Laying on the Beach

First Bungalow - El Cheapo
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I escaped to the beach on a public bus to Ban Phe and then a ferry to Ko (Island) Samet. This process can be done in about 5 hours on a good day depending on the traffic and the ferry drivers mood. On the ferry ride over I met a beautiful French woman named Virginie. She is currently vacationing from her job and home in China. We were arriving at 8pm, and she was concerned because she did not have a reservation for a bungalow. This is a valid worry, because Chinese New Year is coming up and many people come to the island to celebrate. I offered to let her crash at my bungalow if nothing else is available. This worked out great for the both of us, because it is much cheaper for a double than single ones. The cheapest bungalow was 300Bht or about $10. It consisted of a mattress on the floor with no sheets and a mosquito net. Good thing we had that, because the place quickly filled with mosquitos. It had a shared bathroom and electricity. I could handle it, but we decided we can do better with our combined income. Like the Jeffersons we moved on up to the 500Bht $16 US ($8 each) bungalow that had a private bath and two separate beds. Now don't let the private bath fool you! It has a cold shower, a toilet with no handle, and no sink. At least we have electricity! Let me explain the toilet with no handle. I don't mean that the handle was broken; I mean that there is  not one. It is basically a toilet seat that you pour buckets of water down to get everything to go to the septic tank (which I believe is the ocean). What else do you need on the beach? It was comfy enough, and we had a good time!

Bungalow 2-Steppin' Up
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The highpoint of the week on the island was our walk down the East coast and back. You can walk from one end to the other and back in 3 hours max. There are so many beautiful white sand beaches!