Because Ken had to work over the weekend, I took a taxi to a bus station and caught a three-hour bus ride to a town called Rayong, which is right on the Gulf of Thailand. The bus ticket only cost 117 baht, about $5.00 Canadian!!!
From Rayong, I took a taxi to the pier and jumped aboard a charming old boat to travel to the island of Koh Samed. The boat ride took about a half hour.
Here are the boats that ferried my carcass to the island of Koh Samed. They have character, don't they? If you look closely you'll see the Buddhist ribbons on the prows for good luck. Actually all the cars and taxis had some kind of Buddhist icon or colorful ribbon around the rearview mirror. The sky looks cloudy, but it was hot and sunny all day (as my exposed flesh could attest). Actually, I only saw three flash rainstorms that dropped their payloads and dissipated immediately.
There is some kind of a legend of Koh Samed about a hero who stayed on this island to fight some sea villain, and a mermaid fell in love with him here. Hence the statues on the beach seen below.
I struck up a conversation with this great guy, Nino, and his really sweet girlfriend Pennee. They live in Australia, but he is originally from the Caribbean, and she is from Thailand. We had a great dinner together and the next day they drove me all the way from Rayong to Bangkok, through Bangkok rush hour, and right to Ken's door. I could not believe their friendliness. I was amazed at what good people they are! By the way, Pennee's uncle is a Thai popstar named "LoSo", and while we ate dinner one of his songs came on the radio! The guy with the bowl is just some local who wanted to be in the picture, so why not?
On the boat ride back, the driver took us over to see some turtles and sharks. I was able to see one of these sharks below water in my scuba dive the following week off Koh Phi Phi. See my scuba pics on Koh Phi Phi
Turns out this is a leopard shark, quite harmless.
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