Day 12: Leaving the islands, back to Bangkok

Our morning in Ko Samui was a tranquil one. We had a great breakfast (interrupted briefly by a giant wasp which flew under our table and stuffed a large caterpillar into its nest). Nicole took a dip in the water, which now appeared to be jellyfish-free. We soaked in some sun and decided it was time to move on.

We hailed a taxi back to the pier and tried to get combined ferry/bus tickets at the main counter. The price was expensive and did not include a bus combo, so we headed back to the pierside town and asked around at some travel agencies. We found one that offered the combo trip for about half the price we'd found elsewhere, so we sprang for it. In the meantime, we grabbed some drinks at a coffee shop while we waited. It was some of the best coffee I've ever had, Nicole had a delicious coconut shake. There was also a crazy bulbous-headed fish in a tank.

We boarded the ferry and, since Samui is the closest island to the mainland, it was not very long before we were on our bus back to the airport. We ate a late lunch while waiting for our flight, since we had a few hours to kill in the Surat Thani airport. We watched some tv showing footage of the protests in Bangkok, which had turned violent only a couple days earlier. We were glad we did not see any of it, and hoped on our return we wouldn't catch any violence. Interesting to see similar discontent as we had witnessed in Cambodia about a week prior. I wondered if Southeast Asia might see an arab-spring type of moment in which discontent manifested throughout the region in protests against their regimes. Our last hotel of the trip was closer to the shopping malls and Sukhumvit. It was a five star hotel called The Sukosol and was booked through my credit card rewards. It was one of the fanciest hotels I've been in. The staff were hand over foot friendly and we had a sweet room with a view of the Bangkok high-rises. It was just what we needed to rest up for the next day and our long flight ahead. Since it was getting late, we ordered room-service for a decent price and talked about our plans to squeeze every last drop out of our trip. The goal was to visit the Grand Palace first thing in the morning before checking out of the hotel!

- C

Day 11: Ko Samui

We woke early enough to grab a bite to eat on our last morning in Ko Tao. This little island was really something we both would look back on fondly. A friendly man from the hotel called a cab for us and soon, we were at the pier and on a boat to Ko Samui. We took the Lomprayah high speed catamaran. I definitely think this is the way to go, it was much faster than our boat from Ko Pha Ngan to Ko Tao.

We arrived at Samui and caught a cab to our next bungalow, the Weekender Villa. It is about a half hour from the pier and just south of Chaweng, one of the main beaches. Here's our bungalow.

Skeptical of the island, we went to check out the beach view. I have to say, though it lacked a nice strip of sand at high tide, it was quite beautiful. With its 180° panorama, Nicole said it looked like you were standing at the edge of the world.

We venture into the water, but I quickly spotted a couple of jellyfish, so we jumped out and walked along the shore instead.

Not too impressed with the guest house's food options (or friendliness), we searched for a place to eat. We walked a good distance through Lamai beach when we finally decided to settle on an Indian place that we happened upon called Live India. To our surprise, the food was excellent! We had hoped for mediocre and ended up with excellent. Nicole had Aloo Gobi and I had a shrimp masala with a side of garlic naan and a Singha beer.

Afterwards, we walked around Lamai beach and check out some of the shops before heading back to the bungalow. Perhaps it was the overall vibe of Samui, but we never quite bonded with the island, at least the spot we were staying, as we had in Ko Tao. But in the early evening, the weather was beautiful and before the paper lanterns were lit along the shoreline, we had an opportunity to scrawl this blog's name in the sand

- C