Around the World: Ko Samui

January 11, 1992

The ferry to Ko Samui seemed to take forever, after the uncomfortably long and loud bus trip.  Once the ferry docked, another bus, this one without windows and wooden planks for seating, was waiting to bring passengers to their island destinations.  After suitcases and backpacks were piled in a carefully tied heap on the roof, we headed to the Sandy Resort at Bo Phut Beach.  Anna insists on offering her bag of king fruit chips that she brought with her to snack on, which I am trying very graciously to decline.  The smell that erupts out of a freshly opened bag of king chips is best described as morbid.  Someone with a sick sense of humour has found a way to preserve the aroma of death and disguise it as a healthy snack.

On a more pleasant thought, there's a vitamin drink here called Red Bull.  It tastes like the Flintstones chewable vitamins I had as a kid, only in liquid form.  It's quite the pick-me-up.

Sandy Beach bungalow

Finally, we arrive and settle into the hotel room.  While we feast on lunch in the hotel restaurant, I've sent the contents of my backpack to the capable, soapy, hot water treatment of the hotel laundry service for 150 baht ($6).  All I have to wear until it returns is my swim suit.  As I'm heading toward the beach, I am reminded of the Hideaway Hotel in Fiji, with it's bungalow style accommodations.  I half expect to find a concrete wall and a building housing a dorm with 60 beds inside, although I wouldn't trade that for the little bit of luxury I'm being treated to now.

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There is nothing like an odor to stir memories.
~ William McFee

Around the World: Bangkok and Beyond

January 10, 1992

Started the morning with guided tour of the floating market.  It was such an interesting experience to have a store floating on the water.  Little canoe-like boats, mostly containing fruit, paddled up to the tour boat.  I didn't buy anything because all the fruit was already either peeled or cut and anything that has come into contact with the local water is a recipe for illness.  That, and the fact that the waterway is also an open sewer was all the reason I needed to be cautious.

Bangkok Floating Market
Photo by bangkok.com

I did manage to do a little shopping on the streets around the hotel, and getting used to the currency.  Up until now, prices have been fairly close to what I would pay in Canadian dollars, a couple cents less or more, but nothing that required any substantial amount of math.  Thai currency is 25 baht to 1 Canadian dollar.  It's strange seeing a piece of clothing for 200 baht, then haggling the vendor down to 100 baht, and realizing the item only costs $4.

Tonight, we are headed south and then to an island in the Gulf of Thailand called Ko Samui.  The plan was to take the train, but tickets for first and second class are sold out.  There are third class seats available, but tourists are apparently not permitted to travel in third class.  Tracey talked her parents into investigating other options at a travel store we had seen on Khao San Road.  Harvey went in to speak with the sales agent and came out of the store with bus tickets.

Khao San Road
Photo by traverati

Khao San Road is where backpackers go to find cheap accommodations, inexpensive restaurants, and travel arrangements.  It's touristy and crowded, with the same noise and chaos that is uniquely Bangkok.   

We were told to wait at the store front for the bus that was due to arrive at 5p.m.  As the hour approaches and we are all expecting to see a bus arriving, one of the store employees comes out and explains that we should now follow him to the bus departure point.  He guides us on a long walk, through alleys and streets, which really irritated Harvey and Anna, who had to carry and drag their suitcases behind them.

This bus ride ends early tomorrow morning in Surat Thani, a town on the south west coast of the Gulf of Thailand, where we will catch the ferry to Ko Samui.  In the meantime, I have a really loud movie in Thai to drown out all of the other sounds on the bus, as I attempt to find a comfortable position to sleep in the coach seat, snuggled in under the complimentary blanket.

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"Not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, does the enlightened man dislike to wade into its waters."
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Around the World: Bangkok

January 9, 1992

I just had the best airline breakfast!  Spinach omelet with raspberry pudding for dessert.  I even had a decent sleep at the airport.

Arrived in the insanity that is Bangkok.  Outside the airport, I found the area where I could hire a taxi to the hotel.  Five drivers gathered around me, hollering out their starting price and I haggled and bartered their price down until only one remained.  Once the car pulled into traffic, I wondered if I had made a wise decision basing the driver's services on price alone.

I'm on what I believe is supposed to be a highway.  There are painted lines, indicating that there should be four lanes of traffic, but the six rows of cars disagree.  Occasionally, there is a break in the concrete divider that separates traffic moving in the opposite direction and my driver has decided that the shoulder of oncoming traffic is an acceptable place to drive.  From my perspective, in the back seat, it would probably be best if I just closed my eyes and prayed, but terror has frozen my eyelids wide open.

Bangkok "tuk-tuk"

By the sheer grace of fate, I arrive at the hotel and meet up with my room mate, Tracey and her parents, Harvey and Anna.  We caught up over snacks and a few nerve-calming beers before heading out for dinner with Shirley, my neighbour who has been traveling for over a year.  The five of us piled into a "tuk-tuk", which is a small covered cart hitched to a motorbike. There's a bench that would seat three well-acquainted, very skinny people.  Tracey and her parents, who don't fit this description at all, crammed into the bench, while Shirley and I intertwined ourselves into human pretzels on the floor.  I couldn't control the laughter, knowing that I was one of six people on a motorcycle and not a single Shriner among us.


Our three-wheeled tuk-tuk sometimes rides on two wheels on a tight corner.  We bumped and bounced along, down the wrong way of a one way street, into a gutter, cutting off buses and other vehicles before arriving relatively unharmed at the restaurant. 

The city streets are lined with vendors.  On the sidewalk, outside store fronts, vendors set up their wares on makeshift tables at the edge of the road.  In addition to the city's usual street vendors, there's also a night market, and a floating market.  There seems to be any reason for a market, as if Bangkok is for sale and everything must go.

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"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."
~Albert Einstein