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Hello again. Yesterday we woke up early for the boat ride to Ko Samui. We ended up making it to the pier with loads of time before the boat would leave so we sat around reading up in the lonely planet book for places to stay on Haad Lamai. Before arriving at the pier we did the 15 minute walk from Lighthouse into Haad Rin with packs that felt a bit heavier than when they were first filled. We thought we would have a good wait in Haad Rin to find a taxi going to the pier that early, but as soon as we made it down the last hill to the main street a guy was driving around in a mini-bus picking up random ppl off the street (mostly still-wasted english guys trying to make it back to their bungalows after a night of partying)
The boat ride was fast to Ko Samui. We were lucky before we got on cause a thai guy noticed we had the wrong stickers on our shirts (that would take us to Haad Chaweng once on the other side rather than to Haad Lamai). At first we thought he was just trying to cause us trouble...he trying to find out where we were staying, if he could get us an accomodation and was talking about free transfers to our hotel etc...but then after the 'usual' thai hand-shake and more chit chat we realized that he was trying to help cause he didnt think we were headed for the more expensive Chaweng Beach. He kept saying "you back-packit no?" hehe..."Ya, we back pack it yes." that went back and forth a bit until I mentioned Haad Lamai. We got our proper stickers on our shirts and were happy to know that once arriving on Ko Samui we would have a free ride to the beach. Pretty nice, otherwise it would have been probably 200BHT each. (roughly 6$ CA)
Anyways, yet again, we lucked out. We told the driver to take us to Utopia (acting like we already had a reservation) and with our luck, we got the last room on the beach at the resort) Have to say though, its the most expensive place we have paid at, but the price doesnt seem to matter when you have a king size bed and a hot shower. Utopia is a cute little spot in the middle of Haad Lamai. The bungalows are a mix of tique and wood built up on brick stilts. There's a cute garden path down the middle of the rows of bungalows and many skinny little cats, frogs and geckos. We are the 2nd closest bungalow to the beach and right across the restaurant, which mainly has non-english speaking people dining there. We get to hear a lot of german and swedish.
There's also a tabby devil cat that likes to take over our porch. It scours at me when I try to walk by it. It was probably the nicest looking cat I saw (cleanest and not with a docked tail) so I thought I could let this one sniff my hand...Ya...no. Hissed and tried to take off my finger. We try to scare it off now every time we have to walk up our steps.
Lamai Beach is very long and pretty. It is busy and different compared to being at the Lighthouse...but it has a good vibe and is a total change compared to the nightlife in HaadRin on Ko Phangan. Mike's missing out a bit though, since he failed to pack his speedo for this beach. Definitely not a shortage of older, tanned gents in their tight-ass speedos on Haad Lamai.
At the end of Lamai Beach there are some interesting shaped rocks...we couldnt see them really well because the tide was up.,..but for anyone curious to know what I mean when I say 'interesting', check out this link: http://imagesoftheworld.org/thailand/hinta/ We walked up to check this out almost right after we arrived....took us a good hour and half (it didnt look that car, but walking in the sand here is kinda tough)
After the walk, Mike chilled with a beer on the beach while I had a thai massage on the beach. Today I hurt a bit. hehe...the massage felt awesome but today Im paying for it a bit. Later on we got hungry for dinner and decided we didnt want to eat at the Utopia restaurant...the service is odd here in Thailand. You either get your menu and they hover over you until you make up your mind...or they give you your menu and leave for 15 minutes while you sit and try to flag them down. There's a Thai waiter at Utopia that speaks almost no english and every time we'd say something he'd 'wei' to us (bow/nod a bit with hands together) smile, and then walk away. And then someone else would come to help 5 minutes later. Sooooo....we checked out the place next door, called Jasmine Rice Restaurant. By far, the best place we've eaten because the service was good and the place was fantastic. Before making a decision to eat here, the waiter was luring passer-byers off to sit and eat at the elegant and romantic candle-lit tables situated right in the sand. The blue and white table clothes kinda sold it to us to start, but then when we realized that the music being played was live we couldnt not eat here. The singer was AMAZING. He played everything from Brian Adams, Enrique Iglesius, Simon & Garfunkel, Eagles, U2, 50s and 60s oldies and even Nirvana...and the weird/odd thing is was that he sounded like a Thai version of Phil Collins. (Tan - you would have loved him!!) Anyways, his music was taken over by the entertainment going on two places over...some really random show of Hawaiian dancers and irritating music. The Thai Phil Collins was pissed, and so was pretty much everyone else I think too. I was really disappointed when I asked him if he had a CD I could buy, and he hadnt recorded one yet. I would totally have loved to have gotten one cause he was so goood! Hopefully he'll be playing again tonight.
After dinner we hung out on the beach watching fire works go off and people putting little mini lantern-hot-air-balloons up into the sky. So beautiful!
Today we hung out on our porch all morning/afternoon because it was raining cats and dogs. Mike was laughing at me because yesterday on our walk to the the end of the beach I said I had a sudden yearning to feel rain on me for a few minutes. So, pretty much, I got it. ALL morning today. It poured mad off and on. But it was warm and nice and SO not like Vancouver. It was kind of nice to have for a change cause it gave me an opportunity to start reading my book...Eat Pray Love. So far I love it. Thanks to Ashli and Nicole for recommending it to me!
After our laze-about day...we had to go pick up some new sandals for Mike cause his 40$ Etnie ones he bought in Kits broke! (After getting maybe only 2 months use out of them)...He ended up getting a more sturdy pair here for under 9$. Hoping these ones last.
Had a bit of an ATM scare a few hours ago...I was trying to take out 6000BHT (roughly 200$CA) and my card wouldnt work. I tried a few more places to take out money and nothing. Mikes worked fine...so we werent sure if mine was compromised or what. Annoying thing too was that the collect-call number on the back of my card was restricted and I tried 1/2 hr to try to get through to my bank. After a bit of a mini-silent-heart-attack I got through to VISA who transferred me over and explained that ALL interac cards were down for use overseas due to a system update back in Canada. Wwhhheww. So all is good. But man - had visions of a possible account balance of $0 in my head.
So...tomorrow we have an early schedule set up...we booked our transfer, boat and air-con bus trip to Krabi at the Utopia tour desk yesterday. Again - lucky cause we got one of the last few seats on the bus. The lady at the front desk was laughing at our luck of getting the last room & a spot on the bus. Apparently she had tons of ppl wanting rooms after we showed up...and one was a group who were supposed to have our room but never showed up the day before so it was given to us. Hanyways...6:30AM we are to get picked up and then we do the trek across to Krabi Town. Apparently will be arriving there around 2pm...just enough time to find a travel agency to book our boat ride for the next day to Ko Lanta.
So...Ive just written a novel I think...at 1 BHT / minute again, I felt all free this passed hour so I probably got a bit carried away. Mike's gettin antsy to go eat so signing off! :)
Be in touch soon!
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