Trouble in Paradise

This weekend was my first trip away from my new home in Bangkok. It was a well anticipated trip as about 30-40 exchange students all decided to go for the weekend. I left Friday morning with four other friends at 10am. The bus ride itself was a little over three hours, and the ferry boa ride was about 40 minutes. The ferry there was so much fun, even though we stepped aboard a creaky old wooden boat that didn't look like it might pass any safety regulations as a mode of public transportation in Canada. Regardless, we all arrived safely on the island of Koh Samet. So far, everything looked like paradise and we couldn't wait to have a few relaxing days on white sandy beaches and swimming in the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand.

Our first day at the beach was great. I do believe the water was warmer than the air outside, and the beach itself looked like we were on some desktop computer background. This couldn't be real is all I kept thinking. But it was. I was on one of the prettiest little islands I've ever seen. We quickly ran into all the other exchange students at this beach bar called Naga. I went back into the water with a few and this is where my luck started to change, just ever so slightly. I swam out farther than maybe I should have and got stung by a jellyfish on my upper arm. And it hurt. Very bad. Good news, however, the pain did cease by that night, but still, it was slightly traumatising for a few moments. That first night was absolutely amazing though. My roommates and I went for massages in the early evening, and it was the best massage I have had to date. We opted for oil massages instead of Thai ones, and it was the most relaxing and gentle massage I have ever had. We then went to this beautiful restuarant right on the beach. There is something so soothing about being just mere feet away from the sea. Listening to the waves roll in just might be my favourite sound. And the food was amazing too, just to make the whole experience even better than it already was. After supper was party time! We headed back down the beach to Naga again where we found all the exchange students and many other tourists. At night time, Naga turns into a neon paint party. They have cans of paint all over the place so you can paint your body and face, and even the walls. Between dancing, being painted, and sitting on the beach watching the waves come, it was one of my favourite nights since being in Thailand.

Saturday was very fun as well, but my luck continued to decline. I fell early on in the day and scraped up my leg pretty bad, so the salt water made it too painful to be in the water for long. It didn't bother me much, as I had an incredible beach to relax on all day, and I even got a nice tan. (For anyone who thought I would remain Casper the ghost while here, I'm happy to announce that I'm finally tan!) Saturday night was much like our first, but we had more friends who joined us on the island! We started the night back at Naga, but it was a little slow. So we wandered down to the beach to another bar called Ploy. It was just as fun, and it had paint too! It's a fair assumption to say that I love paint parties, although I would recommend buying cheap clothes to wear to them, because the paint will not come out of your clothes unfortunately. After god knows how long, we moved back to Naga and had another great night there. I even managed to win myself two free buckets of drinks, so we all know that means I had a great time. Until of course I lost my phone... After that happened I was a sad allycat. There was no cheering me up. Even though everybody tried to, and I thank everyone deeply for caring so much about me, even though a lot of us only just met. But not worry, my phone was located the next morning, so everything is good again!!

Sunday was our last day in paradise, at least for this weekend. We had a great brunch at this little cafe and then browsed cute shops along the streets. We went to the beach for one last time until it was time to go back to reality. The ferryboat ride on the was home was not near as enjoyable as getting there. Most likely because everyone was still feeling the effects of the weekend. I swear to you though, the ride home felt like the never-ending carnival ride from hell. It was horrible. And so slow. When we finally stepped onto the mainland, we went to get on the bus, which we already had tickets for, only to find out all busses for that day were full. Our only option was to rent a minibus to take us back to Bangkok. It only cost 60 Baht extra, so we had no problem with that option. We loaded up, and took off. We thought it would be better actually, we would get home faster this way. But no.... Our driver was the worst ever. He kept making random stops on the sides of roads to pick up more passengers, until eventually we had more people than seats. And we had absolutely no room for any of our backpacks. And he was super rude to us the entire ride. Safe to say, if tipping was customary in Thailand, he would not having been getting a tip from me. At one point he pulled over and left us on the bus so he could go smoke and talk with friends for more than 20 minutes!! So unprofessional. And it didn't help that we were all exhausted, and cramped up, and just wanted to go home. We did eventually make it back though, so I'll cease my complaining here. Overall, my weekend was so much fun. The locals on Koh Samet are some of the nicest people I've ever met, and I truly cannot wait to go back for more fun in paradise.

~Ally