Surat Thani and Ko Samui

We departed Trang and headed toward Surat Thani, where we could catch a ferry to Ko Samui. For the long journey, we armed ourselves with a bag of cookies, Pringles, and cashew nuts. The Pringles and the cookies did not survive the journey.

Surat Thani is a port town, but it has an excellent night market. We wandered through the night market with our bags, which was a little awkward. I bought some corn-on-the-cob, and some more corn-on-the-cob. Jon and I bought some cherry tomatoes to share. He got to eat five of them. I ate the other fifty in the container. Perhaps my kindergarten teacher didn't do a wonderful job teaching me the concept of 'sharing'.

Anyhow, the tomatoes came with this fantastically delicious sugar/salt/chili mix. (They were so good, I bought a second container of tomatoes to eat for breakfast.) Anyhow, we bought a bit of pineapple as well. I mostly wanted the pineapple because it came with the special mix. The vendor did not want to give the 'farangs' (the Thai word for foreigner) any of the special sugar/salt/chili mix because it was 'too hot'. I freaked out. We got the special mix. I was happy.

So then we got on the boat. Since the boat departed at 11 pm, we were assigned mattresses rather than seats. I am certain the mattresses would be spacious when judged by Thai standards; however, they were a bit inadequate by my standards. (I'm a little too tall and a lot too wide.)

I guess I should have mentioned this before, but the whole point in getting to Ko Samui was for the all night beach party on Hat Rin. We were a little nervous about getting accommodation, so we booked online. Fortunately, we both had a place to stay, but we definitely overpaid. Hey, I guess it happens from time to time.

I've been whining to poor Jon about missing my beloved Tex-Mex food. His guidebook happened to recommend a certain restaurant that served Mexican food, so we decided to eat there. It was a bit of a walk, but definitely worth it. Sort of like being in Texas. (Okay, not really, but I was still fairly impressed.)