Koh Samet!!!!

Long weekend (thank god for Buddhist holidays) + Thailand transportation system + beautiful island = amazing but expensive weekend. We decided to travel to one of Thailand's most picturesque islands, Koh Samet, after our 2nd week of teaching because we had a long weekend and wanted to spend some time in the sun!

Getting to the island was an adventure all its own. First I went to Barr's apartment (even though it is technically in the wrong direction) to make sure the 4 traveling buddies were together before we began. Also, Barr and Rochelle had been to Koh Samet before so they had a good idea of how to get there. We were supposed to take a motorbike to a bus to a ferry to the island. Instead, we took a motorbike to the bus, the bus to nowhere (literally, the man drove us around in circles probably for 3 hrs then dropped us off on the side of the road over 80 miles away from our destination), hired a car to take us to the port (another 250 tb and 1.5hrs later), and then got on a speedboat (900 tb) to take us to the island. Exhausting. The trip took over 6 hrs and it was supposed to take 2-3. Unfortunately, that's Thailand. Nothing ever works out exactly the way you think it will with transportation so you just have to go with it and hope for the best. The good part is that eventually you always get to where you are going :)

SO the island was very pretty. Nice blue clear water with white sandy beaches and rocky hills surrounding it. We tanned, ate, swam all day and it was fanntastic. The beaches were a little crowded since it was a holiday but still less so than the Jersey Shore! Haha. One day we parked ourselves right next to a Thai wedding that was happening on the beach so that was pretty/fun to watch.

Nightlife on Samet was prettyyy amazing as well. It was a full moon that weekend so the glow paint, fire throwers, torches, and shirtless dancing bartenders were out in full force. I have to say, it is kind of my ideal scene. We had lots of fun and partied at Naga, Sunset Bar, and Silver Sands. Got a little too smashed the first night and fell on my face (again) trying to get over the rocks on the way back to the bungalow. Although I had a bruise and some scratches it was not NEARLY as bad as last year in college when I fell and it looked like someone had taken a bat to my face. Overall a very successful trip and now back to teaching the kiddies than Bangkok next weekend!