Lamai, Koh Samui

We flew down to Koh Samui, an island off the east coast of Thailand, about half-way down the tail of the country, on the Bay of Thailand.  We are staying in Lamai, which turns out to be a very commercialized, somewhat seedy beach town.  Too many hostess bars for our tastes.  But, whatever, we have a non-refundable hotel and our hotel is pretty darn nice, on the quieter end of town.  On Wednesday it was overcast with a huge thunderstorm and powerful tropical rains in the late afternoon.  The electricity kept going out, but somehow coming right back on.  There are plenty of tourists here from all over the world, but we very rarely hear an American accent.  Lots of Germans, English, Russians, and who knows what else.

Yesterday we rented a scooter and had a really great time doing some exploring.  We drove further down the island to Waterfall 2.  We had great timing; we only saw a couple of people on the trail up to the waterfall and none of them went all the way up as far as we did.  Thai workmen were everywhere trying to turn this into a more refined tourist destination.  They have cemented huge boulders together so that it is possible to walk across the falls at mid point and hang out in very inviting little pools.  Dan got completely submerged and I sat on a swing over a falls-  how often does one get the chance to do that?  The weather had turned and we saw beautiful blue sky for the first time since we've been here.  On our way back down there were jeep loads of tourists on "Magic Safari" trips for which they pay through the nose.  They take a short ride on an elephant's back, are driven up to the falls, see the crocodile show, the monkey show, etc.  It seemed a little silly.  In the afternoon we were able to lounge on the beach with everyone else.  The surf is pretty strong this time of year, but no surfing going on or, thankfully, any ski doing, either!  I am preparing for Cambodia by reading "When Broken Glass Float" by Chanrithy Him, who, it turns out, when to Cleveland High School in Portland.  She was a Cambodian refugee and most of her family died during the Khmer Rouge's debacle which happened during the years we were in high school.  I am set up to volunteer during the mornings at a school that is part of an NGO called Youth in Cambodia.

We are not quite in this time zone yet, still waking up far too early in the mornings, but are feeling less tired every day.  Having nothing we have to do right now really helps!

All our best to you all!

Julie & Dan