Laura's Year in Asia = Fun Stories

So from Koh Samui we slowly made our way to Koh Pha Ngan, getting picked up EARLY from our guesthouse (!!) and then transfered twice to get to the ferry which was packed with other farangs spread all over the decks. And I believe that the taxi/sangthaw drivers have control over mother nature here because as soon as we stepped off the ferry it started to monsoon and of course the taxi drivers are more than willing to drive you the 2 blocks for an absurd price. We waited it out and then tried to find a place in Had Rin with room for us. It was harder than finding a room for a baby in Bethleham! Everywhere was full, and we trekked barefoot wiht our backpacks through the dirty puddles and up dirt roads and finally found a nice little resort that apparently had room. Well the bungalows they had were....ummmm.... about 50 meteres up a mountain side that turned into a mudslide during the afternoon monsoon. The poarch was falling off, and i'm still positive that the rest of the structure is not far behind. There was some incredible mold formation on the walls (Heather's picture) and we were defenitly living in some ants main abode. I did not fit in the "bathroom" with the door closed either. FUN! So we got up extra early the next day to see if we could switch and lucked out with two beachfront bungalows 1 meter away from the surf. 400 Baht a night too! We fall asleep to the moon setting over the ocean right in front of our picture windows, and the crashing waves keeping heather up all night.

The past few days have been spent exploring the town, doing some great shopping in the little boutiques that have mroe than the usual knockoff stuff in most Thai tourist traps. I've contributed to my backpacking uniform and bought some of the cotton puma running shorts. Soon i'll fit in with the rest of these farangs! At night we head to the beach and on the way stop at one of the convienence stores to pick up a bucket, bottle of red bull, 1/2 mickey of whiskey and a can of sprite/coke. Mix them on the way, and go chill at the beach, sometimes go into the open air dance clubs that line the beach, others watch the fire dancers (not as good as the ones in South Africa at Clifton though!) Its fun since all my GAP volunteer friends are here, Jon and Jen, the TB2BTs...I run into someone wherever I go! Yesterday we went on one of the boat tours around the island (Munchies Boat Tours.....we decided against the snoop dog tour, or the bob marley tour since Christine doesn't like the 'nnst nnst' noise in Bob Marley songs.....) You go to the waterfalls with about 500 of the other travelers, snorkeling at a remote beach, swimming at bottle beach and have lots of other fun extras thrown in at no cost. Execpt yesterday we got caught in the afternoon monsoon and it was defenitly a 'white squall' moment...if they wore sarongs and sunglasses in the movie.....Eating is fun. For dinner I had pad thai with a side of french fries (I feel it's really symbolic of my life right now...) And Schnitzel sandwiches for lunch. This place is exactly like Alex Garland's Beach - even down to the movies shown in the restaurants every night. Its really fun though....and even now looking out the window there are just so many people here (expecting about 8000) just waiting for the biggest beach party.

Tommorow we leave for Koh Phi Phi at 6am.... So no sleep after the FM party i'm pretty sure.