Koh Samui 3/18/13 - 3/19/13

Before moving on to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, we had one more stop in Thailand for Matt to see a friend, Marc, from Lake Jackson.  He and his wife, who lived in California, left in December on their own year long travels and were on Koh Samui.  We all tried to meet up in the Philippines, but it didn't work out.  Fortunately, they were close by (in relative terms) and Koh Samui was on our way north!

We went back to being travelers and deciding things on the fly to make our way over to the island via bus, ferry, and cab.  Koh Samui is Thailand's third largest island and has plenty of white sand beaches, coral, and warm water.  Over a million tourists head there each year, thus, it has been built up over the years and set up to accommodate a broad range of travelers.  For us, it had a nice feel thanks to delicious food, a pretty beach front, and friends.

Our first night we met up with Marc and his wife, Janie, for dinner and then headed to a fire show on the beach with the rest of the group.  Marc and Janie had three friends visiting from home.  It was an early night for everyone as we were all exhausted and they had to wake up for a long day of diving/snorkeling.

We stuck around for a day to explore Samui.  In reality it ended up being more of an exploration down the street and along the shops for Kristin ;-).  We also relaxed our weary bodies with some massages, and gave ourselves some time to enjoy the beach as well.

During the day, we actually won $1,000..... or an iphone 5, or an ipad 2, or a 4 night stay at a new resort running the promotion.  Two guys handed us a free sweepstakes card to open and surprise, surprise, we won something ;-).  We knew it was "too good to be true", especially once they started on the bit about taking a cab to the new resort to hear a 90 minute spiel and have drinks.  Lucky for us we met NONE of the criteria (must be:  married, 30 - 65, staying in a place over 1,000 baht a night, and have a full time job (backpacker doesn't count?)) and used it to our advantage to walk away.

Yet, from our sweepstakes experience, we did walk away with a new friend, Simon.  He was a friendly Kiwi/Aussie that overheard our situation and was willing to help us get away from the sales pitch.  Thus, after meeting up with Simon for dinner, the three of us met up with the rest of the group once they all returned from their big adventure at sea.  It was a relaxed and enjoyable night with some drinks at the pink VW bus bar.

There were lots of activities to do in Koh Samui; however, we used the day and a half to be social and hang out with new friends.  After Samui it was time to head north to Laos via train with a stopover in Bangkok.