May 5 (Entry #22)

Posted by Howard Simpson at 5/4/2008 1:29 PM
Categories: uncategorized
After almost four months of traveling, country to country, city to city, hostel to hostel, I ended my South East Asia loop by entering back into southern Thailand to enjoy some much deserved vacation time on the islands (that’s right, I think I deserve it!).  Basically for the last week I have kept up a pretty good routine of eating, beach, pool, nap, and repeat.  That’s pretty much the whole blog entry...

In case you wanted a few more details though, I started out on Ko Samui, which is pretty much just a big busy island with some nice beaches.  From there I headed to Ko Phangan.  Ko Phangan is the home of the infamous Full Moon Party.  My dates didn’t match up with the monthly party, so the island was much calmer while I was there.  I was on the island for four full days and nights…the longest I have stayed in one place the whole trip (well, aside from the cyclone days in Fiji).
It was a good place to stop for that long.  With an upgrade at my hotel, I had a view of the beach and pool from my balcony and a 27 inch flat screen that I was able to hook my computer up to in order to watch the Lakers playoff games!

With all my time on Phangan, I did mix my normal routine up a little bit.  One day I met up with some friends from Cambodia and we got a boat to a more secluded beach for a nice relaxing day.  Another day I took part in one of Thailand’s favorite past times, boxing.  Muay Boxing (Thai Boxing) is huge.  At least once a day in every city I’ve been to in Thailand there have been trucks going up and down the streets with posters and loud speakers announcing matches.  I took an hour class, which
was actually taught by a guy from San Diego (does that make it less authentic?)...  It was quite intense.  I was already sweating from the humidity when I walked into the gym, but by the time I was done with the lesson, I was completely drenched in sweat.  Muay Boxing involves constant movement, with nonstop jabs and kicks.  Needless to say, having never thrown a punch in my peaceful life, I wasn’t too good…but now I’m a fighting machine...so watch out...

After my four relaxing days on Ko Phangan, I went Ko Tao, known for its diving.  Just a few
hours after getting to the island I was in the water for my first ever night dive.  Visibility was pretty good and scuba diving in the dark was definitely a different experience than normal diving.  The highlight though was coming out of the water to a star covered sky.  The next day I did two more dives.  Again the visibility was good and the water was a rich dark blue, as opposed to the more aqua color I have experienced with my other dives.  Not bad for my last dives of the trip.

For my last day in Thailand, I returned to Ko Samui because I fly out early in the morning.  Unfortunately, this last day of beach time was a cloudy day, but I still jumped in the water and did my best to enjoy my vacation from my travels.

Thailand Fast Facts (part 2):

Islands visited: 5 (2 during the first visit and 3 this visit)
Lakers performance: Completed sweep of the Nuggets, won Game 1 against the Jazz
Scuba Dives: 5 (2 and 3)
Diving by flashlight: 1
Remaining Blog Entries: 3 (that’s right...the countdown has begun!)
Next time I plan on eating Thai food: A long long time from now
Boxing classes: 1
KOs: 0...
Days: 22 (13 and 9)
Blog entries: 3 (2 and 1)

Click here to see my photos of my beach time
 

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