Just to get this over with, I have to say the most annoying part about going on tours is that you constantly get asked the question, only 1? Only one person? Just you? Yeah, thanks for reminding me that I'm traveling alone. I don't normally have a problem with it, but if you want to hammer it in that I am indeed just one person alone...still, I was fine being alone. I just wanted the people to shut up about it.
Another observation, in Chomsurang Upatham school they offer English, French, Chinese and Japanese as foreign languages. Apparently if you are in Ko Samui, another big language you need to know is German. At least a fourth of the signs would be written in English and German, and you heard tourists spewing German everywhere. And especially in Chaweng Beach, there were tourists everywhere. A few times I found myself wondering where the local Thai people were, or hung out. Certainly they weren't all working at the shops, restaurants, and resorts.
Back to Friday morning. Luckily tours include hotel pick up, free transportation. Since it was a huge tour company, I was with a lot of other tourists, having a little snack for breakfast they provided, and grabbing the cheapest underwater camera available. I didn't have to wait long before it was time to wade out to the speedboats. This time I was lucky...being only one person I was able to find room to squeeze out onto the front of the boat, a seat in the sun and wind where I could thoroughly enjoy the trip. It was my first time taking a long trip on a boat in the ocean...I didn't count my adventure on Thursday, when I really saw nothing. We were in a speed boat for about an hour and a half, watching islands fly past. It was a little choppy, but a lot of fun. So some of my pictures I took aboard the boat came out a little crooked...
The first destination was Koh Tao. We came to a little bay where everyone got out and went snorkeling! It was my first time snorkeling, which involved a little fretting, a little salt water, and a little scratch by coral between trying to figure out how to breathe through the stupid thing and how to use the underwater camera I bought. When I finally got going it was a wonderful experience. It was like being inside a tank in an aquarium. It was very isolating too...to be underwater, breathing through a tube, so all you can hear is the sound of your own heartbeat and loud breathing as fish swim past you and coral lies beneath you. At one point it felt like some of the fish were swimming in my face! The coral was all darker color but it was very pretty and there were some bright color fish swimming around.
We were there for an hour, but it felt like no time at all. It was really pretty and fun, once I figured out the snorkeling thing. They had an included lunch which was yummy. (Only 1?) After which we went to the nearby private island Koh Nang Yuang. First I climbed the many stairs to a view point. It wasn't a very long hike put pretty steep. The view point of the island was quite gorgeous! I was very hot at this point, and climbing down I could feel my skin burning. I was getting tired, so I passed on snorkeling at this island, just relaxing in the ocean for the rest of the time, trying to stay cool while my skin fried. Of course, I had to sit out front on the way back too!
The rest of my day was fairly quiet. I had pizza for dinner. It was a weird pizza, which had cheese and tomatoes but not sauce. It was good. Afterwards, when it was dark, I walked to the beach and spent a little bit wading in the water before heading back to bed...Saturday would be another busy morning!!!!!
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