Samui Laguna Resort Surat Thani

... br><br>2. Kevin MacDonald. I spent my summer in Thailand, working for a company called Rustic Pathways. My job involved leading trips for American teenagers in the northern part of the country. My contract ended in early August, so after about a week spent on my own exploring Chiang Mai (the largest city in northern Thailand), I boarded a train in Chiang Mai at about 10:30 pm on Saturday, August 15. After ...

... have been just over an hour or so, but we decided it would be too expensive. The next morning we woke up and caught thee 10:30am bus to Bangkok. Unfortunately the bus did not arrive in Bangkok until around 11pm or so, too late to catch the overnight bus down towards the beaches. So we ended up getting a hotel in Bangkok for a few hours and waking up at 5am to try and catch the earliest bus to the beach. We made it to the bus station and bought our tickets for the 6:30am ...

... a city where there's no space for anything but traffic. In the end, we found a little Italian restaurant called Viva that has the live program. We rested. Pan and I wanted to wait there for the next bus to Surat Thani. Heated Oven Bus Ride Finally, after 2 glasses of pineapple juice, our bus arrived. It only takes 2 hours from Krabi to Surat but it was the hottest time of all! First, I did sleep soundly along with the Western ...

... was ticking. 2 and a bit hours later, the bus rolls up, which was good 'coz tempers are starting to flame up. No one wastes time to get on the bus but the bus driver has other ideas, he pulls into a petrol station, drops staff off, picks up food. I'm guessing there is no need to rush?? Just after 2.50pm (it took about 40mins to get there) we are at the ferry terminal and the ferry is about to pull out. The bus stops ...

... and an hour later we pulled in to Surat Thani. Surat Thani is the eastern coast equivalent of Krabi, a coastal fishing town of pleasant but unremarkable order from which most ferries to the islands leave. We were dropped off at the night-ferry pier, where at 11pm three identical overnight boats would depart for Ko Samui, Ko Pha-Ngan, and Ko Tao respectively. These were "cargo ships, not luxury liners. Bring plenty of repellent an watch your bags," Lonely Planet ...

... pleasent and soon we were in the familiar settings of Pratunam Centre with all kinds of shoppers already thronging the busy street. The aroma of the local food greeted us. The hotel room had a magnificient view of Amari Watergate and Baiyoke Sky Hotel looming skywards! Later in the evening we were woken from our slumber with thunder, lightning and rain which was a welcome relief after escaping the searing heat of Delhi 19 May 08- The Missing Money!! We went out ...

We arrive into Surat Thani around 6am and dump all our bags at a cafe where we stop for breakfast. We are going to be picked up at 8.30am to catch the boat to Ko Pha Ngan so we have 2 hours to waste. After breakfast we all go our seperate ways, Debbie and i head to an internet cafe and the others ...

... fish, etc. All very cool except for the ****ing huge red ants and the nasty mosquitoes - not allowed to kill them even when they come in for the kill! Apparently snakes too, though didn't see any however found evidence of one in one of the women's toilets. L nearly killed by a falling coconut. One night J got ants in his pants - literally - giant red ones! After giving talks on importance of constant mindfulness, Nun Aree falls into a pond during ...

... the journey to Hat Yai- another charmless transport town. In a Hat Yai some thai school kids tried to teach me how to play "cabal" the latest online RPG, but I was exhausted so I left and just ended up drinking warm Mekong Whiskey outside of a 7-11. You know your beat when your drinking ****** thai whiskey on the curb of 7-11 at 2 oclock in the afternoon. At 3 we left for Penang- this time my minibus had an american expat hari krishnah currently ...

... robes contribute the amazing color contrasts, along with the fact that most people favor yellow here as an honor to their King who was born on a Monday, the day corresponding with the color yellow. As I happened to be in the country on a Monday, I was almost blinded by the amount of yellow shirts I saw! Truly unbelievable. The first half of my journey to Thailand focuses on the southern half, popular for its numerous island and beach resorts, so I took the opportunity to indulge ...