The Beach

Two days ago we took a boat ride 1 hour out to the Ang Tong Marine Park, where we went snorkeling and swimming, then kayaking around the islands. There are hundreds of these tiny islands with tall limestone cliffs. After a hearty lunch on the boat we moved down to another island where we docked off a beach, then climbed the cliffs up to an overlook where we saw The Beach. Rather, the isolated landlocked saltwater lagoon that's not visible from the ocean, the lagoon that inspired the movie The Beach. The climb down brought us to lake level where we saw barracuda and sea urchins. Later we relaxed on the beach ocean-side before heading back to Koh Samui.

We found a tiny Thai food shack around the corner from our resort that the entire group frequents. The curries are delicious, the staff very friendly, and the price can't be beat. Koh Samui is pretty expensive by Thai standards so we're trying to keep the damage to a minimum to save our pennies for a shopping extravaganza in Chiang Mai. We head up north in the morning for a few days.

Yesterday we had nothing on the agenda so spent the day mostly on the beach and in the pool. It felt good to have nothing to do for a whole day. Today we have a few hours of leisure before Anna and George's wedding this evening on the beach.

It's fun travelling with a group. Every day is a new adventure with a different person, and the next day at breakfast we reconvene to hear the stories from the night before. Let's see, Matt has a stalker chick, each day at least one person is nursing a damaging hangover, stories of "those crazy Aussies,", and the goods and wares from the beach vendors certainly differ between night and day.

I'm also digging this custom of taking your shoes off before entering a room, building, and sometimes a shop. I want to live in a world where I wear shoes only half the time.