5. KO SAMUI
Apparently Koh Samui is very similar to Phuket. We tendered over to the dock and were immediately bombarded by at least a hundred taxi drivers, wanting to take us around the island. It was a fairly long walk off the pier...lined with every imaginable taxi, all with drivers desperately trying to get our business. We finally caved in at the end of the line. A particularly nice looking Thai man convinced us to pay the 100 bucks and get a tour. Partly we did it because it was so muggy and hot that walking became very unappealing, very quickly.
So over to his taxi we went, and his wife was inside as well. They were perfect. They spoke just enough english to help us along, but not so much that we had to keep up strained conversation.
Off we careened, narrowly missing mopeds, motorcycles, bicycles, cars and giant trucks. We circled the whole island and not once did we go through an area that was not built up. We hardly could see the Gulf of Thailand. We passed many many scruffy dirty shops full of things either being sold, fixed or both. We passed under thousands of sagging wires. We passed entire families piled onto narrow little motor bikes of various sorts. We almost ran over countless dogs. We saw many old white men holding hands with beautiful very young Thai girls. We stopped at a beach and saw an astounding number of very fat ladies in skimpy bikinis, totally loving the sun and water. The foliage on the island was very lush, but I must say that Maui has spoiled us. The difference is money. Maui has money. Thailand does not. It shows unfortunately. But one thing they have in common is the incredible friendly people. They were totally delightful in every possible way.
We stopped at a waterfall, which was hard to see and encountered people riding elephants. So weird! We stopped at a viewpoint. And we stopped at a very crowded spot that had a special outcropping of rocks. If you are face book friends of mine...you will see what I mean. We then stopped at the beach, found a beach side bar and had a beer and people watched. We then rode back to the tender dock.
We had a wee wait and then we all piled into one of the ship’s tender boats. They are enclosed and hotter than hell. Bill and I were about last on and the only seats available were at the very front tucked into an alcove, completely blocked by some asian people that WOULDN’T FRIGGING MOVE!!! I had to get pretty pushy and finally a ship person came over and hollered at the three of them in another language. They moved. It is a fifteen minute very very up and down rocky ride and was probably 110 degrees F in there. We were all sweating. The Asian lady that had to move started to get faint and sick. Crap! I thought she was going to hurl, right onto my shoes. Both men with her were fanning her vigorously and feeding her crackers. But she did make it but it took three men to get her off the boat, first I might add. She was all fainty and crying and sighing and oh so helpless. A few minutes later they got onto the elevator with us and she was laughing and talking and swinging her bags around. Jeez!!!
Tomorrow...I am not sure. I think we are on a river boat ride through Bangkok!! TTYL
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