In my last post, I mentioned that we were stopping in Ko Samui, Thailand. Ko Samui is an island located in southern Thailand, and is full of beaches and beach resorts. We chose to stay at The Wave, on Chewang Beach (the east side of the island). The ten hour trek from Penang, Malaysia to Ko Samui wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We had a chartered minivan which took us the entire way (and even came onto the ship for our two hour ferry ride). The Wave is owned by two British dudes who run a very friendly and cozy hostel. Melissa and I stayed here for all four nights, and got the private room, with our own washroom, and even had a TV! Chaweng Beach is the busiest of all of Koh Samui's beaches, and the place was literally packed with tourists. The main road consisted of lots of shops, vendors, restaurants, bars, and fast food joints. At one point, we walked by a Starbucks, Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and an Adidas store, all in a row! I was thinking to myself, I thought we were on a remote island in Thailand!? The beach was beautiful, and the water was so warm. It was a great time to catch some sun, and relax for a few days. We got to try some great Thai food, and drink some (relatively) cheap alcohol.
Yesterday (Friday) at noon we boarded a mini van to begin another long bus ride - this time up mainland Thailand to Bangkok. Estimated time of arrival in Bangkok? 6am on Saturday morning (for all you math people, that means 18 hours!) Again, we had to take a 2hr ferry back to mainland Thailand, then boarded a coach bus which dropped us in a city (can't remember the name off hand) around 5:30pm yesterday. We sat and waited for our transfer bus, which arrived at 7:30 pm and we got dropped off this morning at 6am in the capital city of Thailand. The transfer bus to Bangkok was full of tourists about the same age as Melissa and I. Everyone seemed to be anxious to get to our destination, however, within a few hours, most people had fallen asleep. So here we are, in Bangkok, which for us is basically just a stopover. Tomorrow we are headed to Cambodia (Siem Reap in particular) where we plan on spending about a week. From there, we will be visiting Laos and Vietnam (not sure in which order) before returning to the Philippines at the end of the month. We have decided to skip Indonesia from our plans, as it is "geographically out of the way", and stick to Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam for the duration of the trip.
It is hard to believe that we are now in the month of August. We have visited so many different places since the trip started July 6th, that sometimes I almost forget what even happened yesterday!! I guess that is what journals are for! Hopefully these last four weeks will be as full of excitement as the first half has been.
Yesterday (Friday) at noon we boarded a mini van to begin another long bus ride - this time up mainland Thailand to Bangkok. Estimated time of arrival in Bangkok? 6am on Saturday morning (for all you math people, that means 18 hours!) Again, we had to take a 2hr ferry back to mainland Thailand, then boarded a coach bus which dropped us in a city (can't remember the name off hand) around 5:30pm yesterday. We sat and waited for our transfer bus, which arrived at 7:30 pm and we got dropped off this morning at 6am in the capital city of Thailand. The transfer bus to Bangkok was full of tourists about the same age as Melissa and I. Everyone seemed to be anxious to get to our destination, however, within a few hours, most people had fallen asleep. So here we are, in Bangkok, which for us is basically just a stopover. Tomorrow we are headed to Cambodia (Siem Reap in particular) where we plan on spending about a week. From there, we will be visiting Laos and Vietnam (not sure in which order) before returning to the Philippines at the end of the month. We have decided to skip Indonesia from our plans, as it is "geographically out of the way", and stick to Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam for the duration of the trip.
It is hard to believe that we are now in the month of August. We have visited so many different places since the trip started July 6th, that sometimes I almost forget what even happened yesterday!! I guess that is what journals are for! Hopefully these last four weeks will be as full of excitement as the first half has been.
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