So, after a lovely week in BKK seeing the sights and enjoying the local food, we took the long drive down to the South to stay at Chitty’s family home.
Sister - is that you?
As Chitty had a lot of work to do on the house, Moo and I decided it would be a good idea to go off and do our own thing. Last thing she needs is two farm animals getting in the way of her work.
So after a little research into the surrounding area, we decided Koh Sa-Mooey would have the privilege of our company for the next few days. Its all in the name really - where else would be better to start?
We hopped on a bus to a town called Surat Thani where we were the only ‘falang’ (foreigners) around - Moo was initially quite apprehensive but I reassured her along the way that she was not alone - she had me! She’s so lucky.
The ferry crossing was very calm and uplifting, and nobody seemed to mind two cows being on board which was a bonus.
So, all had gone to plan until we stepped off the ferry in Koh Samui. Now it was the challenge of finding our hostel. We jumped on a SongThaew (a kind of 4x4-turned-bus-taxi) and headed for Chaweng. Once we were in Chaweng we figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to find the place. We were wrong. Chaweng is a big strip of shops and bars and restaurants and Moo and I must have spent about an hour in search of the words we so desperately longed to see - “Paprika Hostel”. It was to no avail. We were lost, and noone seemed to have heard of the mysterious Paprika, which was a great reassurance to us. Thankfully, Moo had made friends with a Dutch man on the SongThaew, and we bumped into him on our search. He was our knight in shining armour, and somehow managed to locate our hostel. Hallelujah!
We were exhausted and so grateful to finally have a room to relax in, and hadn’t even considered what our room mates would be like. As it goes, they were 3 lovely girls from the UK who we instantly bonded with.
They had plans to go ‘out out’ and Moo jumped on the idea, in spite of the long day of travelling she’d had and the total lack of FOOD!
So that night, Moo took herself off to a beach party with her 3 new friends, and learned her first big lesson about travelling as a solo female.
DON’T. DRINK. BUCKETS.
In fact, don’t drink anything on a stomach that is only filled with water and Tom Yam.
Shamefully, she spent the following day rolling around in bed eating hot dog rolls that she’d bought on a whim at 5am in the local 7/11, trying to remember what it was like when she still had a shred of dignity.
Soup is not enough to line your stomach with!
The lovely girls moved on to Koh Phangan to enjoy the full moon party and I was left to pick up the pieces of a broken Moo.
When the evening finally came, I decided that Moo needed to get up and out, after all she was in Koh Samui - she really ought to make the most of it!
So I covered her face with some make up - didn’t want to scare the locals - and sent her downstairs to find herself some dinner in the hostel. This is where she met her friend Tolga, who would become her travel buddy for the next few days.
He told her about the Fisherman’s Village in Bophut which only came alive on Friday nights, so she hopped on the back of his moped with me, (nearly rendering the thing immovable), and drove off on an adventure.
The next few days were filled with sight seeing and exploring - the best part being the waterfall that they stumbled upon in the middle of the island, up a series of winding roads and steep hills! It truly was paradise, for the special price of 100 baht. Yup. 2 pounds. You heard it here first.
Our best meal in Thailand so far.
Then came the storm.
Of course it would happen to Moo, visiting a tropical country during the Dry Season. Rain! So much rain. It completely threw everyone, especially the ferry companies that had expectant passengers kitted out in their translucent plastic ponchos, waiting expectantly to be whisked off to the next island for more holidaying.
After a 3 or 4 hour delay, we boarded a ferry that would take us to Koh Tao. Or perhaps not. All passengers were instructed to disembark at Koh Phangan because the storm was simply too dangerous to travel in.
Thankfully, Moo’s travel buddy knew of some cheap beach bungalows that we could stay in so we ventured off in the hopes that they would still be available for the night. To our relief, they were! To our greater relief, the rain actually lifted a little when we arrived too, which meant we could see a little bit of the nightlife. We found refuge in a bar-turned-cinema and spent the rest of the evening there.
After a relaxing time in Koh Phangan for 2 nights, we journeyed on to Koh Tao and spent the following days taking it easy - seeing as we’d had such a strenuous time in the lead up (swimming in waterfalls is hard, okay?). Moo went snorkelling for the first time in her life and couldn’t believe the clarity of the water, especially as it was such a windy day. I stayed on the beach to work on my tan - I’m in the process of turning into a Brown Cow.
Eating rice inside a bamboo shoot
Koh Tao Sunset
A week down the line, Moo and I had enjoyed an amazing adventure, and decided that it was time to travel back to Thung Song and share our stories with Chitty. We stopped over for one night in Surat Thani, which was actually one of the friendliest places we have been to so far. The hostel owners invited us to dine with them that evening, and then pointed us in the direction of the night market which was a short walk away. Moo was tired but we still had most of the evening to kill, so we ventured out to see what it was all about, expecting to be the only falang as we had been previously. 1 minute into our walk, we bumped into a German guy, and ended up spending the evening exploring the city with him!
A week previous to this, Moo and I were sitting at the bus station, anxiously trying to imagine what was in store. If we had to use 3 words to describe how we felt, they probably would have been;
1. Nervous
2. Alone
3. Intrigued
One week later, those words had changed to;
1. Happy
2. Welcome
2. Fulfilled
Now we are back in the South, and as I write, Moo is recovering from a short game of badminton. You may have felt the earth shake as she ran back and forth, and I can only apologise for any damage she caused.
We will be sure to update you again soon, keep your eyes peeled.
From one nutty Moo to another,
x
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"Although we may be different nationalities, our hearts are the same."
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