Jim finally tells the girls to shut up. Shelli distances herself from the group. Kate and the boys take an adventure around the island. Craig gets an honor of which he’d rather not be the recipient. Brandon taps into his inner Jason Bourne as he traipses from one end of the island to the other and along the way, finds this island’s hatch.
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Ko Samet is about 6 miles long and has very few roads to speak of. In fact, most of the “roads” are nothing more than glorified rock and dirt trails. But we had been wanting to explore for a while, so we rented some motor scooters… well, everyone except Shelli. She determined she wanted to have a relaxing reading and beach day. So we left her behind and got a 24-hour rental on these vehicles of death.

Jimbo... sporting the red bike!

Kate looking lovely on white...

The side mirror shot

Jim and Kate were the only experienced riders, while Craig and I just got tossed right into the deep end of the pool. We started off nice and easy, which was pretty difficult considering the road from the rental place was an uphill climb on a paved road that was in complete disrepair. Plus, narrow as it was, it was still a “two-way” street. The first big truck freaked me out and I rethought this line of activity.

Soon we made it to the “open” road, which would be best described as a dirt road with lots of precarious hills and bends. Craig was the first to bite it about 10 minutes into the ride.

It's still a mystery how Craig was able to walk away from this one.

When his bike wouldn’t restart, he and Kate took a ride back into town to get help. Jim and I stayed to behind to protect the bike, but as you’ll see in this video, Jim really needed someone to protect him from himself:

Craig’s bike was soon fixed (the choke is a tricky problem when you don’t know it doesn’t exist) and we got back on the road. Every downhill slope was a new and scary adventure. With the dirt, sand, bumps and rocks, the road felt more like a mogul course or BMX track than a road. Kate soon became the next to bite it. My cautious attitude was keeping me safe; but for how long?

We came to the first scenic overlook the island provided. It was an AMAZING view. We climbed down the hillside onto the rocky coast.

Following the path...

Deathwish Craig, as I starting calling him, slipped and fell between some boulders into a small pool of ocean water.

It was just not Craiger's day!

I ventured away to get a better look around and found some steps that were naturally carved into the side of the hillside. I followed them down and at the base of the steps, I made an amazing discovery: THIS ISLAND’S HATCH!!!

The Ko Samet Hatch!!!

We got back to the scooters and continued our journey. Steep hill after steep hill tested my skills.

The sign says it all...

Thankfully, I had become quickly adept to the bike and skillfully braked down each one. We eventually came to the end of the road: an island ranger station with some incredible viewpoints of each coast. It was here that Kate decided to slice open her foot. But some quick-thinking from Craig and Jim (I can barely watch “House” without averting my eyes, so I was pretty much useless), a roll of toilet paper, Bath and Body Works Antibacterial Hand sanitizer and a plastic bag later, Kate was good enough to walk up to the ranger station and get some real first-aid.

Now this is resourcefulness!

I stayed behind to get some more pics while they went to discover a nearby beach resort. I must confess to you and to them for the first time, I became the final member of our excursion to bite it as I rode alone to meet them at the resort. It was nothing more than an embarrassment to my pride and not a major fall… but my conscience has finally gotten the best of me.

I joined them and found some of the most amazing views I’d ever seen. After following a path and an ominous bridge, I climbed to the top of a rock cliff that was at the very tip of the island. As I crested the top of the rocks, I literally had my breath taken from me. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

One of my favorite shots from the trip.

Looking out over the blue sea, my senses were filled by miles of ocean with little more on the horizon. Looking down, you could see straight down to the floor of the ocean. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Jim was about to give his best

It doesn’t really do it justice, but hopefully this video can give you a glimpse of what I saw (while preparing this video, the speed at which I panned made the iMovie timeline look like a 360 degree photo):

I also found a hammock back on the beach, and from this vantage point, I saw my ideal view of paradise.

My idea of paradise!

I just want to stay here forever... or at least until lunch.

Unfortunately, you soon have to leave paradise, because their rates are too expensive and get back to your real budget vaca. We checked out some other resorts (including “The Village” from “The Prisoner”) and grabbed some lunch. Before long, we found Shelli enjoying her alone time. But the scooters continued to beckon and we were off to see the western coast of the island.

Because of my excellent sense of direction, I led the group to the swankier resorts on the other coast. Kate commented how surprised she was that I knew how to get there. I really wish The Amazing Race producers would notice that too. So once again, we took a holiday from our holiday and enjoyed the pricier getaway. This was one of the nicer ones and we quite enjoyed what it must be like to live in the lap of luxury. Granted, if we all split the cost of this, we probably could have stayed there for about $20-$25 a person/per night.

So this is what pampering feels like!

On the way back, we took some laps around a reservoir that made for a perfect racetrack. We also decided to take our bikes onto the main, paved road outside the nature preserve for a trek to the end of that road. Once again I led the group, per their request, because of my terrific navigational skills. I found once the road was paved, I could fly on the scooter.

We made our way through the town and I tapped into my inner-Jason Bourne as I flew, weaving in and out of traffic, through the narrow streets and over speed bumps. Kate claimed I even went airborne at one point. All the way home, I kept thinking my mother would be having a fit if she saw me driving like that.

Before it got dark, we decided to take a couple more laps around the reservoir and take some of the side trials to see where they led. I found Koh Samet’s trash dump and the “friendly” dog that was guarding it.

We whisked like mad to make the sunset on the western coast, but missed it by minutes. On the way back to the room, Kate and I lost Jim and thought perhaps he’d wiped out and was lying injured or dead in a gully. We both set back out to find him, but what I found was the ground when my bike gunned right into a ditch. Got a bruise on my leg, a gash on my foot and a broken mirror from that rescue attempt… all to find out that Jim was racing us and had secretly taken a short cut home.

The shower that night (my first in 2 days) felt amazing. The cool water soothed the sunbaking I’d received that day and washed the layers of dust and dirt I’d picked up away. I thought it was funny that Craig’s black hair turned a shade of light brown from all the dirt.

Thus ended my day on the road.

Tags: Amazing Race, beach, biking, climbing, exploring, Jason Bourne, Ko Samet, lost, luxury, off-road, resorts, scooter