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We are finally down to our last 3 weeks and where better to see out the final days of our trip than the beautiful islands of southern thailand. Our first stop was Ko Samui the most popular of all the islands. Ko Samui gets a very negative write up by most travel writers as being the blackpool of Thailand where all the package holiday makers flock to. We arrived with an open mind ready to formulate our own opinion of the island. We got a mini bus taxi from the harbour to the beach and had to endure the taxi driver trying to rip us off with his idea of "budget accommodation". After enduring his overpriced suggestions for about an hour we eventually gave him the slip and went in search of our own hotel. After a bit of trailing around we managed to get a little hut down beside the beach and it didnt take us long to settle in. After a rainy morning the sun had managed to put in an appearance so we headed straight to the beach to catch some rays. The beach itself was lovely and our accommodation was at the quieter end of the beach so we were able to have a relaxing afternoon reading and dipping into the sea to cool down. After chilling out on the beach for the remainder of the afternoon we headed back to the hut to get showered and head out to explore the town. I can definitely see where the negative press comes from as the whole place is there for tourists and does not reflect real thailand at all! We were able to accept it for what it was and i certainly think having seen real thailand in the north we were happy to take Ko Samui for what it was and just enjoy being at the beach. The problem with staying in a tourist trap is that all the restaurants have tourist prices where the meals were costing double what we had been paying in restaurants on the mainland. We must have walked for about an hour until right on the outskirts of town we found a couple of no frills thai restaurants and it was in one of these restaurants that i had the tastiest spicy basil chicken ever! After dinner we had a couple of drinks in one of the many bars before heading back to the hotel.
Unfortunately that first day of sun was to be the only sun we would see during our 5 days on the island. This time of year is the dry season and as the name would suggest the weather is supposed to be hot and dry. All we saw were grey skies and rain showers on and off for the remainder of our stay! Fortunately it was still very hot so even without the sunshine it was still plesant enough to lie at the beach relaxing and reading making the occassional dash to shelter from the next rain shower. Whilst it wasnt exactly the island paradise we had expected surprisigly we were still enjoying ourselves and despite the rain still managing to fill our days walking, sightseeing and as i already said relaxing. We have no idea where the 5 days went as it all seemed to pass so quickly.
Before we left home all those many months ago we had a list of things we wanted to achieve while we were away and with the end of the trip looming there was only one thing that we had coward away from. We had both talked sporadically about getting a tattoo however every time we found ourselves in the position to get one we always managed to talk ourselves out of it. I am not really sure what changed that gloomy morning in Ko Samui however i suddenly decided much to Michaels surprise that i wanted to get my tattoo! Not wanting to rush into it we spent the afternoon walking around looking in the window of all the shops trying to find a shop that didnt come complete with a big scary tattooed monster that terrified me to my inner core. The first shop that passed initial inspection didnt have any designs that really suited what i was looking for so the search continued ending eventually in a small shop run by a man with only 1 tattoo and no visible piercings! Rather than leaving me to leaf through a bunch of terrifying magazines he sat with me on his computer showing me an array of designs and then with me passing opinions on what i liked and disliked we managed to narrow it down to one design that i really liked. After choosing the design it was saved on the laptop and for the rest of the day i would pop in to have another look at it to make sure it was the one i really wanted. After copious visits to the shop and a few gins to calm my nerves i was ready to take to the chair and get branded. I had anticipated that it would be painful but being a traveller of the world i figured i would be able to grit my teeth and bare the pain. Oh how wrong i was as within a minute of starting i can honestly say it is the sorest thing i have ever experienced ande i was feeling really faint and seeing coloured spots! Poor Michael was having his fingers squeezed to death and i will never forget his face when i said "Mike i dont think i can do this it is so much sorer than i anticipated" always sympathetic Michael's response was "well Tracy your gonna have to toughen up because what you currently have tattooed looks ridiculous". I took a break, had a sip of water and decided to try to continue and with a lot of concentration on my breathing i managed to complete the two hour process without any more drama. Once the whole thing was finished i got my care instructions and headed to the nearest bar for a well deserved cocktail. So now that i had my tattoo the question was will Michael be brave enough to go under the needle now that i had survived the ordeal?
The next morning it came as no surprise that it was raining so we spent most of the morning relaxing in our hut, watching TV and praying that the rain would make way for some sun. When the rain eventually stopped we went in search of brunch on the beach followed by a visit to the tattoo shop for Michael to have a look at some of the designs. I had wanted mine at the base of my back so it could be easily concealed if required. Michael wanted to get one at the top of his back so as with the previous day he sat at the computer with the tattoo artist and trawled through the pages to find the perfect design. Once he had selected the design closest to what he was looking for it was then altered by hand to change the overall shape slightly before it was ready to be transferred onto Michael's back then it was out with the needles! I had tried to prepare Michael as best i could regarding how sore he would find it however much to Michael's delight it wasn't as sore as i had suggested so as with everything else he sailed through the whole process with his usual bravery and professionalism. Feeling very pleased with ourselves we headed for dinner before hitting the bars for a few celebratory drinks!
Our last couple of days on Ko Samui had been much the same as the previous 3 with lots of rain and clouds and only very small windows of opportunity to sunbathe or even sit outside. Despite the weather we still managed to have a relaxing time on what is a pretty chilled out island. It is definitely a tourist trap with inflated prices and very little taste of Thailand however compared to the freezing cold weather waiting for us at home we were happy to put up with a few showers here and there to be able to spend some time on the island.
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