koh samui

greetz from koh samui!

please bear with me. i'm struggling to upload the pictures, but wanted to bring everyone up to speed on the latest events, so please check back in a day or so. until then this blog entry is for the hard-core readers: no pictures, just words ;-)

last friday, i cunningly planned and set in motion the workings of a daring escape that would free me from koh phangan. that is, i hopped on a ferry to koh samui.

bidding a fond farewell to little israel, i fixed my sights on the big sister of the three sister islands and did not look back. well, okay, i looked back once for your collective benefit.

what struck me first upon making landfall on koh samui was the noise level. i mean, this place is noisy! there's the airport, of course, with a never-ending procession if bangkok air jets landing and taking off. there's the traffic, the sheer number of people, and the sound systems. i felt like i had walked into a city by mistake.

the lonely planet has likened koh samui to beautiful lady wearing too much make-up. the island is very pretty, but everything man made is just a little over the top. or a lot over the top. chaweng beach is very pretty, which is par for the course in southern thailand, i'm realising now. but behind the beach with its row of beach bars varying from ultra trendy to faux rasta and eco-friendly, the raw machinery of koh samui does the dirty work: indian taylor touts and taxi drivers compete madly for attention with the island's brigade of ladyboys in front of the 7-11, macdonalds, and starbucks.

the tourist melange consists of travellers and holiday makers in equal measures, topped with a rather sad bunch of mustacchioed middle aged men whose soul mission to be here is easily guessed, and becomes embarrassingly obvious as soon as the sun sets over chaweng and the pros start grinding it out.

the ark bar, where i'm staying, seems to attract a lot of people travelling alone, so i'm glad to say i'm not exactly isolated here. you can't really help but party all night, and although i naturally resisted with every fibre of my being, i have seen quite a few sunrises here ;-)

however, that has not deterred me from my main reason for being here (apart from the airport): the koh angthong national marine park.

yesterday morning at 7AM i was picked up outside the ark bar and whisked off to a powerboat that took me, along with 7 other adventurers, to the very boundaries of sensory overload: snorkelling and kayaking around the 42 islands of koh angthong national marine park. it is the setting and probably the inspiration for alex garland's book 'the beach', and i know now exactly what he means.

granted, i had not slept the night before and was fighting a kingsized hangover, but i am not ashamed to say that i wept. tears gushing down my face as the astonishing, literally breathtaking beauty of the islands unfolded. my pictures, once i upload them, do not do it justice. not even close. it is perfect in every way. azure waters, limestone islands surrounded by coral reefs, secluded beaches and even a hidden lagoon.

i lie. it is perfect in every way but one. and this is probably the main reason for my embarrassingly girlie sobfest: the big, chunky charlie (to quote daffy duck in garland's book). it is beautiful and perfect, and we will destroy it. we are raping it with our speedboats and kayaks and our viewpoints and souvenir shops. it is forbidden pleasure, and should be closed off immediately. of course, that is about as likely to happen as outlawing ladyboys on the island. so i cried for paradise lost.

of course, upon returning to the ark bar, i washed down an alka selzer or two with gin and tonic and was fine again ;-)

my visa runs out tomorrow, so i'm heading to penang, an island on the west coast of peninsular malaysia. got myself a secondhand lonely planet for malaysia today, so will investigate what to do when i get there. suggestions are welcome of course!

well, thanks for tuning in again, and please remember to come back in a day or so to check out the photos.

oh, and the tattoo was henna, of course. disappointed / relieved / couldn't really care less? i'd be interested to know, so drop me a note with your views on this matter? - your input is greatly appreciated by the management of this blog, i.e. me.