'Kreature Komfort Ko Samui'

Surat Thani; actually stuck here a few hours in the middle of no-where...
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26th Oct

'Coming from Ko Phi Phi; everything afterwards fell to a distant second...'

Chaweng Beach
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Worst Day yet...

My first action of the day when i returned to consciousness was to throw up the excesses of last night and soldier on to pack my belongings, and trek with my heavy pack to the pier to catch the boat out. Feeling quite rough with barely any sleep, a combination of deep breathing, mints and small sips of water kept me from chundering on the 1 and half hr boat trip to Krabi :)

From here, we got a bus destined for Surat Thani for 250Baht, which after 2 hrs of rocky travel (didnt help an unsettled stomach which had received no food/caffeine as yet) we ended up at a travel agents in the middle of nowhere. Warning, if you are going to Ko Samui/Ko Phangan: get a ticket saying that destination, and dont think you can just get to Surat Thani and catch a boat as you'll stop, as we did, some 40km from town and train station. [we felt sorry for these backpackers who were expecting to board a train at the time we arrived at this shack] Only after a few hours wait and parting with more money than you should, can you leave this random place, so best to avoid this situation altogether. I wasnt feelin great as i still hadnt eaten and it was half two. Luckily, they were making a fortune serving hot food, so i bought some chicken fried rice which made me feel slightly better, what i was lacking now was sleep...it was not only too hot to nap but flies were also buzzing around my face and for an inexplicable reason: trying to land on my eyeballs!

Samui Pier; Ko Phagnan in the distance
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Once the bus arrived, it was a good hour to the pier where we caught an agonisingly slow (2 1/2hr) cargo ship bound for Koh Samui. Again, too hot to sleep and i couldnt find a comfortable position anyway. Incredibly hungry and knackered by now, i still had to lug my pack to a taxi to Chaweng beach, which as you would guess, was on the other side of this largest island in Thailand. After another hour of a particularly hair raising taxi grand prix, with more overtaking then one sees at Monaco in a decade, we finally arrived at our hotel, which my angelic cousin had booked a few days previous. Went straight for grub, thinking Italian Spag Bol would be safe to settle this stomach. But no, it was far too salty and only a delicious Cappucino made up for that. Went straight to bed after a mammoth journey lasting no less then 10hrs.

Koh Samui international AIRPORT!!!
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Note to self: takes an hour by plane...

After arriving back in Samui following the most beautiful sunset ive ever seen on the boat back, we booked a flight to Bangkok, luxury travel that i had actually budgeted for and then tried another lush Thai speciality called Masaman Gai. Yum. Took what turned out to be a mammoth stroll down the main street of Chaweng Beach (a few miles at least), which had a continuous line of bars, stunning looking restaurants, tailors, and souvenir stalls. And streaming through the heart of the street, were 100s of pick-up truck converted taxis, which would beep at you incessantly from both directions navigating a waterlogged and potholed road. Well annoying. Furthermore, a disturbing number of scooters w/ white men driving thai 'girlfriends', just like in Phuket. Another curious sight were these blind ppl being led by a guide playing various instruments and singing; and they werent bad at it either!

Pot holed, Waterlogged, lovely hotel and staff though
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27th Oct

See entry on Ko Pha Ngan.

28th Oct

Not feeling the best today, but had a lie in followed by a full english at an outdoor bar positively infected w/ flies and a coughing/choking chef. Great choice. Fingers crossed i survived. Thus, chilled in my room and caught up with the journal and took a proper deserved break. Later, we strolled down Chaweng beach - as we hadnt seen it yet - and it wasn't a shade on Ko Phi Phi, with 'dirty' beaches, and resort's spilling their deckchaired customers right up to the waterfront. Must be half term or something as there were a lot of English kids running around as well. In the evening, i decided that i was craving some Japanese and went on a mission to find Yamoto restaurant, which was one of only two Jap eateries in the whole area...leaving our room at half six, we finally set foot into the establishment at 8pm. yep. The lovely Tempura set though was well worth the walk. Finally caved into the pick-up taxi to take us back the miles to the hotel. As you can tell, didn't do that much today.