Koh Tao = Oh WOW!

We took a catamaran from Koh Phangnan to Koh Tao. One island north,
but 1.5 hrs away on a highspeed boat. No more slow ferries any more,
we decided. This island has got to be the scuba capital of the world.
Every resort, shop, restaurant, etc offers scuba certification and
tours. This was our last stop, so we wanted to get more R&R instead of
paying a bunch of money to get scuba certified. Besides we figured we
could snorkle and it would be just as cool, but cheaper. We stayed at
Ban's Scuba Resort, which happens to be the most respected place on
the island for certifications. Now that we are in the Gulf of Thailand
the land looks completely different. No more cliffs shooting straight
out of the waters, it looks more like Hawaii. Very tropical and green.
The beaches are not nearly as nice as the other side of the country,
but still very beautiful. By this time Nik and I have built up a
pretty good tan. He looks more like a coffee bean (very tan), I look
like well... what Nik looks like without any tan. Earlier in the trip
I got a good sunburn with a tanktop on, so for sometime it looked like
I had a tanktop on under my swimsuit. Typical Erin style!!! Now at
least I look somewhat normal with my light tan.
Ko Tao proved to be our next favorite place next to Ko Phi Phi. Our
hotel room was about 50 m to the beach and we enjoyed laying on the
beach soaking up the sun each day. We even found a rope swing that we
could swing on into the water during hightide. Our last day was spent
renting a kayak and taking turns snorkling from the kayak. The
snorkling was absolutely incredible. No wonder it is the scuba mecca.
I have never seen corral that large. We saw many types of fish, crabs,
jellyfish, sea plants, etc. Also kayaking along the shore we were able
to see all the bungalows. Everything from tiny little huts to nice
private residences. It was definitely the best way to end the beach
part of our trip.

The next day we were off to Bangkok for a couple days before heading
back to the States. This time we took a catamaran to Chumporn (1.5
hrs), then a VIP bus to Bangkok (7 hrs). The boat ride was very wavy
and bumpy. Nik and I did our best to not get sea sick. A storm was
coming in and by the time we got off the boat we were very glad to be
on land. The storm hit while we were waiting for our bus. It poured so
hard I thought the roof we were sitting under was going to collapse.
The bus wasn't so bad, it was long, but I really enjoyed seeing the
land pass by as we headed north. I think Nik would disagree, he kept
smelling stinky feet and he was having a hard time with it. Poor guy
was miserable, it seemed like everyone on the bus had there shoes off
and it doesn't help when the person across the aisle was picking at
there toes. It didn't bother me so much, because I was on the inside
and I was busy looking out the windows. We were glad to be on a nice
bus (meaning it had a bathroom). Last time we were not so fortunate.
Nik had to go #1 about 30 minutes into the 4 hour ride from Krabi to
Surithani. He had to hold it the entire way. He was so miserable and
could barely talk to me. He never complained, I could just see the
pain in his eyes. I felt so bad for him. When we did finally get off
the first thing he said to me was, "I can't think about anything but
going pee." He is a strong man! There is not many things more
uncomfortable.

We got into Bangkok around 8:30 and headed straight for our hostel,
Suk 11 www.suk11.com. This time coming into the city we felt much more
confident with bargoning for a cab ride. We also decided we like
Bangkok much more than we thought we did. It is a huge crazy city, but
it has so much character and diversity. We made it just in time to
meet up with the Reno crew we started the trip with and kept missing
along our journey. It was fun to hangout with them again. They had
some great stories from their travels; drunken fights, scooter
crashes, and lots of alcohol. We all had a good laugh enjoying
eachothers pics and stories. It was fun to hear their tales.
We ate dinner in Bangkok along the streets from the food carts. BTW,
best food in Thailand is from the food vendors. Taste wise anyways,
and very cheap. Then, we headed out on the town for the last night out
with the crew. They headed home on Sunday. We went to a club called
Route 66 and had fun listening to American music and enjoying some
spirits and mixers. We kept thinking about how much eerything was like
a crazy night out in Vegas, except we were the only white people out
of thousands, and bottle service only cost us $60 for a botle of
Johnny Walker and Smirnoff plus mixers (redbull, coke, Ginger ale,
club soda) Not bad considering we split the bill 8 ways and all got
plently of drinks out of it... When the night was done we managed to
fit 6 of us in cab and head home. All of us felt a little extra tired
this morning (hungover). Today we headed back to the weekend market
and shopped around buying gifts and such before we head home. We can't
believe this trip is coming to an end. We are both a little bummed,
but very excited to get back to the snow and real life in San
Francisco and Reno/Tahoe!