During Songkran (and the week before), we had been hearing about protests in Bangkok, and as the week progressed, they seemed to be getting bigger and more violent. On Monday, we were unsure as to whether or not we would be traveling to Koh Chang (an island in the south) since our journey would take us through Bangkok. Luckily, after spending Monday and half of Tuesday constantly monitoring the news, we learned that the protestors left, and we decided to make the trip anyway.
We flew into the Bangkok airport and took taxis to the bus station without any problems. By Wednesday morning, we were on a ferry to the island. I was a bit surprised by how expensive it was to travel around the island, though I suppose it makes sense it is a tourist destination and we were going nearly to the other end of the island to get to our bungalows.
There weren't enough rooms available (partially because the holiday was extended due to the issues in Bangkok), so a few of us had to stay at another establishment across the street. We all ate breakfast and then immediately changed and went to the beach. Though I was sure to apply sunblock (spf 50, in fact) repeatedly (after swimming) and made sure to wait the full amount of time before getting back in the water after reapplying, I still managed to get a terrible sunburn the first day. I think this was probably for the best because it kept me from burning during the rest of the trip. After we swam, everyone took showers and naps, and then we had dinner at a restaurant called the Treehouse, which we visited pretty regularly during our stay on the island. To get to the restaurant.. and the beach.. we followed a path from our bungalows through the trees.. and through a barbed wire fence!
Treehouse
After the first night, more rooms opened up, and we moved back to the establishment where everyone else was staying. Reid and I were happy to get a room with two beds, but we were a bit surprised to find that the bathroom had no roof! This became a bit of an issue the first night that we stayed in the bungalow. There was a huge thunderstorm early in the morning, and I woke up, thinking to myself, "should I go get the towels?" Of course, I decided I would rather stay in bed and let the towels continue to get wet than get up and get soaked myself to bring something that was already wet out of the rain. You'd think we'd learn from that experience, but when it stormed again on our last night, the same scene played out. The second time, though, it was still raining when I got up to take my shower, so along with my shower, I got drizzled on.
I spent Thursday and Friday with Kanako, Misa, and Des at the beach, mostly sitting in the shade or swimming. Though I could have found many other things to do on the island--from riding elephants to going deep sea fishing, I thought that spending my time on the beach was the best way to relax and have a real vacation.
I found it interesting that when vendors (there were several people selling jewelry and fruit on the beach) approached us, if we told them no in English, they continued to try to sell us their products, but if we told them that we didn't want the products in Thai, they would go away immediately.
We got to watch the sun set over the ocean, and we even swam one evening as the sun was setting. It was beautiful, and as it got darker out, the water cooled off a bit, making the swim even more enjoyable.
Saturday, I went snorkeling. Well, I attempted to go snorkeling. I have never before gone snorkeling, and I have a feeling that it will be a while before I try again. As we jumped in the water on our first excursion, a man yelled to us to be careful not to step on any black sea urchins.
About twenty minutes later, I kicked back as I was swimming.. into a black sea urchin. I suggest you take a look at these evil creatures. I thought just one sharp thing had poked me in the foot. One of my friends looked, and she said there were quite a few spines sticking out. With help, I got over to a small boat (the closest boat to where I was), and a man from the boat helped after my friends removed the spines. He then took a shoe and beat my foot. Apparently, the spines are made out of calcium, so if they solidify in your foot, you have big sharp spines in your foot to walk around on. Breaking them up helps prevent immense pain later on. The spines eventually dissolve. He gave me some medicine, and then he helped me swim back to the boat I had come on.
The captain of our boat then came over to me. He was holding a gigantic knife, which he held to my ankle. At that point, I was very much in shock, so I did not have any problem with the idea of him chopping my foot off. When I finally realized he was joking, he was squirting lemon on my foot. Then he beat my foot with the knife handle. He told me to stomp on it in half an hour. I sat there until it was time to stomp again. My foot had gone numb by the time I got back to our boat, but the numbness wore off before I started walking around.
It was a pretty painful day, to say the least. Several times, the captain told me I could hop back in the water. I just didn't feel like that was a good idea at the time, so I stayed on the boat and took pictures of everyone. At each stop, the captain would come over and talk to me, sometimes offering me food--a fruit I'd never tried before and a tiny snack cake filled with something that tasted like bean but might not have been.
That evening, I went out to dinner at the Treehouse again. We met some people Des knew from his travels in Laos there, and we talked for a while.
Sunday, we got up bright and early for our journey home. I'm glad that most of the day was spent in vehicles since I was still in a lot of pain!
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