Feb. 10th through 11th - Tuk Tuks, Planes, Taxis, Train, Bus, & BEACH

It was time to leave Cambodia, however, we did get to grab one more breakfast in Siem Reap.  We walked down the street from our guest house and went to a place called beaches.

Restaurant few minutes walking from our guest house

This place was really corky and was playing dancing queen.  Our server was a little strange, we weren’t sure if this person was a guy or a girl, however, I’m pretty sure it was a guy, just a little more feminine.  I got a “small breakfast” which consisted of baked beans, toast, fried eggs, bacon (which Tony thought looked like spam), and a grilled tomato.  Tony got a chicken curry, I believe it was called masanna (my spelling on that is off).

Beaches for breakfast

Debi's Breakfast

Tony's Breakfast      

We walked back to our guest house to check out and get a Tuk Tuk back to the airport.
Here is a view of our hotel from the street:

Our guest house is the far left building

Also, here is a typical way families get around Siem Reap:

We always see people driving like this with their children

We also past some people sewing outside:

Men sewing on the side of the street

We were so close to the airport, our Tuk Tuk gets a flat!  He had a pump underneath our seat, and just needed to pump up his tire.  We were fine because of course I made us get to the airport 2 hours before the plane left.  Who knew security and immigration were so quick to get through.

Flat tire to the airport

So when we arrived at the airport, and got through everything in no time, I decided to get myself some refreshing passion fruit ice cream, YUMMMMY

Loving the passion fruit ice cream

Then we treated ourselves to some chicken, beef, & pork satays.

Satays

Finally, we arrived back into Bangkok, went back through immigration, got our backpacks, then a taxi to the train station.  Tonight is the night we take an overnight train down the cost of Thailand, along the golf, making our way to the 3rd largest island, Koh Samui,

But first we wanted to see a little more of Bangkok since we had like 3 hours to kill.  We found a place in the train station that allowed us to lock up our bags.  So we dropped off our big back packs and journey outside to train station.  We were in the China town area, so we decided to try and walk to the main area of China town.  It wasn’t to long after, we decided to get into a Tuk Tuk and drop us off.

Hello China Town

Here we saw craziness, people everywhere!  Tons and tons of markets, people selling fresh fruit, to dried fish, to mushrooms, to dried shrimp (which didn’t smell very good), to dried fruits, to toys for kids, to gold chains, to basically anything you can think of.  There were places to get food, but we just couldn’t decide and we felt like we wanted to sit down and relax somewhere.  This little food stalls didn’t really have that feature.  China town was really interesting to see, so we were glad we journeyed over there.

Walking the streets in China Town

Markets in China Town

Dried Shrimp

Mushrooms

A side street we went down in China Town

Dried Fruit along side the side walk in China Town

However, we got back in a tuk tuk and had him drop us off back at the train station.  There were a dozen little restaurants across from the train station so we decided to eat over there.  Now, here, we definitely had a guy as our server, but OH was he a hoot!! Wish we got a picture of him, because he surely enjoyed Tony hahaha

Sitting for lunch - train station behind Tony

Having a drink during our lunch spot

We ordered some chicken wings which awesome!!!  Then we both got a traditional Thai dish called Tom Yam Kung, which uses lemongrass, kaffir lime, and chili to flavor the hot & sour shrimp broth, and yes, there were shrimp in it. I thought it was actually ok, not my favorite, but pretty good.  Tony did NOT like his at all, so he actually ordered another round of the chicken wings.  These ones were a little different, but still really good!

Chicken wings

Tom Yam Kung

We headed back to the train station around 6:45 pm to pick up our bags and to find our train.  A lady had told us earlier to board the train at 7 pm, and it left at 7:30 pm.

Our train is on the right - leaving at 7:30 pm

Tony walking to the Train

We found everything easily, our track that our train was on, our cart and our seats.

I found my seat, just putting my bag down

Tony's Comfy

We decided to get a beer to relax, since we had a long night a head of us.  For some reason though, the lady put the bucket of beer right at my feet.  We didn’t want that much beer, especially, because I was trying to avoid using their bathroom as much as I could.  I’m just getting sick of squatting!

Beer anyone?

We played some cards for a bit, but then Tony was getting pretty tired.  So then I blogged for a bit but got tired as well.

Getting ready to play cards

People were all starting to get their beds turned down, so we decided to do that as well.

Everyone's bedrooms for the night

The train guy has to come by and do this for you! So here is a little video of the train guy getting our beds put together:

Tony let me choose which bunk I wanted, top or bottom.  I decided to go with the bottom because if I had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, there was no way for me to fall!  Here’s a shot of my fort!

My bottom bunk, all cozy!

Tony said his top bunk never got dark, that there was a spot light shinning on him all night.  I felt bad, but he said he did get some sleep!

Feb. 11th - Arriving to our beach haven!

I slept ok, again, not my best, was probably up like 3-4 times during the night, but I did at least sleep.  In the morning, like at 5:30 am, Tony came down to my fortress and we hung out there till our train arrived in Surat Thani.

Good morning Tony

Once we arrived here, we had to board a bus to take us to the ferry that will finally take us to Koh Samui.

View from bus - there were a lot of other back packers

We boarded the bus, which we thought would be a half hour ride to the dock, but NO, it was about another 2 hour trip in this bus, heading to Don Sak, where we would finally board the ferry.

FINALLY, we made it to the ferry!!  Good bye land, hello water (Golf of Thailand).

Ahhhhh Ferry ride to Koh Samui

This ferry ride was another hour and a half, but we didn’t care at all.  We had seats facing out, over looking the water and were in the shade.  It was beautiful!!  Oh and the bathrooms on the ferry, were good!  We have lowered our standards of what we consider a good bathroom, but when I asked Tony how they were he said, “Deb, I would lay on the floor in this bathroom” hahaha.

Where we sat on the ferry - like my new pants!

We saw a large Buddha in the middle of the jungles when we were on the ferry, it was very cool:

View of Buddha from ferry

The views of the water wree just beautiful, so blue, so clear!  YEAH to beach town.

Beauty!

Here's a small video of what we saw riding on the ferry!

We finally pull up to the Koh Samui, land ahead!

Koh Samui ahead!

We disembarked the ferry and had to look for PR Tour.

Walking off the ferry

Here we go, I'm so excited!

We had purchased tickets for a mini bus to take us to our hotel.  We weren’t sure if this would actually be here, but it was! Thank goodness, just about another hour in the mini bus, which was basically a big van.  However, after only sitting in air condition for 5 minutes and then sweating, the guy pulled into an auto shop to try and get his air condition fixed, it broke!

Broken down air condition, boooooo

Tony not thrilled about standing here hahaha 

We just wanted to get to our hotel - let’s just leave the windows open.  Well, that’s what we had to end up doing anyway, because after  trying to fix it for 20 minutes, they couldn’t.  He had to drop off 2 other couples before us, but then finally, we made it!

Our room will be ready in 30 minutes she told us, but all we wanted to do was eat lunch and enjoy our view! So that’s what we did while we waited for our own little beach home.

Perfect relaxation

Ahhhh taking it all in

OH, and I had some how lost my sunglasses, the case must have ripped off completely from my back pack, so I needed to buy some new shades.  Nothing like spending $6 on a pair of Ray Bans, hahaha

Ray Bans!

We ordered some kind of fried shrimp app, which was super good!

Fried Shrimp spring rolls

Then I ordered noodle soup with chicken:

Noodle Soup with Chicken

And Tony got a curry dish:

Tony's Curry lunch with potatoes

We sat for a bit and really enjoyed the people watching hahahah

SWEET

Our room was then ready!  It’s super cute and we love it!

Front door to our own little Bungalow 

Next was bathing suit and beach time!!!  We swam for a little and then walked up and down the beach.

Our shadows on the sand

Walking along the beach

View from our walk

There were a lot of these boats floating around

Then we headed back to our hotel so I could get a traditional Thai Massage!  This massage was 200 baht (about $6) and it was awesome.  They basically put lots of pressure on you and then stretch certain parts of your body.  My favorite was when she had me sit up, lock my hands behind my head, and then twist me backwards and to the left, then the right.  It felt great, but wasn't expecting it.

I'm getting a Thai Massage on the Beach!

 After the massage, we got ready for our evening.  We did have an unexpected guess join us in our room, but he was to quick to catch him.  We did sit outside on our patio and had a few Chang's before we left.

Yep, we had someone else staying with us! 

Outside our little home before heading to dinner

We saw lots of places on the beach that served food, and sea food for that matter.  It sounded perfect to us.  So we headed back on the beach and found a sea food buffet. We sat right down, and then up to get some yummy food!

View of water, sand, stars while eating dinner

You can kind of see the buffet behind Tony

Debi's Plate after returning from the buffet

We loved the rock lobster, it was the BEST

Debi's next plate, more rock lobster and squid

 We ate so much and were so full.  We noticed that they had chairs right along the water with little tables.  This sounded perfect to us for an after dinner drink.  So that's what we did.

The chairs that we chilled out on after dinner

Relaxing under the stars with water hitting our toes

I think Tony might fall asleep

Finally, we walked back along the sand to our hotel and called it an evening.  After much travel, sun, and eating a ton, we were exhausted.  We are so happy we get 2 more full days in this paradise.