After having investigated a number of alternatives, from Phuket to Phi Phi to Samui I settled on Ko Surin, also given it's proximity to Burma where I could get another visa for 15 days. If you overstay your visa it's expensive: I overstayed 4 days and it cost me 2000 Baht or about $70... I could stay 2 weeks in a guest house here for that. Anyway, with a friend of mine from Baja, Kate, visiting Bangkok with her husband Gordon (who stayed in Bangkok for some medical stuff), we came on the bus (VIP fantastic - we could all learn something from the buses here! We even stopped for a nice, warm chicken rice soup and veggies at 1 AM at a clean and efficient roadside restaurant on the way on the 12 hour bus ride from Bangkok to Ranong and all for about $20: including the ticket!). Then a two hour ferry ride, the "slow boat", to Ko Surin: the most spectacular snorkeling I have ever done in my life: hard and soft corals, fish of every dimension and color, warm water, great visibility. It is a National Park so we camped in our own tents on the beach and used their facilities, a very inexpensive and beautiful stay. We made our own coffee in the mornings on a little fire stove that we bought in Bangkok and watched the sunrise. Lemongrass tea in the evenings watching the stars before sleeping. And to digest the horrible park food.... be warned if you go there, bring your own food. The park staff was uncooperative, to say the least. We think it was because we were independents and not part of a "tour group". We were bucking the system and the Thais like to think that they are very organized... they didn't approve of our "wildness" but being two older women they didn't dare say anything to us about it. And we had a blast. Back to Ranong overnight in a seedy hotel, then Kate went on ahead and I got in a longtail boat and braved the wild seas in between Burma and Thailand, arriving in Burma and within 10 minutes had the needed entrance/exit proof to return and get a new visa in the Thai port, braving the high waves in the very sketchy longtail boat, with an engine that sounded as if it was going to explode any moment. Then on to Ko Phayam, which is a budding Goa sort of but still gorgeous, covered in palm trees and cashew trees and we zoom around on scooters (there are no other vehicles and the path crossing the island is only wide enough for 2 scooters to pass each other). We have a nice, basic little bungalow on a quiet beach which also comes with a great restaurant and provides us with mango shakes in the evening that we add rum to. Well, since I'm running the risk of causing some jealousy here I will desist and post in a few days again, with photos, from Bangkok. There seems to be some political unrest so I will keep you all posted on that too. The RED SHIRTS ARE COMING!
I'm looking at tickets to Milan to visit Euge and some friends.
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