Island of Koh Samet

So the second weekend and last weekend of Thailand has come to an end and each week just keeps getting better and better.  I just don't ever want to leave, I really don't.  One of the greatest things (and hardest thing) to get used to is the Thai sense of time.  In essence, time does not exist. It is just a continuous thing that happens and if you are late to school or work it doesn't really affect anyone.  People don't get upset they just go with the flow.  One of the most commonly phrases is "mai pen rai" which basically means no worries or hakuna matata. In America we are so time obsessed and it has been ingrained in us since a very young age. My biggest pet peeve is being late and in Thailand being late doesn't matter. It is actually really cool because people aren't as stressed about time in general; not being concerned about time doesn't make people lazy either, it is simply a more relaxed life style and I am definitely beginning to like it :)

This weekend Kati, Lexi, Allie and I decided to go to the island of Koh Samet which is known as the Bangkok getaway for locals.  It isn't a tourist island and is actually a national park so there are no hotels, only little resorts and bungalows/villas on the island. In order to get to the island we literally took every mode of transportation, minus an airplane.  We left on Friday morning at around 10 am to take the subway which was then followed by an hour in the sky train.  After the sky train, we took a four hour bus ride to a pier off of Thailand where we proceeded to take a ferry to the island of Koh Samet and arrived at around 7 pm.  It was definitely a long day of traveling but it was definitely worth it because once we got there it was literally like a jungle and our mode of transportation was a pick up taxi!!

It was nuts because it is rainy season so the roads are dirt roads just flooded with water and pot holes everywhere, not to mention we got POURED on once again.  Dang rainy season, doesn't stop for anything! But it was still an awesome experience.  We arrived at the Ao Chao Grandview Resort and got to stay in an awesome ocean front villa.. and best part was that it was only 30 bucks per night for each of us.  Money goes very far here.  We went out to dinner the first night and explored around a bit and of course just hung out by the ocean. On Saturday we simply relaxed on the beach. The only bad part was that it is rainy season so the sun didn't really shine that much, although the sun did peak out from behind the clouds every so often.  It also rained multiple times during the day but it worked out perfectly since we were already in swim suits.

And then we decided to go banana boating in the rain!! Allie- silly Allie- told us that the banana boat wouldn't tip over because of the shape of it, so of course we are holding on because the ride is a little bumpy and then all of a sudden the boat pulling us starts going in circles and zig zagging all over the place so OF COURSE we get tossed off like no body's business and it was the funniest thing ever because no one was expecting to fall off.  It definitely hurt too! Got water up the nose and in the ear... it was not very pleasant but we continued on the banana boat and got tossed off a few more times but it went much better because we knew what was coming. The last time he tried to flip us over we held on and didn't get tossed off so he tried again and then we all just jumped off.  Actually Kati knew that you fall off banana boats but she didn't tell us because she wanted to see our reactions which were filled of laughter because we were banana boating in Thailand in the pouring rain. It was the best.  We continued on relaxing for the rest of the night and oh wait I totally forgot to mention...

THE GIANT RING OF FIRE (and limbo!).  At night time we walked along the beach and ran into a restaurant.  We thought we saw fire in the distance so of course we were drawn to it because we thought people were juggling with fire as a show... little did we know that when we arrived at the spot there was FIRE LIMBO!!! It was INSANE!!! There were the Thai guys running it who would also carry people through it.  Lexi and Allie did the limbo which was AWESOME!! and then and then.... they brought out the giant ring of fire!!! and so Lexi and Allie both jumped through it but me being a little scardey cat got carried through the ring of fire :) which actually might have been worse because the guy so knew that I was freaking out and went INCREDIBLY slow.  The heat was insane around you, you could feel it on your face but the feeling was amazing. I can't even remember if I looked, I am pretty sure my eyes were closed because it was so hot- blind faith I guess! It was one of the greatest moments ever... going through that giant ring of fire. We then just hung out on the beach all night and finally Sunday morning came around and it was time to come back home.  Tomorrow the last week starts and in 6 days I will be back in the U.S. I can't help but say it over and over again, but it's crazy how time flies.