Thailand Days 9-10: Koh Sukorn

Another day, another mini-bus, another drunken morning on Dramamine. This time, in my wasted state, I actually fell and hurt myself.

We were all waiting at the ferry dock in Trang for our boat to take us out to Koh Sukorn when a cart full of our bags came barreling down the dock towards me. I had almost no where to go, so I tried to step up on the cement curb along the dock edge but realized as soon as I stepped up that there was no way I could hold my balance given the state I was in; if I had truly tried to stand up there, I was going to fall in. Normally I would have risked it, but all of a sudden I became aware of the camera in my hands and I panicked, throwing myself on the ground in front of the approaching cart, away from the dock's edge. The result: a ton of skin torn off my ankle, lots of small cement pebbles in the cuts and plenty of blood filling my sandal. Luckily the cart driver stopped in time. I fear that he could have finished me off right there had he not noticed my dive towards land.

I'll be the first to admit that we hardly did anything at all on Koh Sukorn worth mentioning. The island wasn't necessarily the most beautiful because the beaches were all brown sand, but overall I would say it was paradise; the water was warm and clean, the bungalows were comfy and the island was practically empty. There is one village on Koh Sukorn and it happened to be on the other side of the island; our side had three resorts all in a row but amazingly there were hardly 20 people there between all three of them (that's including our group) which meant ultimate peace and perfect solitude. We spent countless hours sleeping in lawn chairs, reading books, walking up and down the beach (I like to walk and read at the same time), soaking up the sun, and drinking endless pina coladas. Between naps, we would put together beach volleyball games with some of the hotel staff or take the ball out in the water and play games there. And that's pretty much how our two days there proceeded...

We also had some fun watching these silly little crabs run around on the beach. There were millions of them, scattering everywhere as you walked around on the sand. We spent hours sitting in our chairs, watching them run from the incoming waves and then rush back to the water's edge when the waves turned and went out, occasionally hunkering down and letting the water carry them out.

One thing worth mentioning is a great little beach party we had amongst ourselves. It started with me, the Aussies and a few pina coladas but quickly expanded to include a few of the Brits. Gathering all of the lawn chairs and sticking them in a row, we celebrated paradise just a few meters away from the crashing waves of the Andaman Sea and under the dim radiance of Christmas lights at the beach bar.

(I should note here that none of these photos are my own--I didn't want to lose my camera in the dark.)
This is Michelle, myself, and Dane doing what he called "The Ketchup Dance." I'm not sure where it came from and I'm not really sure how many drinks we'd had at this point either, but dance music was pumping from the beach bar and we couldn't help but get up and move. I vaguely remember following Dane's ketchup dance with a demonstration of my own special moves... hahaha... I hope that video never surfaces!

At one point the boys and Pui seized my lawn chair, drug me across the beach, and threw me in the ocean. Though I'm pretty embarrassed to post this rather unflattering photo, I must admit that this was one of the funnier moments that night. I wouldn't say that I was drunk but I certainly wasn't able to fight them off either!! Instead I laughed uncontrollably at how ridiculous the whole situation was, closely followed by Alice and Jenny who were at nearby with cameras. I emerged from the water, covered in sand, soaked, and seeking vengeance...

Will thought it was so hilarious that he fell backwards laughing and broke his lawn chair...

And that's when Zoey's umbrella dancing began...

Alex was soooo drunk! Holy cow, it was hilarious. One moment he was lucid and the next he was hiccuping, dizzy, and laughing at nothing. He couldn't keep his eyes open and was always falling over in his chair. I think Michelle and I are to blame... We let him drink a whole bucket on his own... Later that evening we found him sitting by himself, head between his knees, fast asleep on the beach while we were all swimming. Michelle had to walk him home but only got halfway through the garden before he started puking. She eventually left him there because there seemed to be no end in sight, and hurried back to the beach party... An hour later, Alex was still there in the garden... Puking...

Zoey and Will being goofy.

It's not sea kayaking, it's sand kayaking!

These are the buckets Michelle and I ordered... One of which Alex drank by himself... The other was split three ways between Michelle, Will and I (myself drinking far less than the other two). Now, if one bucket was enough to get the three of us feeling a buzzed, then imagine how Alex must have felt drinking one by himself!

Ah!! James has crabs!!

The night ended with a little swim... Me covered in sand, Will wet from being pushed in, and Michelle really wanting to swim was enough to get everyone down into their knickers (that's undies) and out in the water! First was me and Michelle. Unfortunately our clothes were stolen by our 'friends' while we were out swimming and we were forced to run around the beach in our underwear looking for them (of course, closely followed by a couple of cameras but those photos shall make no appearance here). But of course we had fun anyway and soon everyone was running out into the water.

The next day things were back to normal--almost. Alex was quite hung over but the rest of us were just fine. One person in particular was feeling extra good--a Thai guy named Noi who was visiting Koh Sukorn from the north and was staying at our resort. He had hit on me at dinner the night, telling me that he was "going to be here for two more nights" and that "if I was bored" I could "come hangout with him at his place." Rrrright... I just laughed, said, "Thank you for the offer, but no," and then basked in my flattery. (No matter how repulsive a guy's manner is, it still feels good to be hit on.) Well, apparently he had been sitting at the beach bar all night, watching us get drunk and stupid, and found himself audience to my belly dance demonstration as well as our near-streaking escapades.

Needless to say, Noi was smiling the next morning... I had come down to the bar and was ordering some banana pancakes for breakfast when he sat down in the other chair at my table. "Looks like you had a lot of fun last night," he said. "I was watching from the bar." "Yeah, we had a good time," I replied, trying to keep things simple. He went on to tell me that he was going out snorkeling for the day and would be back that evening in case I wanted to see him--it was his last night, you know. Once again, I replied with a polite "Thank you for the offer" and "I think I'm going to be busy." He walked away looking unconvinced. I was a little shocked. I thought I had made things pretty clear the night before that I wasn't interested... I was quite surprised he had the guts to try a second time...

But imagine my surprise when he had enough guts to try a third time! I had just finished eating dinner that night and was busy talking to Alex and Michelle when Noi presented me with a fabulous plate of exquisitely presented fish. "Kortney," he said, "I caught this fish for you when I was out snorkeling today. I cooked it myself. Please, eat it and enjoy." I almost died. Everyone at the table started cracking up (they had all heard the story of his persistence by now) and Zoey leaned over and whispered, "Kortney! You slut!" in my ear. I was on the verge of laughing too but held it in and said, "Thank you! It looks delicious!" After he walked away I shared my fish with all my friends and we all agreed it was probably some of the best fish we had ever had. I felt like Deb from Napoleon Dynamite. Remember when he comes to her house and says, "Here. I caught you a delicious bass." It was so perfect in the most comical way. After finishing off the fish, I did the polite thing to do: I went to his table and thanked him. Noi, though he had certainly won a few points with the fish, quickly retreated back into negative territory when he asked me a couple questions but turned away to talk to someone else when I started to answer. Note to all the fellas out there: if you want to keep a girl's interest, don't just ask questions but genuinely listen to her answers. When he did this a second time, I got up and walked away. I'm not going to waste my time trying to be polite towards someone like that.

After dinner, we all went back to the beach for a little more volleyball (or was it soccer) and to watch the sunset.

Violet commented on this photo and said it looks like she could get in a little raft and paddle her way into heaven. That's what it felt like.

Another end to another perfect day.

In the morning we would be leaving for Koh Lao Lieng.