Yay! Time to blog because the students are having their midterms today!
Last weekend summed up a long sting of busy traveling weekends for me. Because of the Father’s Day (the King’s Birthday) and Constitution day, I had two 3-day weekends in a row. On December 3rd Lizzie and I took off after work and went into Bangkok. We first went to the train station to book tickets for our trip to Khao Sok National Park and then took a bus to Sarah’s house in Chanburi. We went out to dinner in her town of Amamta and are fish, green curry, som tom, and some Leos. Right after we sat down, a table of men had one of the very scantily clothed waitresses bring us over a note that said “sorry can we know you?” We were so hungry we decided to ignore it and were no further bothered. We ate and went back to Sarah’s apartment. She really lucked out and got a nice place to live. It has a sitting room, a bedroom and even a pool (which she never uses).
The next morning we woke up early, took a bus to the ferry and the ferry over to Kho Samet, getting there at around 2 in the afternoon. We walked across the island, and found our bungalow before hitting the beach.
I really liked Kho Samet. It is a big island and the closest to Bangkok, which makes it a popular place for Thais to vacation, however the vibe is very laid back and it has a bohemian feel. The bars and restaurants that face the beach trough out mats, low tables, cushions and lights in the evening, making beautiful places to enjoy your dinner and the beach at the same time. Another big attraction in Kho Samet are the fire throwers. They have shows every night and are very fun and entertaining! Some do tricks with bottles, sticks, fire balls on stings (don’t remember the names of these things), and they all take turns on the stage, then do some together and then move to the beach for the big show. This is all done to super loud pulsating music and people get really into it. On the beach they all have a choreographed show (same every night) and it looks awesome with the dark water in the back. Since it was the king’s birthday, on Sunday night they had fireworks going off ON the sticks and ropes they were swinging around!
Then after the show they start fire games on the beach such as limbo, jump rope, jumping trough a burning hoop, etc. Everyone gets really into it and has a lot of fun. After seeing some people get tripped up on the burning rope, however, I decided I was just fine observing and filming! (I did do the limbo once, but it was not too low)
After a long night of raging all we wanted to do the next morning was relax. We got lounge chairs on the beach, some coconut water, and a foot scrub/massage. It felt absolutely amazing and I could have sat there all day. The water was a perfect temperature and very clean, I watched some Thai children spend hours trying and failing to catch fish with a plastic pail. Sarah later bought form fried chicken and sticky rice from a woman on the beach and went back to the bungalow for an actual nap. Lizzie and I went out for dinner further down the beach and had some delicious panang curry and chicken quesadillas mmmm. I also got a yogurt mango shake.
We laid out and read a little while before going back and taking showers. Each night we went to the same place for dinner (the one with the fire shows) and had grilled corn and bbq ribs. I’m not one who ever orders ribs, but this place was known for them and they were really tasty! One night we smoked hookah too (this is not weed for those of you from earlier generations, I have not been doing anything illegal here!) Before the fire shows there was a Pilipino band that played really good English music. All in all I had a fabulous long weekend on Samet and met some really fun people!
No comments:
Post a Comment