The Thanksgiving holiday was last week. I had off on Thursday and Friday so Faye opted to take those two days off so we could both enjoy a vacation on a beautiful tropical island.
Koh Samed is a small T-bone shaped island off the coast of Rayong. We left from Shenzhen Bao'an airport late on Wednesday night and arrived around 2am. After immigration, currency exchange, and sim acquisition we took a taxi to Buds Cafe (a dispensary) and then to the Moca Hotel near the Don Mueang Airport. The taxi driver was a real prick and overcharged us. As if that was not bad enough he tried to scam me after I paid. I counted out the bills in front of him and Faye, then while we retrieved our bags from his trunk he tried to claim I underpaid him. I did not tolerate that bullshit and told him I was not falling for it and that he should fuck off. Fortunately, he did.
The next morning we got breakfast at a nice little cafe called Cafe Vintage. Then we returned to our hotel to finish getting ready and check out. I had arranged a car in advance through Koh Samed Taxi to pick us up at noon and take us to Nuanthip Pier in Ban Phe. It was a long 3 hour ride but fortunately we stopped for the bathroom and I was able to have a smoke.
We arrived at Nuanthip Pier at around 3:10 and arranged a round trip speedboat to the island. We waited a short while before being brought to the pier and then took the boat, which only took about 20 minutes. On arrival we paid the island's entry fee (because it is mostly a protected national park) and took a taxi to the Baan Ploy Sea Hotel which was only about a 5 minute ride.
We checked in and relaxed for a bit before getting dinner.
After dinner we took a walk into town. The little village on Koh Samed is called Na Dan but most just call it Koh Samed Village. We saw a neat temple, a mural, and watched a game of kick volleyball. We also scouted prices for tours and motorbike rentals and met the most adorable little chunky chihuahua which we wished we could take home. We finished our walk by stopping at the Paradise Green Dispensary so I could resupply on some herbs.
We walked back along the beach.
We returned from our walk and went to bed.
Friday morning I got up to get breakfast and bring some back for Faye. Then we took a short hike in the Khao Laem Ya–Mu national park.
Because we started our hike so late, and got a little turned around, we decided to cut the hike short so we could rent a motorbike and explore the rest of the island. We drove all the way to the beach on the south side of the island and I got in a took a dip.
We stopped for a really shitty late lunch, but we each enjoyed a pretty decent mango smoothie, and after our ride we returned to the hotel for dinner and to watch the fire show at the hotel's private beach. Then I arranged a snorkeling tour for Saturday and we went to bed.
On Saturday I got up early to get us both breakfast again. Then while Faye was getting ready I rode to the northern most beach on the island before returning the motorbike. Then I spent some time beachside at our hotel.
Faye joined me later.
We enjoyed some sun bathing and then Faye returned to the room to shower before our tour while I stayed poolside.
The tour driver picked us up and took us to a private pier where we caught the boat for our snorkeling tour of the nearby Islands.
We visited a few islands and enjoyed some snorkeling. Faye was terrified at first but she did ok.
Our tour ended around 4pm and they took us back to our hotel. We rented a new motorbike just to enjoy the evening riding around. We went to bed fairly early after dinner.
On our last morning on Koh Samed, December 1st, I got us both breakfast again. Then Faye and I rode to the northern most beach on the island together before returning the bike and taking a taxi to the Pier. We got on the boat we had arranged previously and it took us back to the mainland where we had a taxi waiting to take us to Don Mueang Airport.
On our way to the airport I found out our flight was delayed so I had the driver drop us off at Buds Cafe again so I could smoke one last time. I blazed two joints and ate an edible before we went to the airport via grab. I slept so well on that flight it was incredible.
We arrived back in Shenzhen and it was almost midnight. We went home and went to bed fairly quickly because we both had to work Monday.
My work week started with a day of professional development. The rest of the week was a standard school week.
Yesterday I went hashing with the Shekou hashers for the first time in a while. The weather was beautiful and the trail was good. There were lots of dogs as one hasher brought three of his own and then there were lots of friendly ones on the trail that I enjoyed petting.
I ended up getting a pretty painful bruise/scratch when I ran into a tree branch that was sticking out at about hip level. Here is a picture of the injury same day and today. The bruising didn't really show up until today. Crazy thing is, it didn't even tear my shirt.
The next few weeks will be spent preparing for our ski trip. I have already booked round trip flights to Nagoya, hotels in Nagoya and Takayama, and a rental car. I am looking at making advanced arrangements for ski rentals, classes for Faye, and anything else we might want to do. We might just improvise but I prefer to have some semblance of a plan. For part of the trip my buddy Felix will be joining. We are going to have an awesome time I am sure of it but I have some concerns because Faye has only ever gone skiing once, is afraid of heights, and cannot handle the cold very well. So her and I will need to make sure she is bundled up well and has a good lesson before she hits the slopes with Felix and me.
I will start this post with some fantastic news. Faye got a tourist visa for the US!. She applied in early September and had her appointment at the US consulate in Guangzhou on September 19th. I took a day off to join her for moral support. She was originally scheduled for an appointment in Hong Kong on Monday the 22nd but thanks to a last minute policy change requiring all applicants to apply in their country of origin, she was forced to cancel her appointment with no refund and reschedule in Guangzhou. Fortunately, through a combination of our efforts and a bit of luck, it was all worth it and she got the visa. Here she is on the way to her appointment. Here she is minutes before getting in line. Here she is after she got approved for the visa. Afterward we celebrated by relaxing in Guangzhou for the rest of the weekend. I worked hard all September, and even had to report to work on a typhoon day to teach remotely because my school won't...
After my trip to the US and Canada I had two full days of rest at home in Shenzhen. During which time I prepared for the next trip. Faye and I flew out of HK on the 12th of July. There was a brief layover in Bangkok and then we landed in Stockholm Arlanda Airport in the morning of July 13th. I foolishly exchanged currency forgetting that Sweden has gone mostly cash free as of late. Then we took the Arlanda Express into T-Centralen and from there we used the metro (t-bana) to get to Fridhemsplan. From there it was a short walk to the Courtyard Marriot Stockholm Kungsholmen. We were very early, so we got some coffee. We were prepared to wait for a while to check in, but when we asked the front desk if we could store our bags until check-in they actually were able to check us in early and even upgrade our room to one with a better view of the park. So we checked in, then walked to Joe and the Juice for breakfast. Our flight ...
It has been a busy couple of months since my last post. While I may have settled into a sustainable flow state at work. I am still quite busy during the week. I am maintaining my fitness routine of at least 3 weekly gym days and a weekly swim. If I skip the swim I add a gym day. On October 19th, the day after my last post, Faye and I went for a walk and stopped at a bar where I enjoyed petting the owner's dog while we had a refreshing drink. On October 20th the high school bio teachers got training on some new lab equipment from MiniOne. The training was focused on gel electrophoresis but we also bought a PCR, micro-pipettes, mini centrifuges, and a bunch of other resources from them. We took a quick weekend trip to Bangkok over the weekend of Halloween. We departed from Shenzhen late on Friday the 31st and got back late Sunday November 2nd. We spent our time there relaxing, shopping, and I introduced Faye to the se...
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