March 19
Still riding the bus…..midnight comes and it is now my
birthday! I celebrate with a Singha on
the side of the road around 12:30 as we have pulled over for a 30 minute
stop. Back on the bus, we continue to
not be able to sleep. As the clock
strikes 3am, we pull into the dock at the town of Chumphon. Out we go into the darkness in the middle of
nowheresville. We attempt to get
comfortable at a little picnic table, but it is not possible. We simply wait for the light of day by
reading and talking and smelling all of the cigarette smoke of the
twenty-somethings. Finally, at 6:30 we
are allowed to board our boat that will take us to Koh Tao. We make our way downstairs to the seats and
as the boat gets underway we give ourselves over to sleep…..and wake up about
30 minutes later with horrible cricks in our necks. We try to get some sleep any way we can, but
it is next to impossible. We arrive at
the dock at Koh Tao at around 10:00 in the morning and are happy to find our
hotel taxi driver waiting for us with a sign with our names on it. We pile into the taxi, Paulie up front and
Sam on my lap with Hudson and Annie in the back and we are off. We drive through the dusty town and out the
other side, finally arriving at the bumpiest road I have ever been down. We are hoping that our hotel is fantabulous
and when we arrive we feel like we are in a little slice of Eden. The beach is nestled in a small bay with huge
trees overhanging the beach area and providing a great deal of shade. The cottages are perched above the lagoon on
tall stilts and the whole scene feels a bit like Swiss Family Robinson. The beach has chairs with little tiki type
umbrellas scattered about, but the sand is sharp with little bits of coral
throughout. We get checked in and the
hotel staff has us a bit spread out…..so we request two rooms side by
side. We can’t stand it anymore….we take
off into the water and it is glorious.
We are very content for a little while.
We soon realize that we are a bit captive here…..you know, like Swiss
Family Robinson?!!? We have no AC in our
rooms, only fans which do the trick if you have just come from swimming, but
otherwise you are quite hot. No TV or
internet service…..hmmm. There is a
restaurant here and we opt to have a nice meal since we missed both dinner and
breakfast. We had originally planned to
be here a week, but Paulie and I are not sure now if we can be in this very
secluded spot for that much time. We
finally go ahead and speak with the reception and express our concerns. They, of course, are very nice and
understanding. We continue to unwind and
grab a nap or two between swimming and snorkeling in the bay. There is a wonderful coral reef just off of
the beach so we can launch from there and enjoy the snorkeling. There is also a kayak that the kids take off
and out toward a large boulder in the water that is called Shark Island. After a lengthy nap, we have dinner at (you
guessed it) our hotel restaurant. This
place is really fabulous, don’t get me wrong, but we do feel a bit
trapped. The Fam presents me with
presents…haha…which is totally sweet.
Dinner is lovely. When the lights come
on at the hotel around the trees and illuminating the water, it is really
magical. There is a large rope swing
that keeps the boys busy for a long while.
We make ourselves comfy on the cushions out on the deck and look up at
the starlit night for a long time before being greeted by one of the many cats
that live here. We make our way home and
flail ourselves onto our beds in an attempt to cool off….no such luck. Afterward, we
retire to our beds in little heaps and are totally gone by 9:00…sweet birthday
dreams!
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