Day 30 - 33 Koh Samui

I want to begin my Koh Samui post by thanking everyone who looks at, reads, and or comments on my blog.  Its comforting to know that you can follow our journey, have a way of pin pointing where we are, and its good feeling to see that some of you are actually reading my wordy travel experiences. I suppose it will save you from millions of "When we were in South East Asia..." stories when we return, but you might just get them anyway. So our Koh Samui experience started by taking a long tail boat from Railay, a 1 hour wait in Krabi, a 30 minute mini van ride to a bus stop in central Krabi, another 1.5 hour wait, a 3 hour bus ride to Don Sak, a 30 minute wait for the ferry, and a 2 hour ferry ride to Koh Samui. We arrived on the jetty just in time for the most intense tropical downpour and made our way through the steam rising on the asphalt to a tuk tuk. We drove around the coast, past beautiful stretches of sand, and contrasting small towns until we made it to Chaba Resort in Chewang. When ever I have heard other peoples tales of holidays in Thailand they largely take place in Phuket or Koh Samui so I just made the assumption that they were just the "same same but different" however from all the "Koh Samui is too touristy" talk from hardcore back packers we actually came to realize that this mixture of over the top flash and sleepy rustic is under-appreciated by some. Samui locals were definitely not as pushy as Phuket which really helped the laid back vibe and added to the feeling of safety which i suppose is how we plucked up the courage to hire a scooter one day. It was great to do some exploring, find peaceful little swimming spots, drive through the gorgeous little fisherman's village of Bohput, and witness how the locals lived their lives outside of the tourist hubs. Driving around the crazy streets was really really fun, but it came to an end too early because of course "we" had to watch the bloody State of Origin.  After a scooter day I started to wonder if accidents really happened as frequently as we were told (until our taxi driver one day hit a pregnant lady on a scooter which is totally different story in itself and re installed my fare of scooters in Thailand) One really enjoyable yet painful day pulled us off the beach, away from Ark bar and on a boat bound for Anthong National Park. The collection of limestone islands that make up the park seemed not that far in the distance from the bow of the speed boat but as we all should know the ocean isn't always what it seems. As soon as we got beyond the shelter of the bay the swells began to increase and the boat would drop off with such force the fiberglass felt as though it was about to shatter. We continued at a gut retching speed,  with our organs and joints being jolted and mussels completely tensing all the way into Anthong. As the Thai crew sat on the bow (with Mike of course) enjoying being completely saturated and laughing at the hellish ride the rest of the us where at the back of the boat hanging on for dare life. 6 out of the 15 where physically sick with plastic bags and last nights dinner everywhere, with the our tour guide telling them to "hang off side of boat for fresh air and wet face".  I was really thankful for my stable sea legs at that point and really felt for those pale face people. Thank goodness Mum, Amy or Sue were not on that boat!! Stopping was definitely the best part of the trip with the crystal clear water, amazing snorkeling, the breathtaking emerald green lagoon on Koh Mae Ko, kayaking through the caves, and lunch at a local fishing village. The fishing village was on the banks of a hand dug canal that the locals had made in order to get the fishing boats in and out. They cooked us a feast of sweet & sour chicken, local stir fried vegetables, steamed rice, deep fried prawns, thai chicken soup and fresh watermelon, YUM! Our unbelievably happy tour guide "Ye" was great and we managed to get back to shore that night alive. Other highlights of our Koh Samui stay where finding an awesome local restaurant, set up in a shed with the kitchen in the middle. Our orders were taken down on ripped up pieces of cardboard, and averaged on 65B per meal ($2Aus). The place was packed, the staff running around chaotically weighing seafood, cooking, taking orders, and squeezing fresh juice. Our food was amazing...squid, massaman curry, phad thai, papaya salad, and basil and bean salad what a feast! A feast that we would dream about quite frequently at our next stop Koh Pah Ngan...