Koh Samui

Well so much has happened that I don’t know where to begin and with a thousand pictures to choose from I can only give you a glimpse of my time in Thailand. Our group started as 7, swelled to 12 and is down to 3. The first week was just family and our parents treated the 3 of us to all sorts of adventures and great cuisine. They managed to convince me to go on a canopy cable tour that consisted of 7 flying foxes at least 100 feet in the air above the jungle canopy. As I am afraid of heights I do admit to having a mild meltdown when I had to climb down a 30 foot ladder 100 feet in the air the was attached to a tree that swayed in the wind. But I was proud of myself for even going at all. The next day we had an island tour where we went to see monkey’s pick coconuts from trees, a butterfly garden, grandfather and grandmother rock (which legend has created life on the island) a waterfall with elephants, a mummified monk and a giant Buddha. After the first week the winter ended here and the weather changed dramatically. Currently it is 30 C in the shade. Many hours have been spent on the beach and poolside.
The woman shopped like mad and we have all been getting the infamous Thai massages. Christmas was spent on the beach and was very quiet but relaxing. The wedding was very exotic with monks and a drumming procession. I cried through the whole thing. The reception was small but we shared a lovely meal by candlelight on our rooftop patio and turned in early.

A couple of days ago we hiked to another waterfall in the Jungle. We climbed to the top and went for a swim in the pool above the waterfall. Our skin was so hot and sweaty that the water felt heart stopping but cooled us nicely for the journey down. A couple nights ago we went to watch some Thai Boxing. Four of the fighters got knocked out and a female fighter got hit in the head and threw up. I was sitting in the very front beside the judges and had a great view.

Last night Andrea, Lindsay, Curtis and I left the island by ferry to Koh Phagnan for the New Years beach party. We danced, drank and took it all in. It was off the hook, and was the biggest party I have ever attended, with 10,000 people on the beach. I can’t remember it all too clearly as we shared buckets of vodka and redbull. We caught a ferry back at 3:30am and arrived home at 5:30am in time to say goodbye to my parents as they were arising to catch a plane to Bangkok.
Two massive earthquakes, registering 7.1 on the Richter scale, rocked Taiwan a week after I left. And last night 8 bombs killing many and injuring more rocked Bangkok. New years celebrations were cancelled in the capital and they are expecting more attacks in areas frequented by foreigners.
So that being said I am ready to leave Asia behind for a while and make my way down to the Deep South. I keep dodging disaster but am safe and having a great time. My next traveling companion will be flying to meet me in a few hours and I will leave in a few days.