The overnight bus into Koh Tao was surprisingly comfortable and easy. We boarded the bus, watched a movie, passed out, stopped for a potty/snack break at 3am, and next thing we knew it was 5am and we were being unloaded from the bus, in the pitch black, in the middle of nowhere. Sketchyyy! Luckily there were 2 bus loads of people with us, so we parked it on a bench to watch the sunset over the ocean and wait for our ferry to come 2 hours later and take us to the island. While waiting, we chatted up some people around us and met a fun group of Swedish guys that we ended up befriending over the next few days! When we arrived on Koh Tao, aka Turtle Island, aka complete paradise, we shared a cab with the Swedes to get to the beach recommended to us all. From there we wandered and found ourselves a great little resort in the center of town, a minute from the beach, for just $5 per night! We immediately dropped our bags, grabbed some breakfast, and went straight to the beach. It was insanely hot and the sun felt stronger than ever, so after just a few minutes in the sub we retreated to the shade. We took a walk along the beach to see what there was and managed to find the Swedes, so we played a pickup game of water volleyball that lasted forever! It was hard and we all sucked at it, but it was a fun way to forget about the heat. Unfortunately the heat didn't forget about us, and when we went home to shower that night, realized how severely burnt we got! Jaimie's face and chest were completely red like a tomato, whereas my face and shoulders were a strong shade of pink. We were in pain. After slathering on the aloe and grabbing a passion fruit mango smoothie, we decided to take a nap to recover from our early morning. Woke up just in time to grab some dinner before heading the beach for a fire show and an infamous bucket! For those of you who don't know, the Thai islands are famous for serving their cocktails in sand pales, essentially 3 or 4 drinks in 1, for about $2.50-$5.00 depending on what you choose. What a steal!...and maker of a horrible hangover! We shared 3 buckets between the 5 of us, but they were so awfully strong that we left one bucket completely untouched and left in search of Thai pancakes. Delicious street food, similar to a crepe, but better, and cheap. We called it an early night after this, with plans to go snorkeling early in the am!
Before this trip I would have considered myself a light sleeper. Trouble falling asleep in anything but a bed, trouble staying asleep, etc. One thing the trip had taught me is to suck it up, sleep when and where you can cuz good sleep is rare. Apparently I am a fast learner, because when they guys came to wake us up at 9am to snorkel, neither Jaimie nor I woke up to their knocking, so we missed out! Instead we went for a nice breakfast and back to the beach, this time to lay in complete shade, read, and swim a bit. Unfortunately Jaimie was having a rough day because yet again she woke up with a severe face reaction, this time to the sunburn. Blisters covered get face and chest, painful, scary looking, and simply no fun. So she left me at the beach to go rest in bed and talk to her boyfriend. I stayed at the beach a little longer before deciding to go have my daily mango smoothie lunch at the cafe and write a blog. Having all this time to myself gave me the perfect opportunity to do something I live and Jaimie hates: massages! So I took a long leisurely walk all the way down the road, checking out the different restaurants, shops, and masseuses. I settled at a lovely, peaceful salon where I enjoyed an hour long coconut oil massage (no lady boys or happy endings involved like I was warned about)! After the massage I was escorted to the balcony to sip on delicious jasmine tea and watch the sunset. What a perfect day in my book! I went back to the hotel to find Jaimie in much better spirits, so we showered and set out to find some grub! We happened to run into the Swedes, who had 2 more join their group that day, so we tagged along with them for a delicious pad Thai dinner and 2 for 1 cocktails. We made our way down the beach to their resort, which was having a big beach party. Buckets, fire throwing, fire jump roping (Jaimie!), and dancing and we had just the right recipe for a perfect night! To give you an idea of just how hot it was, it was 2am and we were absolutely dripping in sweat, so of course the only reasonable solution was a little dip in the ocean! Fully clothed, we all charged the ocean for a spur of the moment swim! So fun!! We ended up staying in the water for a while because the water there was just so warm! However getting out was a bit chilly, and quite uncomfortable in soggy wet shorts and T's. A pit stop for another Thai pancake and we were on our way home for the night.
Waking up the next day, I felt so rejuvenated after my relaxing beach time, massage, and fun night to top it off. So we decided to keep up the trend with another delicious breakfast, books on the beach, a stroll in the sand, a dip in the pool, and a lovely pedicure to top it all off. If there's anything I wish I had done, it's taking before and after pictures of our feet! After 2 months of daily walking in sand, mud, etc, our feet had seen better days!! We showered, went back to our go-to restaurant for half price pizzas, and went to the town's Aussie bar, which was hosting a pub crawl that night! We got free tank tops for the pub crawl, which we decorated throughout the night, as well as a free bucket! We met many people from all different countries and had great fun! We even got to see a lady boy cabaret show, which was absolutely hilarious! Lady Gaga and Beyonce impersonators, damn were they talented! Unfortunately we had to bail on the pub crawl halfway through because our ticket outta there put us on the boat early the next morning.
7:30am wake up call, pack up, one last delicious breakfast, and we were off to the port at 9am to head to Koh Samui!
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| sunrise! |
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| beach party with fire throwers |
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| luck lanterns! |
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| dangerous much? |
Before this trip I would have considered myself a light sleeper. Trouble falling asleep in anything but a bed, trouble staying asleep, etc. One thing the trip had taught me is to suck it up, sleep when and where you can cuz good sleep is rare. Apparently I am a fast learner, because when they guys came to wake us up at 9am to snorkel, neither Jaimie nor I woke up to their knocking, so we missed out! Instead we went for a nice breakfast and back to the beach, this time to lay in complete shade, read, and swim a bit. Unfortunately Jaimie was having a rough day because yet again she woke up with a severe face reaction, this time to the sunburn. Blisters covered get face and chest, painful, scary looking, and simply no fun. So she left me at the beach to go rest in bed and talk to her boyfriend. I stayed at the beach a little longer before deciding to go have my daily mango smoothie lunch at the cafe and write a blog. Having all this time to myself gave me the perfect opportunity to do something I live and Jaimie hates: massages! So I took a long leisurely walk all the way down the road, checking out the different restaurants, shops, and masseuses. I settled at a lovely, peaceful salon where I enjoyed an hour long coconut oil massage (no lady boys or happy endings involved like I was warned about)! After the massage I was escorted to the balcony to sip on delicious jasmine tea and watch the sunset. What a perfect day in my book! I went back to the hotel to find Jaimie in much better spirits, so we showered and set out to find some grub! We happened to run into the Swedes, who had 2 more join their group that day, so we tagged along with them for a delicious pad Thai dinner and 2 for 1 cocktails. We made our way down the beach to their resort, which was having a big beach party. Buckets, fire throwing, fire jump roping (Jaimie!), and dancing and we had just the right recipe for a perfect night! To give you an idea of just how hot it was, it was 2am and we were absolutely dripping in sweat, so of course the only reasonable solution was a little dip in the ocean! Fully clothed, we all charged the ocean for a spur of the moment swim! So fun!! We ended up staying in the water for a while because the water there was just so warm! However getting out was a bit chilly, and quite uncomfortable in soggy wet shorts and T's. A pit stop for another Thai pancake and we were on our way home for the night.
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| just a glimpse into our life the last week |
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| with our new Swedish friends! |
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| I swear I didn't drink all that |
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| when asked to impersonate whales, this was our response...hmmm |
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| Jaimie jump roping with fire! |
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| limbo! |
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| Lady Gaga! Lady boy! |
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| bOyonce |
7:30am wake up call, pack up, one last delicious breakfast, and we were off to the port at 9am to head to Koh Samui!
Hey Cory,
ReplyDeleteRemember sophomore year in college when you didn't drink anything? And how you used to scoff at beer? I can't wait until I get back to the states so I can see how your liver has improved!
Yeah. Time for the liver to have a break eh?
ReplyDelete