ReidaBlog

Ok time to finish the Thailand stories since I’m falling behind again.

Quick summary:

Eric gives the finger.

I do too.

Oliver just smirks.

Tall

Taller

Tallest, at this point if I remember correctly, there is only one possible move left. Either Eric loses or the next person does.

Someone loses.

Oliver and I drink a lot of these.

Eric drinks these. But also captures the essence of vacation.

Strange people sell beers after hours.

There are small elephants on the street.

Paris has street cafes - not much fun in January. Samui has beach restaurants - better.

And finally - my version of the old favorite: signs. This time instead of signs we will look at Thai cigarette warning pictures:

Yes that is a cut open body. Apparently the message is “Don’t smoke or we might cut you open and put your picture on a pack of cigarettes.”

Much more effective I think.

Anyway, we then flew home.

Wan le.

Seeing as how actually doing things on vacation was starting to interfere with my packed schedule of (read, sleep, eat, drink - and just in case you think I’m lazy I’ll have you know that often I did more than one at a time) I didn’t tag along when Eric and Oliver decided to rent scooters and drive around the island.

Since I didn’t go I’m just going to make up the narration as I go along. Plus I won’t pretend to put these pictures in order.

Umm Eric, not to get you in trouble, but where is your helmet?

Oliver we can excuse as not having all that much to damage.

I’m just kidding of course. He was carrying a brand new camera.

Having done the same trip a year ago I know that one of the first stops is at the Big Buddha. I think this is half tourist attraction half spiritual retreat.

Scootering around Koh Samui is actually pretty tiring as you are constantly trying to avoid crashing into stuff (or maybe that is just me) anyway it didn’t take our intrepid adventurers long to stop for a nice lunch.

No a bad place to stop. But then you haven’t seen the food yet.

It had nice scenery.

So Oliver decides he wants to have some fish. There being a language barrier he isn’t really able to specify how he wants it prepared. But hey…this is an adventure right?

Well the fish comes and I assume it was cooked.

Oliver looks happy to eat it at least. Or that could be the “I just made fun of Eric for ordering fried chicken so now I actually have to eat this” smile.

Although I’m not sure that Eric approves.

So they told me he ate it but I’m not too sure. Here is the before picture:

And here is the after:

You be the judge.

Having survived lunch (and Koh Samui’s paved roads) our duo decides to do a little off-roading.

Oliver off-road.

From what I heard about the next few seconds is that this picture was almost the last one ever taken of Cadillac.

Well apparently the journey was worth it because they did find what they were looking for:

Grandfather rock. No joke that this is in all the tourist brochures.

They also found a strange peacock-like tree.

This picture is just to keep things symmetrical.

And a strange looking Buddha. I believe it was Eric who pointed out the expression on this Buddha. Something along the lines of either “I can’t believe I’ve gotten away with it” or “I wouldn’t let your little sister hang out with me if I were you”.

Anyway they eventually made it back to find me just as busy as normal.

After getting to Koh Samui we settled pretty quickly into vacation mode. My life revolved around sleep, reading, food, and drink. Eric had been kind enough to bring me some books and magazines from the US and I set about devouring them.

My vacation activities.

While I would have been perfectly happy to sit in the shade and read for 10 days Eric and Oliver both wanted to do something. Which is how we found ourselves on a trip to the Koh Angthong National Park. This is the place where “The Beach” was filmed and it is just as beautiful in real life. We had great weather for a full day of snorkeling, hanging out on the beach, and sea kayaking.

Oliver at the main island ranger station.

View from top of hill that Oliver and Eric climbed while I slept in the shade.

As you can see from the pictures the park is a collection of islands and beaches grouped about an hour northwest of Koh Samui via speedboat. On the way Eric and Oliver captured the scenery.

Half-way up the aforementioned hill. Our boys are starting to get tired….

One of many beaches we didn’t stop at.

On their hike the boys ran into monkeys hanging out in the trees. This is the only shot that isn’t all blurry. When they got back from their hike Eric and Oliver were all scratched up. They said they slipped (sending a German guy to the hospital) but I suspect they were running from something. Just a theory though since as I mentioned I was asleep in the shade.

Eric makes it to the top but suddenly realizes that not only is it 90 degrees and humid, and not only did they climb a hill in sandles, and not only are they being chased by primates, but now they have to climb back down. Which by the way is when Eric sends the German to the hospital.

Meanwhile I’m napping somewhere down here.

Not a single picture of us kayaking but this it where we started.

My favorate part of the trip was snorkeling. Unlike my last trip to Thailand this area actually had fish.

Oliver and I

And the water was crystal clear. Eric took this picture from the boat.

Inside one of the islands was a salt-water lagoon. Probably not the best location to go swimming.

After the day was over and we got to review the pictures we discoved we had a mystery on our hands. Whose cigarette is in these pictures?

Oliver, with a view of the mystery cigarette man, notices nothing.

Cigarette man tries to ash on Oliver’s head.

And of course I need to mention the fact that our boat captain was obviously a pirate:

Not sure I did justice to how nice the beach on Samui is so…

Did I mention you get all this for $15/night?

I think small.

Oliver things big.

Typically the day would end with Oliver wandering over to my or Eric’s bungalow to get us to go out drinking.

Dance.

Next episode Oliver and Eric form a biker gang.