Brandon is starting his day-long shun by the girls after stalker-like video from the night market surfaces. He is also told he lives on the other side of the line of inappropriate. Craig is shunned, not once, but twice by his fellow Canadians. Jim got shot down by the receptionist at the front desk when he tried to move in for a “friendly hug”. Shelli tries to kill Kate with a pen while Jim demonstrates his knifing skills at breakfast. Brandon is becoming desensitized to Jim. And everyone got presents from the Ploy guesthouse staff. But the spirit of Christmas is lost during a 5-hour taxi ride.
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I sit here on the balcony once more, enjoying a nice cuppa and taking in the silence one last time before the chaos begins. I will miss the tranquility of this place.

A peaceful look at the River Kwai from the dock of the Ploy.

It’s Christmas Eve and time to pack up and move on. Everyone had enough of the inland crap (granted… I still wanted to see Erawan Falls), so now it’s time to move to an island getaway. But first there was a 5-hour taxi ride since no one remembered to pack their teleports. It was a minibus taxi, so there was plenty of room… and then we remembered we needed to pack the luggage in too. Now stuffed like sardines in this van, we bid farewell to Kanchanaburi and hit the road for Ko Samet.

The ride started out comfortable enough, but by the time we reached the halfway point in Bangkok, people were getting hungry and tired of being couped up. We stopped at a gas station to stretch our legs and found a woman selling fresh fruit.

Preparing our meal

Everyone picked up some and I got the pineapple and papaya (my first papaya since arriving). It was amazing to believe that I had just paid about $.60 for a bag of fresh fruit that would have cost me at least $5 back in the states… and this was some of the best pineapple I’d ever had!!!

Jim decided to break up the boredom of the car ride with some car games. First we had to go through the alphabet naming a movie titles beginning with your letter. I was a shoo-in to win this one. Shelli started off the game by being eliminated right off the bat by Jim. Shelli became unhappy. Jim later admitted that, as judge, he could not hear her from all the way in his claustrophobic cubbie in the back of the van with the luggage. One-by-one the competition fell: Jim (which was difficult considering he was the judge. But a four-strike rule enforced by the rest of the van, we finally got him out of the game) then Kate were gone after hard fought battles. It was now down to Craig and me. It was back and forth for a few minutes. Thankfully I have a database of not so commonly thought of films that no one else knew (X-Men 1,2, and 3 were basically what got us through the Xs… thankfully I had Xanadu on my turn). Thankfully, Craig got stuck on “V” and I emerged victorious.

By this time, Shelli and Kate had started their own new game: Naming celebrities using the first letter of their last name as the first letter of the first name of the next celeb. This game really seemed to go on for awhile, but soon Kate was starting to run out of name ammo. So I did what any kind-hearted traveler would do: help her cheat. I started off by whispering a few names in her ear and then soon enough Craig and Jim got in on the action.

It was now Shelli vs. the group. But we didn’t play favorites and we helped Shelli, too. Soon it became guys vs. guys (or in some cases the same person giving consecutive answers — good job Brandon!) with the girls being run out of their own game. By the time Craig was giving Kate answers from his iPod playlist, Shelli had had enough and abruptly ended the game. Thankfully we almost at out destination.

We arrived at the pier where we were supposed to catch the ferry to the island. We got tickets and hopped on the speedboat (we got VIP treatment for steerage prices because they didn’t want to take the big ferry over with only 3 people on board). The trip across felt like the start of one of those horror/mystery movies where some mates are on holiday and a serial murderer or killer virus is awaiting them on the island. I was the guy with the video camera who dies midway through, but whose video documenting helps solve the mystery.

On the way to Ko Samet. Hey... that rhymes!!!

When we made it to the island, we found a restaurant and grabbed a bite to eat while searching the guidebook for a place to stay. The book talked about a place we thought we’d try, so we set off. Once we entered the street looking like total tourists right off the boat, the island started to feel like a dump. Bar-lined streets, running with who knows what kind of liquids and lined with bags of smelly trash. Not exactly my idea of paradise.

We eventually came to a part of the island that was in stark contrast to what we’d already seen. This area was not as commercialized as the area near the pier, but still quite populated. We ended up having to carry our rolling bags (aka… Brandon and Shelli since we were the only ones that packed that much) because the road became unpaved and muddy.

We stopped at a place for a rate check and found it to be more than we cared to pay. With all the baggage we were carrying and the fact that it was sunset, we decided to change up the search. Since the girls were so well-versed with the travel guide, they told us to wait with the bags while they searched for an inn to stay at for the night (so it had nothing to do with us not being gentlemen).

Waiting for the girls to return from their mission.

Sure, the search had nothing to do with no room at the inn… but I had to find a Christmas Eve parallel.

So, anyway, Jim, Craig and I waited on the beach and watched the sunset. I got some nice photos now that I’ve figured out how to eliminate the flash.

Sunset on Ko Samet

The nice resort we couldn't afford... at sunset.

Christmas lights up the beach

Craig was trying to do anything to avoid getting bitten by any more mosquitoes, but instead found himself being hit on by a gay Thai waiter at the resort’s restaurant.

Craig... don't look to your left!

Jim just buried his feet in the sand, planting himself there for the long run.

An hour later, it was well after dark and we realized the girls hadn’t returned.

Jim is concerned! Where are the girls???

We started to become concerned, but then we saw someone lighting one of those floating lanterns and that refocused our attention.

Pretty!!! If only Kate were here to be distracted by it...

Sure enough, the ladies returned with news of lodging. We hopped in a taxi (like we were going to continue rolling our bags in the mud) and found the place a little up the road. We dropped off our stuff and decided to take a stroll on the beach.

Taking in the night ocean air...

Christmas lights filled our senses, but it didn’t seem to fit in with the warm paradise that surrounded us.

This was made by inserting white lights into green plastic buckets.

This was created by inserting lights into Absolut Vodka bottles

Further down the beach, we noticed flame jugglers. It was too cool a sight to pass up. Take a look for yourself:

I actually went by myself and when I returned to the rock where I left the others and our stuff, everyone and everything was gone! I searched the beach, walked back to the bungalow and searched the beach once more. I was starting to wonder if the horror film was in it’s first act. I thought if I started showing the pictures of them to locals and the police, I would soon disappear along with the pictures. I began to panic… and then Craig came out of the trees and asked where I’d been. He said they’d followed me to the show and I totally walked right past them.

Ahh… safe at last!

It was time to head back to the bungalow and hit head to pillow. Unfortunately, I hit head to headboard. Christmas would soon be here and Santa wouldn’t come if I wasn’t in bed. Oh… who am I kidding? I hopped into bed with Craig, but after that comment, there were pillows between us. Then I made a comment about how the beds were divided (Jim got the second queen to himself for his first night not having to share a bed with me) and how I missed sleeping with Jim. Another comment totally taken out of context!!! Those are just a couple of the comments that have earned me the title “King of the (Accidental, but sometimes Intentional) Inappropriate Comment” by the rest of the group.

So the rest of the night was spent swatting mosquitoes, fighting Craig for the Twin-sized comforter on the Queen-sized bed and being awaken numerous times by drunks yelling and setting off fireworks on the “street” outside our door.

Merry Christmas… and Bah Humbug!!!

Tags: beach, Christmas Eve, Ko Samet