...it was FABULOUS! so the boys decided to check to see if they could get a room as well here, and they were in luck! the hotel is called 'nathalies art palace'... it was kindof like a european style house but it truely was a palace! and guess what! we were the only guests! basically they told us we could choose our rooms and we kindof scrambled to look at everything!




shit man! this place was the perfect place to spend our last few days! and you know what, it was only ten minutes from all the action!!!
the dogs were named ping and pong.....appropriately! hahahaha! they were so freaking cute!!!!!
being the only guests it did feel like more like a weekend retreat home than a hotel...we had the best german guy and swiss girl as our hosts! they were very helpful and friendly with everything! we hung around upstairs on the veranda and chatted for a while taking in the breathtaking veiw of the island. actually from the rooftop you could see both sides of the island.......stunning!

i am pretty sure i could have stayed on the rooftop of the art palace for the rest of my natural life. as the sun was going down the guys suggested we get ready to go for dinner... there was a great restaraunt they wanted us to go to! um. ok! so the place is called the cliff bar and grill...it is on...a cliff. hahaha, and overlooks the ocean! it is soooo lovely...if you go there it is in lamai. so we couldnt get a table on the veranda but the table we got was just perfect. it was the nicest place! very classy, yet warm and cozy... loved it! the guys got the yummiest steaks ive ever tasted and christa got seafood, and i got pasta with mushrooms and pesto! we had a bottle of wine, flaming sambuca shots, i even had a dirty martini! it was hard to stomach tho because i hadnt been drinking that hardcore on this trip! leigh and gavin were all around great guys and really felt like old friends! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what a stunning evening! *twinkle* (oh i forgot too mention... leigh had a travel monkey! he and kibbles my travelling dog for nates class had quite the time on the town!)











did i mention how funny these two were! (um. not the monkey and dog.) were were able to buy smokes right there at the table! interesting packaging...cadavers with open chests and black lungs, people dying of cancer hooked to breathing machines, and my favorite.....the rotted ass teeth. ick! thank you cigarettes for all the great times! ick!

after a gorgeous meal we decided to hit the town! we started off in one of those little cheapy bars(my favorite!) like i had told mentioned before! it was a great chance to goof around and get to know each other! good times!!!
















ok. some strange things were witnessed. first being... a freaking swastika flag hanging on the wall across the street and a big man in a chair guarding a door...i dont like to speculate...but after i walked up, shot a picture of it......went back to the bar........it mysteriously disappeared...hmmm. so then...the dog. an old dog. a sweet dog. a half dead dog? christa rested her feet on this dog the whole time we were there......it barely moved! weird.


so after a great time goofing around what else is there to do but........karaoke, of course! luckily my singing partner and i BOTH sucked so it didnt really matter! christa and leigh however were pretty good! but.......nothing. compares to gavins dancing skills! the best booty shaker in all the land! and on that note...i would like to point out that............i did kick his ass in arm wrestling!!! (kidding!)




what the hell song was this again?!







with karaoke shenanigans under our belt what else was left to do but go dancing! we headed over to the green mango and danced the night away!













ok, ok. so if i had to rate this night...id say it is one of the top 3 nights of my life! you know when you just dont want it to end! christa and leigh went to some of the other clubs and gavin and i stayed here for a while, then we walked around talking about all kinds of things! we decided to get a ride home on one of those....motorbike taxis. im sure this was the funniest looking thing ever..... a little thai guy driving the bike, me in the middle and gavin on the back! hahaha! well our driver was so fabulous! we stopped and chatted on the side of the road for a bit.......and then we headed out. we were staying on a pretty steep hill. and our taxi guy was like, there is NO way im gonna make it up.......so gavin and i cheered him on as he made a valient effort!!!!!! midway....he stopped! so gavin piggybacked me all the way home! fun! fun! fun!
in the morning we all met up for breakfast! it was lovely out, and our breakfast was YUMMY! omelets, fried eggs, toast, bacon, fruit, muesli, tea, juice....ahhhh fabulous!



we hung around the art palace for a while, and hit the pool (swordfish!) this place is great! then we went into town for a bit of sightseeing and lunch and icecream!!!!













we came back home and had some cocktails on the veranda in these comfy bean bag chairs! watched movies...then went out for st. pattys day! we hit up an irish bar, saw a monkey, and then went over to Qbar!


















quick bite at mcdonalds! yum!






well i found koh samui to be a little more classy and refined than the other places! i think its safe to say we all had one hell of a good time! so after breakfast we were off........to the airport to head back to bangkok for one night...and then over to tokyo for one night! tokyo next.......





bye bye samui...you will be missed!