Two Tickets to Paradise

This is heavenly. We are on the island of Koh Samui in a little beach resort. The ocean is shallow, crystal clear, and there are no waves on our beach. The sand is as soft as baby powder. Sitting there is just lovely.

Stepping out of our little resort coccoon, we are on a street with a Starbucks, a Baskin Robbins, a Swensens, a Haagen Daazs, a McDonalds, etc. There are also a zillion souvenir shops, Thai massage parlors, tailors, knock off designer clothse stores, Italian restuarants (a staple here), and as we learned last night, a red light district. My friends Bryan and Tiffany are here on their honeymoon, and our island hopping itineraries overlapped for just one night, so we went to dinner and far too many drinks after. It was a blast catching up with them, and trading the Wharton talk for old work gossip. But it was challenging to find a bar that didn't have lots of 'ladyboys' inside. Everything here seems to be a front for a brothel or an English pub. Perhaps we'll find a place that brings the best of both together. It's funny, I will have one more night in Bangkok, but I fly to China the next morning so assume I'll just crash in my hotel. But I feel like last night, I got a taste of that side of Thailand.

Tomorrow, we're taking a boat to Koh Tao, which is the undeveloped island. Hopefuly my picking a hotel blindly over the internet skills will continue to serve us well!