Thailand, pt. 2: The Islands to the East

Days 5-8: Koh Samui through to Koh Tao (Koh Tao is the tiny white island in the very middle.) So, first was our ferry ride out to Koh Samui, the Seaside Heights of the Thailand Gulf (eastern side of Thailand, opposite from Phuket.) We hung out on the ferry, playing cards--I even won a grandpa-aged Thai admirer, and offer of beer from said grandpa (no thanks gramps, says I!) Arrived on the island, checked into the hotel and wandered off onto the beach--the glorious beach! Ahh, aside from the European men in mankinis, the beach was perfect--placid waters, transparent and warm, with nice soft sand. Actually, it was perfect--but definitely not my favorite beach, I prefer waves, and this beach was wayy too calm for my tastes, although very, very beautiful! and right down the beach was a chill beachside snack bar where we could get pizza, fruit shakes, and enjoy the beautiful weather!
So, then it was back to decide our plans for the night over dinner--and decide we did! It was over to the main 'shopping road' of the island--complete with starbucks and gaudy same T-shirt stores everywhere (with a few higher end items off on side streets!)--and souvenir shopping. Luckily Dana stuck by me while I deliberated over exactly the right gifts for others--oh, and tropical clothes for myself!--and we made it to the bar to hang out with the group, then on to a dance club. dance clubs are so fun, even sober! the music was good, we did a 'dance off' with everyone, and even wound up dancing on stage! What a long--not to mention awesome--night. Next day it was sleeping in and enjoying breakfast before our ferry ride out to Turtle Island--Koh Tao, the farthest in away in the Koh Samui archipelago, and supposedly tiny. And it did turn out to be small, but it's not THAT Small--probably about the length of Houma from Evergreen to Hollywood Rd., the downtown area of Greenville from the river over to the Shipley's road, and Manhattan from South St. Seaport up to Houston St. (hope that helps everyone!) So we were waiting for the ferry, not letting ourselves get bored, me and Dana decided to play a little game of melt-on-the-chessboard-not-in-your-mouth checkers with peanut m&ms (used our brains AND our taste buds!) and on the way to get the M&Ms, and provide slapstick comedy for the shop women when we hit each other with the door getting out of the dang store, we noticed a sign for the Koh Tao festival--and we were going just in time for it! How awesome! So finally board the ferry and make for Turtle Island, arriving just in time for some sightseeing, and boy, did we! First, it was to the beach yet again, and how long this beach was! And much less crowded, fortunately! The sand was just as lovely, and even in the sandy stretch near our hotel there was the smallest bit of remnants of coral reef, that was explorable borrowing our friend Thomas' goggles. So then, it was renting a bike to explore the island, and get off our resort property (um, and what a resort! The rooms and restaurant and everything was perfect.) And we did, got to see sunset from the north end of the island, and we even explored an empty construction site--erm, site of my future home, of course! Then on the way back to the resort, we ran into the festival--literally! It was as though the whole town had turned out--so out we all went to the festival, eating some street food for a good cause ...raising money to keep Koh Tao ecosystems safe! So, the theme of the festival was underwater festival, so there were all these cool decorations to make you feel like you entering an underwater grotto. But what a cool, delicious food and fun filled underwater grotto! I had some fried chicken, green curry, even learned the dance to Rocky Horror, thanks to a dive team that was entertaining for a good cause. After dinner, it was off to try our hand at the carnival games, where we came up short winning a prize but met some winning older gentleman who were gracious and, um, quite hiliarious. one of them even noticed the st. christopher medal around my neck and noted that he liked that ' i was a good catholic girl and not afraid to show it.' LOL! you say it, old dude! haha.. well, then it was off for sweets, and I enjoyed a crepe while playing peek-a-boo with a Thai toddler. Well, after a long day it was time to turn in...and wake up early the next day to go witness sunrise on the southern side of the island at the well-marked on the map John Suwann point--only, once we got our bikes up to that side of the island, the roads kept ending at--condos. Until, finally, we got to the end of one of the roads and found a promising wooden post that said "Path -->" so --> we went! And, the better part of an hour and an exhausting climb up a partially marked path later, there we were, enjoying a cloudy sunrise over the best view of the island! Nothing wrong with that, although knowing the extent of the hiking we were to endure beforehand would have been nice! And so, we enjoyed our time at the roof of the world (at least in terms of Koh Tao!) and then it was back down to bike around for our free door--after a nap, of course! So we went searching for lunch, and even found a little hidden beach down a dirt road to a 'resort', and wound up renting snorkel masks for a few bucks and exploring a beach with gorgeous (but painful! yikes!) coral reefs. I got to see the many kinds of coral in all shapes and sizes--yeah, they're all different!--and fish of all different colors and sizes, along with the waves rushing in, I had to be careful not to get water up my snorkel tube--sputter, sputter, gasp! On the other side of the beach was another reef, where among the fish I bid good day to, was a bottom dweller shark! It was kinda flat and white, and totally pre-occupied (oh, and a mere 4 ft--a baby!) so I wasn't too worried. Then it was brief beach cleaning and off to another, much smaller beach, that was uphill on another dirt road, then down through a housing tenement and even someone's house/restaurant. It was starting to get dark at that point, so we hung out near the surf and talked. Then it was back down the treacherous road and back to the resort to meet everyone for Italian food! Yum! we had great brick oven pizza, and even had some tiramisu to celebrate Dana's birthday! double yum! Then it was down the beach to go check out an oceanside lounge, where we hung out before going back to the resort and all playing cards together. Then, the next day was already time for our return, by ferry, to the mainland---sigh, end to the island adventures, and it was wayyy too soon!