Going Solo

Instead of writing a long post, I've decided to split up my procrastination in blogging into three separate posts, this being the first, and outlining what happened in Koh Samui. I don't have a memory card reader, so I hope you can do without a few pictures for now.

Koh Samui
After we left the Kao Sok rainforest, we decided to head up to the island of Koh Samui, we caught two buses (connecting through Surat Thani) and a boat to the island. We expected the island to be along the same lines as Ko Phi Phi, but it was very different.

When we got to the island, we needed a 45 minute cab ride across it, to get from where the pier was, to where the hostels were, but that was alright, because it was just100 baht, which is cheap. Once we got to the island, we found a hotel to stay at, and were only planning on staying there for one night. The plan after that was to catch the ferry out tomorrow for the full moon party on Koh Phangnan.

This is where I deviated from the plan.

Going Solo
After doing a lot of thinking, researching, and sleeping on ideas, I decided that I wanted to deviate from the group, and do some traveling alone. I had worried about the loneliness and inability to have someone to share experiences with, but after some research, I found that the pros definitely outweighed the cons.

When the others booked their ferry tickets, I decided to hold back, not sure what I wanted to do, but that essentially made up my mind, and having to say goodbye to them, and watching them all get in the van with their packs, and me remain behind in the hotel was a real eye opener.

I do feel sad about not being with them sometimes, but overall I think this is something that I have to do, and I'm not regretting it at the moment. Immediately after I realized I was on my own, I started noticing a lot of things more. I was free to do whatever I wanted, without weighing it with a group decision, and I had the opportunities to go, stop, and talk to people as I pleased. I noticed more things in thai culture, and was forced to use more of the thai language, and do things for myself. It also breeds social skills, as it forces you to interact with people that you might not regularly interact with when you're in a group. More on that in other blogs.

All in all, though I do miss the people I was traveling with, it was something that had to be done, and where I am now (I'll explain in later blogs) could not have come without me leaving.

Highlights of Koh Samui

• Everything being a ridicuolusly expensive price
• Ron the dog, who I got to spend some quality time with after everyone left
• Having to keep a chocolate ice cream bar away from Ron, so he wouldn't die. 
• Standing for the entire boat ride, in order not to pay 30 baht to sit in the VIP room (which was NO different than the other rooms) but mainly as to not hurt my pride.
• Chilling on the beach with people from Brazil at 2 in the morning, insisting that the Jesus statue in Rio was giving the peace signs, not holding it's arms out.
•   The flash flooding that kept happening because of the insane rain.