Thailand - Koh Samui and Koh Phangang

Hello Everybody,

We have spent the last 6 days on the islands of Koh Samui and Koh Phangang.

Pictures
1) is a 80m waterfall in Koh Samui at the centre of the island. We took elephants up again since hey I had a bum toe and all, only to discover they only take you up about 50meters..another rip off :)

2)This was one of those we are going to get shot moments that turned out to be not so bad. After the waterfall Mel and I caught a cab (or so we thought, turned out to be one of the elephant riders finishing his shift and being a "cab" driver. Anyway he was trying to tell us something on the ride back that we couldn't comprehend bount sleeping and elephants. About 10mins into the drive he turns off the road telling us we only have to wait a minute and takes a small dirt road to the middle of no where. First thoughts in both our minds were we're going to get mugged, so we went about hiding things (specifically passports and credit cards) in and around us and the car while the driver stepped out. Turns out his final piece of work for the day was to get the elephant beds ready and their food. The elephants were brought to this location to sleep and feed, it was really amazing to watch and be there while they we're "off shift" :)

3-5)Are of our trip to Anghtong National Marine Park. Mel and I decided to take the 500meter hike up to the top to check out the view since I couldn't snorkel or swim...500 meters, right, no big deal...well wow..we can't believe they let tourists actually do this, this was a more technical climb than Kilimanjaro and took us 40mins up and 55mins down..the last pic is of the stretch from the viewing point down, it didn't get much better than this the whole way down..nuts eh? But what a wonderful view, it was worth it.

6-9) Are from our 3 day trip to Koh Phangang where the infamous Full Moon Party is held, surprisingly..every Full Moon. Difficult to take pictures but basically about 5000 people on a beach all night partying to various DJs. Very interesting. These pics are of the Fire Performers, a sign for the Elephant Bar and the last pic is off randowm people jumping through the ring of fire..and I don't mean the post General Tao kind :P..Notice the fire theme!

10-13) Are of our little Hotel Bungalow (My Phangang Resort) while we were in Phangnang. Really quaint place, with a very quiet beach right there and gorgeous sunsets

So we're off to Koh Lanta tomorrow for 4ish days to do ....nadda. My toe is good to go as per the folks at the hospital and I'm going to get my diving cert :) The nurses gave a big woop when they got to look at it, what a fuss...I was actually proud at that moment :)

I hear you Torontonians are experiencing some good mild weather :) Hope it lasts past March!