Beach
Took the train down to Bangkok and spent a day there. We got a little overwhelmed with the heat and traffic and crazyness, so we decided to go to the beach a day or so early. (That's the nice thing about travelling with no fixed schedule -- you can be flexible about that kind of thing. Of course, the downside is that you're constantly planning where to go next, but it's interesting for sure.
We arrived on Ko Samui via airplane. The airport on this little island is such a typical "little tropical island " airport. It's outdoors, and there's palm trees and the signs directing you where to go are carved in wood and it's of course very touristy.
We stayed on Big Buddha beach, named for the large (12m) statue of Buddha in a temple on one side of the beach. (You can see the Big Buddha from everywhere.) Spent some nice time relaxing and swimming in the ocean and met a nice couple from Wales that we shared a drink on the beach with. Then, the island decided to remind us that it was in fact still monsoon season and a massive rainstorm swept us up. We ran with the other couple over to a restaurant 100m down the beach but still arrived soaking wet. Not to worry though, it was a warm rain and we had a great time.
The next day, we decided to take the boat up to the next island, Ko Pha-Ngan. This is the site of the famous(?) Full Moon parties where they dance the night(s) away into the next day every full moon. This not being close to the full moon, it's a little quieter here, but it's still a very happenning place. If Chiang Mai was a "foreigner's mecca", Hat Rin beach on Ko Pha-Ngan is a "backpacker's mecca". It's got even more foreigners than Chiang Mai, and this time they're largely college-age to mid-20s. (And judging by the accents you hear, they really come from all over the place.)
So ... some more relaxing on the beach is what we'll be doing the next couple days. We may take a boat trip around the island tomorrow. Then, we'll start the multi-stage journey back to Seattle, first by boat to Ko Samui, then by plane to Bangkok (with some more sight-seeing there), then by another series of planes through Taipei and on to Seattle.
Hope you're all doing well, be back home next weekend.