Three days of limited internet on the island, 2 days of travel, and 1 nights sleep at home puts me...back at my cold desk at school. Hooray! So catching up...
My good friend Lex woke me up at 5:30am last Wednesday to catch my flight back to Bangkok. We parted with lots of hugs and well wishes, and it was an uneventful few hours of plane and bus travel down to the coastal town of Rayong. **Note: I'd like to commend all the diligent pilots, drivers, navigators, and service staff who got me in and out of every port and city exactly on time for 2 weeks. Thank you!** Having been very frugal for the 1st week and a half of my trip, I threw money to the wind for the last few days. It was part intention and part necessity, as it turned out Koh Samet was much more expensive than I had expected. Expectations can be a funny thing...I was told by numerous people that Koh Samet would be so beautiful, quiet, and enjoyable so I went with high hopes, which came up a bit short. But back to Wednesday, after an expensive taxi and boat ride - for which I found out later I had vastly overpaid - I arrived at the touristy beach of Wong Dueng. The ferry ride was a relaxing 45 minutes on a fairly empty boat, sitting in the shade reading my book. We pulled into the white sand beach and a "water taxi" of sorts ferried us from our boat to the shore. I began this relaxing beach getaway by slipping and falling into the knee deep ocean, and trudging to shore with partially wet luggage. I was unconcerned about finding accommodations since the beach was lined with resorts and bungalows, so I sat down at a beach front table and, flagging down a waiter after about 10 minutes, had a Thai Iced Tea and sat in my soggy Thai pants reading my book. This was the general attitude of the wait staff on Wong Dueng beach. Unless they were dragging you into a restaurant to eat fresh fish or BBQ steak, they could care less about your need for food or beverage. I was commonly greeted with "What do you want" (imagine a brisk, unsmiling tone) as I walked up to a table, and then either left alone for 10-15 minutes or pestered immediately for an order. Because of this general negative attitude, I had a hard time loving Koh Samet. I am easily affected by the mood of those around me and not meeting a friendly Thai person in my 3 day stay really turned me off, especially compared to the people in the north. However, it was incredibly beautiful, pretty quiet, and very laid back. I read 2 books, relaxed in the shade of a beach umbrella, played in the salty ocean, and ate too much ice cream. Not really things to complain about, I know. I think my mood was also unsettled by a touch of loneliness. Most other tourists were accompanied by families, significant others, or Thai girlfriends, and most of them were not native English speakers - Scandinavians, Germans, and French primarily. My last afternoon I met a nice yoga teacher from the states who was living on Koh Samet, but until that time I kept to myself, just chatting up the odd Korean traveler. The best part was my bungalow. Although ant infested to begin with (it was pretty nasty), it ended up nice, quiet, and perfectly located between Wong Dueng and the next beach, which was far quieter. From my porch, I had a view of the ocean and a little rocky shore where I meditated and did yoga morning and afternoon. Large, flat, eroded stones covered this side beach and I just plopped my mat down on a dry rock for some (more) alone time.
Friday afternoon I got on a ferry back to the port town of Ban Phe and stayed there in the most expensive accommodation yet for my last night in Thailand. I sat in my brand new guest room, watched Thai TV, and read for the whole evening. Early Saturday morning I took a taxi, then bus up to the Bangkok airport for my 3pm flight to Seoul. I flew Jin Air, a budget Korean airline and, I believe a subsidiary of Korean Airlines. My ticket was cheap enough, so I can't complain about the lack of entertainment and refreshment on the 5 hour flight. I stayed with John again in Seoul and we had a delicious pastry & coffee breakfast before I flew back to Jeju Sunday around noon.
It has always been overwhelming to me to come back to Korea after going to another country. In the past year and a half, I've had the pleasure of going on 4 international trips, and it never ceases to surprise me just how loud and in a hurry Koreans are. From the moment their flight is called, most Korean travelers practically run onto the plane and immediately upon touchdown their seat belts are off, cell phones on, and luggage out as they race up the aisle to disembark. This is not without shoving, I can assure you. It's not rude here, just the way it's done. However, it does bring a smile to my face when I touchdown in Jeju and walk into my sleepy airport, into a crazy taxi ride, and home to my cozy apartment. Traveling always leaves me with an appreciation of my ordinary life and, in this instance, really made me appreciate and miss living in Seattle. I make no guarantees, but right now I'm really considering a long stay in my hometown after next year's adventures in SE Asia.
All in all, Thailand was great. Perfect weather, very nice people, way too much shopping, delicious food, interesting classes, and lots of sleep. Just the reprise I needed from the dreary Korean winter. Today is the first day of our last 2 weeks of school for the 2009 school year and, not at all surprisingly, 2 classes have no-showed. If time allows today, which I think it will, I'll put my pictures up. I don't expect to work too hard for the next month and will, hopefully, be refreshed for the new school year come March 1st. I know it's going to fly by and I'll be packing up my Korean life before you know it. I'm just looking forward to warmer weather and beach camping season. And before that, I'm so excited for my mom's visit next month!
On a completely unrelated note, I've decided to give up alcohol for the next month. I did very little drinking in Thailand and felt kind-of crappy the very few times I did have a beer. February will be devoted to healthy food, meditation, and going to the gym. My boyfriend has decided to go vegetarian, which makes me very happy because that means I can eat his delicious cooking!
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