I really don't like 5:30am alarms! But we had to get up early as tender tickets were being passed out starting at 7am and my instructions to my group were to meet 1/2 hour before the announced time for the tender ticket distribution. One couple didn't show, so I called them and they had forgotten the tour and told me to go without them. Just before 7am, the tender distribution person announced that we didn't need tickets and that we could proceed down to Deck A and board. So we boarded the local boat containing the set up supplies and headed for shore and were ashore by 7:25am which put us 1/2 hour ashore before our tour guide was supposed to be there.
As a piece of information, Koh in Thai means island, so one sees Samui spelled both alone and with Koh Samui.
Already the heat was getting oppressive, so we waited under a canopy. Just before 8am, our guide, a cute and petite Thai lady, named Sugar in English, showed up and we were off in.a 10 passenger mini van with only 5 of us, our guide, and Tor, our driver.
I'll not bore you with a blow by blow description of the entire trip, but I will say that we did an aggressive nature hike to find the elusive Hin Lad Waterfall that didn't exist due to low rainfall at the moment. But the forest was very pretty and jungle like. Afterwards we traveled around the island in a counter clockwise direction stopping at scenic spots of which there were many including a rock formation called the Grandfather that looked like a giant penis. It was adjoining another rock formation called the Grandmother and I'll let your imagination take over.
We visited many Buddhist temples including the Big Buddha which is literally under the flight path for the local airport, the mummified monk. The temples were very clean and neat and in very good repair. After the temple visits we enjoyed a terrific Thai lunch at Bangrak 33 which had a nice ocean view. For a giant Thai beer, Diet Coke, and bottle of water was only about $7US.
When we made our way around the island back to the port city of Nathon, we asked to be excused from the bus to be able to shop our way back to the boat. The shopping was good and the vendors were not aggressive like we experienced in Indonesia. Back at the port, there was a mass of people trying to get on the tenders, so we cooled our heels under the canopy and let them swelter close together vying for a spot on the tenders. Several tenders came and went and finally we boarded the last tender along with all of the set up materials that accompanied us on the first tender that morning. The security team did numerous counts and recounts and finally around 4pm we sailed away to the Volendam. We reboarded and the Captain announced that all were aboard and that the pilot failed to show up, so he was leaving anyway. Cold showers were in order and then we made our way to the Lido for dinner, although I didn't feel like eating due to the heat. So I composed my blog as we sailed north along side of Koh Phangan (Phangan Island).
The movie tonight was Breathe, and it was the true story of Robin Cavindish, a British polio victim who pioneered the use of portable breathing apparatus' for polio patients. The movie was produced by his son Jonathan, and was very good. We took in the 10pm Main Stage performance of Katei a young and different type of violinist.
Fortunately tomorrow we're not tendering so we can sleep in until 6:30am before embarking on a full day tour of Bangkok. Stay tuned.
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