Koh Samui

So, after traveling over land for several hours, we came to THE smallest ferry dock ever and found ourselves amongst several groups of backpack-laden foreigners milling about. Not too much confusion about where to go, since there was only one slip. The boat rolled in, which is when we began to feel a little dubious. But, really, it wasn't too much different from my memories of riding a certain big hunk of decrepit white metal called the Princess of Acadia...except this one was about a 10th of its size. It really didn't look the part of a passenger ship; more like some kind of illegal transport vehicle.

Anyway, it really wasn't too bad, and before long we were belching our way through the Gulf of Thailand toward Koh Samui (Koh="island" in Thai).And munching on local delicacies:
So ya, I mentioned before I'm not exactly a big fan of this island. Or at least where we stayed...it was actually ridiculous. I felt like I was in some travel ad for packaged resort vacations. Speaking of which, here's where we stayed:

Our room was nice, and there was a short walkway to the beach.
And at night, the beach turned into a restaurant:So here are my 2 traveling companions on the beach. See what I mean...a narrow, tourist-laden stretch of sand with nere a Thai person to be seen. Adding to my disgruntled-coloured glasses is the fact that the weather was not exactly that great either.
But anyway, that's not to say I had a bad time! There's always cocktails. ;) And every drink comes with an orchid. Flowers are something that are not in short supply in Thailand:
Me and the resort kitten:
So on New Year's Eve, we took a ferry to an even smaller island called Koh Phangan, upon which you can find the biggest party in the world (I'm guessing). The whole beach is turned into one giant party, with thousands upon thousands of party-goers. Honestly...I didn't really like it that much. Again, westerners completely trashing a place which used to be pristine. sigh. And, this may look cool, but honestly...drinking and fire limbo? Am I just getting old, or does anyone else think this is perhaps slightly unwise? But anyway it makes a cool picture. ;)


And that's all you're getting for Koh Samui. Next time I go to Thailand, I'm going to less-westerner-frequented places.