so anyway, samui wasn’t a total loss. i got some business done there and had a sweet beach front bungalow in a place called Shangrilah. you can’t really go wrong with that. things dramatically changed, however, as i was awakened by TERRIBLE thunder and rain storms at about 4am. this hard rain continued throughout the morning and i feared that my 8am ferry back to koh tao was going to be a treacherous ride. as it turns out, the vessel was big enough and the seas calm enough that i was able to catch a few winks onboard without issue. those of you who know me well should know that i am not prone to any type of motion sickness, and so despite the lurching of the ferry i did not feel the effects whatsoever nor have any need for the free barf bags that were passed out by the crew (WTA folks, take note of this kind gesture). i still carry motion sickness pills just in case, but have yet to need to take any.
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now, i must return to my shitty bungalow in shitty koh samui (where i never wanted to go in the first place and wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for a bit of post office business) and cry myself to sleep until 6 am when i will be awakened DEPRESSED AS HELL, PEOPLE, in order to catch the ferry back to Koh Tao (where i never wanted to leave in the FIRST PLACE). then, upon my return, i will have to spend a bazillion baht in the net cafe buying a bunch more %O#@)(*%$ songs to download so i am not without tunes for the rest of my journey. i cannot - nay - will not live without tunes.

this, friends, is what the Buddhists call karma. mine at this particular juncture is BAD.  please keep your fingers crossed that my karma improves soon because i do not think i could take this type of piracy again without doing some type of serious damage to someone or even myself. i beseach you to pray, people, for nothing but good karma to come my way.

next post i make i will have good news. this i promise.  happy birthday to me…

one day, without warning an event occurred that drove everyone out of doors and onto the beaches. the lights went out and the boats stopped running. the lights stayed out for two days and two nights. the inhabitants of the island arranged for ice to be brought from the cities to keep their eggs, dairy and vegetables refrigerated, not to mention the usual supply of cold beer. candles were lit and distributed to all of the houses and all of the inhabitants stayed up very, very late outdoors because it was too hot to be inside the houses.

another consequence of this event was that none of the longtail boats were running and no one could get off of the island safely until things were back to normal. the only thing to do was to wait out the event. those who were in need of transit to the mainland would have to wait until it was safe to depart. the more nomadic of the villagers, those who were used to coming and going from the mainland frequently, were forced to stay put. in order not to go stir crazy with island fever, these nomads simply lit the candles in their houses, joined the other natives on the beach (the more permanent natives) and waited it out in the darkness. it wasn´t much of a problem because there was fresh fruit and a good breeze from the sea to keep them cool at night, and during the day they could lie under the shade of the palms away from the blinding hot midday sun. (more…)

after spending a night on a beat up old rickety local train from bangkok to chumpon, southeastern thailand, and then a 2 hour “fast” ferry (high speed catamaran, for those who are interesting in knowing the details: we cruised along at about 30 or 35 knots), i arrived at 9 am on the island of ko tao in the gulf of thailand 75 KM from land. my neighbors to the south are koh samui and kho phag ngan, the former being a high falootin classy resort type place, notably more expensive than some other islands, and the latter being the host island of the notorious and legendary Full Moon Parties. i may give samui a miss and take a peek at ko phan ngan now that the full mooners are gone and things are back to sane there.

as for ko tao, for 500 baht i’m living for the next who knows how long in a round concrete and bamboo structure, about 6 feet around with a conical roof peaking at about 15 feet, less than 100 feet from the crystal blue/green waters of the gulf of thailand. this particular spot does not suck. the place is called sunset bungalows. my first mistake was transferring from the pier to here via truck from the ferry pier. the road is TERRRRRRIBLE with potholes galore & ups & downs and i sat in the back of the truck that had, thankfully, 4WD. what may have taken about 10 minutes on a good road took about 30 (this island is only 21 KM around, to give you an idea of distance and sunset bungalows are probably about 5-7 KM from the pier). fortunately, the driver was very cautious and i never felt as though i’d be pitched out the back into the jungle, left to fend for myself (good thing i love coconuts if that has been my fate!).
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ahem…let’s go back to leaving luang prabang, shall we? yes let’s. so i caught a laos air flight to bangkok from luang prabang (nice, small, mellow airport not unlike huatulco’s) rather than deal with the treacherously long and winding road back south through laos to thailand or the other way over to cambodia and more, probably worse, roads. before all that happened, however, i have a sweet story to tell about some farm kids in laos, an iPod and a band called belle & sebastian.
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i ran through all the regular touristy stuff here in luang prabang, including shopping and haggling and wat viewing and taking in a cultural performance of native song, dance and drama. only thing left, it seems, was to go for the elephant ride. so, i chose an outfit called XL (in association with Tiger Trail) that does sustainable tourism and guarantees that at least 25% of the cost to take tour s goes back into the community supporting the tour, such as the hill tribe villages you visit and/or the elephant care center where they provide the rides and mahout (elephant guides/trainers) training courses.

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my first impression (granted, i’ve only been here for 4 hours so far): good! the folks seem genuinely nice and helpful, and not out to rip me off IMMEDIATELY, unlike in thailand (sorry thailand stokers. this was indeed my burden in thailand, mainly from those tuk tuk drivers. scammers all of them). to its credit, however, thailand does indeed have it’s fare share of wonderfully nice and sincere folks. bangkok was a bit busy and noisy and smoggy for my taste and, since i’m not into shopping, it didn’t have much to keep me there. if i were in the market for silk weavings of any kind, i’d drop big dollars there for sure. gorgeous work they crank out!

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