We kick ass, you know we do.

And I'm back to a life of stable internet.  God damn, I love wifi.

First and foremost, I'm just going to inundate this blog with pictures and videos from the last week - things that should have been in the last post but couldn't be.  Enjoy!

 

flooding

 on the way from Koh Chang to Koh Mak

And now, we're back on Koh Chang for the night.  Our time in Koh Mak was amazing!  I've never had a beach destination vacation before, and so to do it for four nights was positively bliss.  I mean, we never suntanned once, not even for five minutes on the beach, but we did all kinds of amazing, awesome things.  I did end up having to go to a Thai clinic again, and get more anti-biotics, but besides a bit of abdomen pain, and a little bit of a panic attack having to go to a clinic without a translator...I'm fine again.  'Nother UTI.  Damned things - how am I so sick all of a sudden?  It's lame.   

On our first day there, we walked all the way across the island, and got completely lost at sunset, and had to take a taxi (they are called 'song-tao' here) back to our resort, because we couldn't figure out how to get back in the dark (there aren't any street lights on Koh Mak) ...but the island is really neat, and home to rubber plantations and coconut plantations, and I got to see rubber trees, doing their little rubber tree thing, dripping all over the place.  We took loads of photos. 

 So worth it.

On the second day, we rented motorbikes.  I was afraid at first, but that went away in an awful hurry.  I like speed.  The roads on Koh Mak are in a fair amount of disrepair, but even so, I managed to go 80km/hr on them, dodging potholes and stray dogs, like a horrible game of Frogger (I feel this sentence describes most of my traffic experiences in Thailand thus far) ...we drove everywhere, it was so awesome.  On pavement, off pavement, and anything that Tim did, I felt the need to one-up.  I rode standing up doing 60, and I rode without hands, and we even speed-raced each other for a little while there.  We rented the bikes for 24 hours, and used them the next morning.  We've been waking up to watch each and every sunrise, but we slept in a little, and missed the very beginning of dawn the next morning, so we hopped out of bed and hopped on a bike and sped across the island to the pier just so we could take photos of the sunrise, just so we wouldn't miss it. 

It was pretty damned awesome.  

 Our pretty sand creatures

Most of our afternoons have been spent on the beach, in the water.  We rented snorkling gear, and I tried my hand at snorkling for the first time, ever.  Given my predisposition of fear towards putting my face in water, it took a great deal of stubbornness, willpower, and hyperventilating to actually do it, and each and every time is exactly the same, but once my face is in the water, I got to see little schools of blue tropical fishes, and coral, and more little fishes and crabs.  It's a strange world to be under the water, and I don't entirely know if I like it.  My chest constricts, and it hurts to breathe through the snorkling tube, and if I stay under too long, I resume hyperventilating.  But hey, I tried.  And damn it, that's worth more than anything. 

The water here is amazing - I float in it.  And I can even swim a little on my back.  There's a video of it on Tim's camera, but I think I look like a floundering fish, so I'm not even going to bother loading it. 

Yesterday, we rented a tandem kayak and kayaked around the island - that's another thing I've never done in the ocean (lake, river, yes - waves are new) ...it was fun, but exhausting, and we spent yesterday afternoon in it's entirety, laying on bean bag chairs on a deck overlooking the beach.  We were there for hours and hours, and we ate delicious curries, and I tried deep-fried banana!  It was a tasty treat. 

 Weird bug Tim named Mortimer. 

This morning we went for one last dip in the ocean, and we did a bit of a photoshoot, though I think it was a failed shoot in my mind, but there's a couple of decent photos.  I just can't stand in front of the camera very well. 

We took the ferry back at noon, and spent all this afternoon wandering around Bang Bao on Koh Chang.  There's a bunch of tourist shops and eateries right next to the ocean, and we're just chilling on a deck in hammocks right now, with the waves making their wave-sounds beside us. 

Tomorrow, well...that's in the future.  We might hit up Si Racha (home to Siracha sauce) ...or take a cheap flight to Phucket, or head up to Chang Mai.  I'm not really sure, and speaking for myself, that's a problem for future Katee to deal with.  Right now, I'm laying in a hammock, and that's all that matters. 

Although, it should be said - I'm going to cancel the Elephant volunteer thing.  It's 12,000 baht I still have to pay for (I've only paid a deposit), and I get that deposit back if I cancel in the next couple days.  Besides, Tim offered to extend his stay for an extra week, and between that and the saved money, it's more than enough incentive to do other things.  I'd like to do it still, but I think so long as I see elephants, I'll be equally happy.  The company is just too good to pass up, and I'm sure I could see elephants anytime!