Maenam

Maenam was a place for us to chill out a bit. Mostly we sat in hammocks, played checkers, read (Unbearable Lightness of Being--it was quite good), drank a White Russian, ate some good food at "You and Me", and paid little boys 20 Baht ( 50 cents) to tow us across a river. In short, it was all good.

Oh! And I watched a football match! And it was kind of fun! It was a terribly important match between Aston Villa (the good guys) and Birmingham (the bad guys). The good guys won, so it was a happy day indeed.

While we were there, we decided to blow our budget and spend nearly 40 USD on a kayaking/snorkeling trip to Ang Thong Marine Park. According to Jon and his blog, "The Ang Thong Marine Park is an archipelago of 42 islands covering 250 square km and is a 90 minute boat ride from Ko Samui." Our first activity was a kayaking trip, which was a lot of fun. The coastline was phenomenally beautiful. Jon pretended to take pictures of the coastline, so he could take it easy while I paddled him around. (Okay, if I was honest, he was rowing his weight and probably part of mine. I just like to harass people unnecessarily.)

After our kayaking trip, we disembarked at Emerald Lake. There were lots of daytrippers there, and it was quite crowded. We climbed to the top of the island to the viewing platform, where all the tourists were packed in like a tin can of sardines. It was an extraordinarily beautiful view, so fighting the crowds made it worthwhile. We then went for a nice relaxing swim before lunch was served.

After lunch, we went on a second (and more vigorous) kayaking excursion. We then snorkeled for a bit. The coral formations were quite beautiful, although I did not see much marine life. The waves were a bit rough, and the water was quite shallow. Jon ended up cutting himself on some of the coral. (Those kind of cuts don't heal so well.) We then kayaked back to the boat for the ride home.

There was a hefty American on the trip who was running his mouth about the stupidity of Texans, so I told him to shut his pie-hole. (Okay, I'm totally fronting here. I just corrected some of his grossly distorted misinformation about Texas and its border control. We're crazy down here, but we aren't that crazy...yet. Plus, he was scaring the poor little Germans.)

I laid out on the deck until it started to rain. Let's just say when the boat returned to port, I was ready to get onto dry land. I think boats make me a little sick.