Having already seen most of the city's major sites, we took a different approach to the city this time around. We binged a bit on Starbucks and fast-food, saw a couple movies, and spent most of our time wandering air-conditioned shopping malls. The highlight of it all were VIP seats at the movie theater which reclined and came with blankets and pillows. Even though the Nick Cage flick was a bit lame, you could enjoy any movie in seats like this.
From Bangkok we headed to Ko Tao, an island on the Gulf of Thailand known for its exceptional scuba diving. Lindsey was a bit disappointed that Ko Tao doesn't have the long stretches of beach she'd envisioned, but we'll get to those on our next island.
After seeing a few overpriced rooms, we checked into a horrifically hot (and overpriced) room at a dive 'resort' for $5/night. Our first day we rode around the island's insanely steep and slippery roads to some of the island's more remote bays. At several steep points, Lindsey had to get off and walk up since the bike didn't have enough power to keep going. We both wish we'd been forewarned, but once we arrived at Hin Wong and Tanote Bay we enjoyed the swimming and snorkeling. That evening we cooled off in the breeze along the beach before retiring to our sauna of a hotel room.
The next day, Steve went on a full day scuba trip, at three of the island's best dive sites. He was immediately impressed as he swam through literally millions of fish, the highlights being a school of barracuda, a massive puffer fish, moray eels, blue spotted rays, a 5ft potato grouper, and large stretches of beautiful coral. Lindsey had hoped to get her scuba certification here, but decided it was not a good idea given her ear issues.
Swimming through the school of barracuda was amazing.
The ultimate highlight was a brief encounter with the world's largest fish, a whale shark. This was exactly what Steve was hoping to spot, although they are generally very elusive. Even though it was a small one at only 10 feet (they grow to 40 ft), it was still amazing how easily such a massive creature can move through the water. Steve's dive group of four was the only one to see a whale shark that day and earned him some special bragging rights back on board. He was a bit excited and distracted, resulting in some pretty bad pictures and video.
The same day, Lindsey took a great yoga class before relaxing on the beach. There she played with a couple local dogs that eventually were sleeping on her towel with her. She was excited to take the day to just relax.
Since Ko Tao lacked the wide beaches we wanted to relax on, we skipped over to Ko Samui aboard another ferry. We might head back to Ko Tao (it's fairly close) for more snorkeling at some point, but are currently enjoying things here on Ko Samui.
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