Island Paradise

There's our boat!

The yellow bags are full of ice that they deliver to the island from the mainland. There you can also see the bags and half the passengers.  The others are out trying to get some sun!

I was a bit worried when I saw all the people at the ferry station.  I figured it was going to be a full on party island like Ko Samui and Ko Pagnan--which was quite the opposite of what I was going for, but luckily there were boats for the two islands going at the same time.  What a relief it was when we boarded the quieter boat!

On the boat

Karen, Frank, Valerie

We started to get a feel for the people around us and share travel stories--the beautiful and the horrific.  It was a stunning view all the way there and we decided to pass on the first beach which looked as if it only had maybe 8 bungalows and head for the larger beach.  We went around the bend and it looked beautiful...

We decided to stay on that beach and there was a guy from the beach that helped us off with our bags--go figure--he was from Sonoma.  Since we had skipped breakfast, we asked him, Dori, straight away where the best food was--and he led us to bungalows at the very edge of the beach and said he stayed there as well.  Luckily, they also had a bungalow available (I had tried booking online, but it seemed even if there were websites, there was not a place to book) and it was a newer one.  We threw our stuff down, had some great food and settled in.  We would only be in the new bungalow one night--and switch tomorrow to the basic bungalow.  The difference was this one was made of concrete and had a nicer bathroom...but the more rustic room would be fine. 

Our first bungalow

We wandered the length of the beach and it seemed each resort had its own little culture.  Towards the rocks we saw some movement in the water.  I'm still not sure what the critters were but they seemed to be a mix between a lizard and a fish that skipped the water but lingered on the rocks.  Scott took a video snippet (which pictures and videos will be posted soon) which I am sure he will be happy to post.  We wandered back and met back up with two of the people that we met on the boat--Valerie and Frank from BC. We grabbed a meal together with Dori and the Belgian guy (his name escapes me) that we rode in with and shared stories of the island and other bits with one another. 

Thai Bar staff...and me

The four of us who were new to the island decided we would hit up the Thai Bar at the other end of the island.  Well, luckily, one of us had a headlamp--it's quite dark when none of the electricity is on...and we are navigating unfamiliar territory.  Well, my favorite was the bridge--essentially two planks wide, with bamboo posts to hold onto as we made our way over the river...again, thank goodness for the headlamp! The bartenders were amazing and soon enough we were joined by another group of people who told us that the bar challenge is to climb the wooden post in the middle of the bar--and for the rest of the night, we watched this--with Frank being able to complete the task at hand. 

We wandered back and Valerie saw something shimmery and lo and behold there was phosphorus in he water so we skipped in the water back to our bungalows...