Thailand

Thailand!
Feb 12 to March 4
10 days on the East coast islands and another 10 on the west.

Travel through Thailand and Malaysia has its rewards.. it took 32 hours
to get to this spot from Kuala Lumpur and it was worth it!
Here is the sun rising on Lamai beach, Koh Samui alongside the muesli
and banana pancakes for breakfast.

Here is the view from my very first hut in Thailand.. not to bad for
just 200 Baht... about $4 per night! I was easily able to go for a
nice long swim just about every day.... just a short walk down
my steps and across the sand.

My neighbors... Simone and Cordula from Germany... are enjoying their hut!
A few days later after a rain storm, the river changed its course
to be directly under their hut.. causing it to sink about a foot on its
right side... it didn't tip, but there was always the fear that it might!

The Big Buddha on Koh Samui just shortly after sunset. Simone, Cordula,
and I rented scooters to cruise around the island. We raced over to the
other side to try to catch it before the sun went down, but just missed.
Its still a beautiful view. Scooters on Koh Samui and Koh Phangan are quite addicting...
such an easy way to explore!

Here's the winning shot of Koh Noang Yuan next to the island of Koh Tao.
This is one of those islands I had to get to.. kind of like that peak in
Austria.. Schafberg... I had seen a picture of it.. it was just a matter of finding it!

Snorkeling the blue water of Koh Noang Yuan. One of the fish even
decided to bite me here, but nothing painful other than the fact
that a tiny little fish bit me! Now where's that damn fish?!

Here's Simone and Cordula after a tough day.

The first night on the other large island on the east coast... Koh Phangan.
Here we stayed at a bungalow called The Bounty. Its a very quiet place
with a good vibe and beautiful sunsets.

This sunset includes fishing boats heading home in the distance.
At this point I was still going for my swim each day. The view here as
I swam was of fish, sea plants, brain coral, and other rock and coral formations...

Here is a sunset shot of Hat Yao... this is the other place we stayed on Koh Phangan.
This beach was a little more active than at the Bounty, but not much.
The only real active beach on Koh Phnagan is Hat Rin - the scene of the
full moon parties once a month where 8000 people gather. We went out
to the clubs there one night, but it really only gets crowded as the
full moon approaches.. we missed it by about two weeks...

Simone, Cordula, and I rode the scooters along the rugged dirt roads of the island..
not an easy task due to steep hills and ruts from rainfall.
Quite unlike the paved roads of Samui, but better - I thought!
We made it to a bay where we then took a longtail boat to
Haad Khuad - a beach only reachable by boat.

One day I got up early - before it got too hot - to hike over to the
next bay.. Haad Salad. Luckily there was a road, because a Thai jungle
is extremely thick. You would need a machete and a lot of strength and time to get anywhere.

I walked back to Hat Yao along the beach and along some cliffs... I came
into some parts of the island that are seemed like not too many tourists
get to see. Some of the local houses and three cages each with a rooster inside.
I think perhaps they were to be used for cock fights.

A shot along beautiful Hat Yao beach. We met two guys from Australia - Steve and Rob. They went with Simone and Cordula over to the west coast. I would meet up with them for my birthday on Koh Phi Phi in a couple days.

The departing shot from above Hat Yao. I had my scooter, my backpack,
and a ticket for the boat back to the mainland where I would grab a bus
to the west coast.

Click here to see the West Coast pics...

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