Koh Samui

Well Matt, Brooke and I headed out to Koh Samui this weekend...it was a mixed trip. Absolutely beautiful I will attempt to get pictures up today. Now, the trip down was a little difficult. I won't bore you with the details but from the time we left our apartment until the time we got to our hotel it was about a 20 hour trip and we timed it to be about 8 1/2 hours drive. There was a lot of waiting during this trip. Matt and I didn't sleep the whole way down so when we arrived at the coast naturally we had a few beers (it was about 5:00 in the morning). But, thankfully we got there and our bungalows were right by the pool which is right next to the beach.
Again, Matt and I couldn't wait to get into the ocean so I prepared to do my customary run and jump. As I jogged out to the ocean I coldn't help but see Matt stop and look back at me...this is where my instincts kicked in and I realized something very very bad was about to happen. I put on the brakes only to find out that I was about 6 inches away from a giant rock under water. Our beach was littered with rocks and unfortunately the water wasn't so clear that you could see them. I didn't realize it at the time, but it turns out that that near miss was a huge blessing because I would have missed out on one of the coolest things I've ever done. But I am getting ahead of myself, as Matt and I gingerly made are way out to the deep Brooke called us in and was waving her arms. We rushed in as we saw what she was pointing at. IT WAS A FOOTBALL!! Granted it was rubber and oddly formed but it was red and white (excuse me scarlet and cream) so I had to buy it. I got the beach peadler down to 200 Baht from 500! So Matt and I were happy and played with the football for basically the rest of the trip. However, it did turn out to be very difficult with how slippery the ball is. That night we hung out at our place and drank off the bottles that we had brought and as they took their customary early old married couple exit I headed out to the beach and poured my boozed up thoughts into my journal.
I will have to admit that Friday was one of the best days I've had in a long time. We started out by deciding that Brooke would be our guide and we weren't going to pay someone to take us to this waterfall (we all know if Matt and I tried to get us there we would be in trouble). So we hopped a taxi to the road leading to the waterfall, of which, there are many pictures on facebook. Very Very Very steep and a lot of fun. Along the way there was a elephant excursion and so we took many many pictures of these SUV's of the jungle. There were signs pointing to the scenic view of the waterfall so naturally we took that road. It was definitely a path not for the faint of heart. It wasn't necessarily steep but there were slick spots and rocks where you had to be a little careful. However, I really do believe it would be worth the trek and I think anyone under the age of 65 could do it if they really wanted to. We get to the top and there is this little shop that we stopped at for a beer (not knowing what lie ahead of us). You'll see in those pictures the little hut was a little scary! Held together by little sticks it was pretty scary for our Fat American Behinds!! The bottom of the waterfall was beautiful but nothing necessarily to write home about. Then we saw a sign that said "to the top of the waterfall" and so we thought we'd check that out. This is where our trip took a unique turn. A guide was waiting about 100 yards up, took Brooke's hand and started up the mountain. And yes, when I say mountain we are talking a legit mountain in a legit jungle. Matt had a backpack on his back and I had a handbag in my hand with all of our beach toys in it. So he was hauling that up the mountain and I was climbing one handed. I wish I would have more pictures of the actual trip up and not just the reward of the view and swimming hole...however we couldn't really breathe at the moment so getting our cameras out was the last thing on our mind. Now I'm sitting here going up this mountain with an ex-special forces guy and a yoga instructor both of who work out religously. At one point, while I was in the middle of the two, I stopped and asked if I was the only one breathing hard, thankfully to my relief they both said they were breathing hard and this was a hell of a work out. I can't tell you the sense of accomplishment we felt once we got to the top and there was the heavenly cold swimming hole and mini waterfall that we spend at least a half hour at. After treking up on what they called a "trail" it was painfully obvious that not very many people can go up the way we did. Later we were to find out that there were many paths and our guide took us on the hardest one up and down, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It goes down as one of the top 10 things I've ever done.
As we made our way down we stopped for a well deserved beer at the little hut and headed back down the steep road to the main road. Luckily for us and are wobbly legs a man in a truck stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride for 300 Baht and we were happy to oblige. We went to a different beach that was miles away from ours (one that Brooke had been to on her last journey). No rocks, so a lot of football tossing, body surfing, and Matt and I making up stupid games in the water while Brooke lay on the beach. We decided to call it a day and head up to a bar for a drink where Matt bought the equivilant of a 5$ drink and I bought a $8 bottle (it was very small). The only reason I bring this up is because his little flowery drink was gone in a second and we made fun of him for the rest of the night as he helped me finish the bottle. We then cruised down the beach and looked at the seafood possibilities. What they do is take all of the days catch and display it out front on the beach with a bunch of ice surrounding it. Very cool, we kept going until we met this Italian guy who was a character! We sat down to a Shark, Baracudda, Squid, and crab platter which was amazing. Only to be followed up with some of the best spaghetti and pinapple curry I've ever had. At this time I'm one happy camper well with a waterfall trek and elephant sighting behind me, a few spirits, and some seafood I've never had. So we went for a walk to find a bar. Though it had stormed while we were eating there were still quite a few people out and Brooke was the expert so we went until we found a bar where we didn't think we would get hassled by katoi's or prostitutes. I wanted to get a few games of pool in so we went to this Irish pub that said it had pool but the upstairs was closed. We talked to the owner who let us up there and we basically had our own private upstairs of a bar and balcony. Again we snuk our our own booze in to bypass the outrageous prices. I should reiterate that, these prices our outrageous in Baht terms we are still only talking about 3$ for a 32o.z. beer that has more alc % as a Budweiser. After a few games of cut-throat we decided to find another bar. On our trip back we saw a giant lizard and a monkey on a guys arm. As we stumbled on they noticed my awe and the guy practically threw the monkey around my neck at which point I think I started to cry. Just another day in Koh Samui. We found ourselves at a bar with some burly soccer and rugby folks and me being me I went to talk to them. Apparently that wasn't a good idea because Matt told me we were leaving. Truth be told I thought things were going well but I don't think I would ever live it down if some wussy soccer players took me out! Right Adam!
We got home and I found myself on the beach spilling my thoughts out onto the journal once more.
We awoke to a day of laying on the beach and consuming as much water as possible. We knew we had a hell of a night in front of us. Some of you may have heard of the Full Moon Party that is legendary here! On the van ride over to the beach that we meet the ferry to take us to the island we talked to a group from Ireland and England. We had to wait about an hour until the ferry picked us up and as I talked to the Irish and English Matt and Brooke went off to sit down...me being the idiot I am thought they just wanted some alone time. Turns out Matt really really didn't feel good, in fact neither of them were able to go to the Full Moon Party. After I decided to wait it out and see if he got better they insisted that I go. Which, I regrettably did. I met up with Mo the English guy who helped me finish the bottle and we had a good time for the first few hours there but unfortunately Mo can't hold his alcohol very well and ended up almost falling into a fire. This is where we parted ways. Now, after seeing Mo's debacle, knowing that I was on my own over here, and having the warewithal to know myself I decided not to get Michaud drunk and to take it fairly easy. So I switched to beer...let me paint this picture for you: about a half mile of beach that is absolutely packed and every single person is either on a drug or at Mo's state of drunkeness. There are fire shows going on everywhere as well as fireworks. People are painted up in body paing and I'm proud to say I got 6 girls to paint either a stock of corn or a N on their body. Go 'Skers! At about 5:00 in the morning I was walking to the other end of the beach, which is still packed, at which time I did what I customarily do about every 15 minutes...check for my wallet which was gone! Yes, I was pickpocketed. I am trying not to get to down on it because there isn't a whole lot I can do about it now but it is a pain in the ass as you can imagine. Anyways, with no money and a half a beer in my hand I decided to call it an early night. Made it home around 6:30 or 7:00.
The rest of the trip and the past few days have involved trying to figure out how to live without a wallet, taking care of all of those precautions, and recovering from the weekend.
I find that there is no better way to clear your head then listening to the waves crash onto the sand. No cure-all like the moon illuminating a black ocean in the middle of the night. yes, I have a romantic interest in the beach life or at least the beach way of thinking. And again being me I had some incredible thoughts float into my head on that 3 hour ferry ride back to the coast...but looking at my pictures I think you will find how the scenery demands a sort of poetic thought in even the most stoic soul.
I realize this is a long one but hopefully it will get you through a few minutes of work!

Here's to you,
Michaud