Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Nine hours to Koh Samui

We spent six days in Krabi and then we were off to Koh Samui, Thailand's third largest island, northeast of Surat Thani town in the Gulf of Thailand.

After breakfast we had time for a quick swim before the songtaew
arrived to take us to the bus station. The ride took about half an hour, and then we boarded a bus to Surat Thani. It was all fun and games at first:

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Jody, William, and me


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Liv and Bella playing Mommy and Baby

Before long all three kids decided they needed to sit on or in the very close vicinity of my lap, and the a/c decided that its services were not really required, so it was a rather hot and uncomfortable ride. For me, anyway. These three look pretty cozy:

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After almost three hours, we were finally, mercifully dropped off at State Railways of Thailand office. Here we drank coffee and green Fanta and Bella was force-fed pieces of fruit by a Thai admirer. Another bus arrived, and we "enjoyed" forty-five more minutes at the back of a hot bus before arriving at the pier and boarding the ferry.

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Liv

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Monk on a ferry

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Sunset over the Gulf of Thailand

We rode the ferry for an hour and a half. The girls amused themselves playing a game they made up called "Passports and Visas." It's about as exciting as it sounds, but they seem to enjoy it. When we arrived in Koh Samui, the minivan taxi we pre-booked in Surat Thani was waiting, so we hurried through the throngs of taxi drivers, rode in air-conditioned comfort for half an hour, and then, a mere nine hours after we set out, arrived at our hotel on Lamai beach.

We stayed in beach-front bungalows with Balinese-style bathrooms:

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Two bums in a bath


It was very nice, and we were quite glad to be there.

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