| May 30, 2005 - Paradise By Trial and Error...
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 | Thai longtail boat at low tide
| | Late night weakness: The banana (and chocolate) crepe!
| | The Infinity pool (that's me reading.) photo credit: Paul
| | Garden of the beach bungalow paradise.
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| After roughly 16 hours of tuk tuk-train-bus-ferry-van transports we arrived in Ko Samui.
Wide-eyed as most new visitors to the island, we got a little taken in by a local pushy person. The next thing we knew we were checking in at a bungalow on Chaweng beach (what we wanted)and for roughly the price we wanted. Our driver, of course earned a commission which I'm sure added to our costs. Tired, hungry and pretty weary at the time we didin't realize the bathroom walls had more mold on them than paint! Not to mention the place was overall characterless. We planted ourselves in two beach chairs where the heat and humidity felt like a steam room from which there was no escape. As we gradually adapted to the heat our surroundings came into focus: club music blaring, jet skis everywhere to name a couple of details. We attempted snorkeling twice off the beach which was cloudy and lifeless. Although paradise was not yet found for us it appeared that it was for the Mediterranean guests surrounding us on beach chairs.
That evening, we decided a happy hour snack might help lift our spirits so we walked down the beach to a loungelike set up with little wooden platforms with pillows and small tables. We ordered a couple of Singhas (Thai beers) and suddenly, not even the competing techno beats from this establishment nor the neighboring one seemed to bother us. That is, not until the waiter dumped a whole plate of hot curry (and I don't mean the spicy kind) on Paul's leg. At this point, what else could go wrong? As we ate our replacement curry we noticed the waiters disassembling the lounge and a quick check the sky revealed why, RAIN! Just after we settled the bill (with the 'burn victim's discount' as Paul put it) we found a massage cabana a couple of doors down (and by this time the sky was opening up.)
This turned out to be the best massage either of us ever had (and not because it was only $7 each) The thunderstorm began raging, temperature finally seemed comfortable and Paul and I both fell asleep. When they woke us at the finish the rain had just stopped. Afterward, we sat on the beach watching lightening for a bit before returning to the moldy bungalow.
The next day Paul checked us into a lovely bungalow down the beach (a little over budget, but my belated birthday treat.) We cooled ourselves in the infinity pool with some nutty Brits most of the day...we finally found our paradise. |
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