Thailand Day 12 Samui by Scooter

Tuesday May 17^th

Today I rented a scooter for $7 to explore the island. There is basically one road that follows the coastline all the way around, with some others leading off into communities. I left the town of Chaweng and rode around the island in a counterclockwise direction. The road was great, traffic was okay and it felt great to be riding again. I rode for about a half hour is brilliant hot sunshine, enjoying the breeze in my face, before it started to rain. I say two long piers, one of which is used for loading ferries to the mainland, so I headed there to take shelter. I sat and waited for a half hour while it poured. While it was raining I noticed that the other pier was home to a large fleet of fishing ships. When it stopped I rode over to that pier. It was amazing! I hung around for an hour, watching fishermen mending nets, offloading fish from the lower decks of the ships, sorting fish on shore into laundry baskets, weighing them, packing them in ice and loading them onto cube vans. It was fascinating to watch. I noticed that there were very few large fish, some jellyfish and a fair bit of waste too. It was almost enough to put you off eating fish.

Then I continued my circuit. I was looking for a beach to hang out on. Several of the ones I have seen are very shallow, and with the tide out, the bottom is mushy, so I kept going until I found a small road with access to a beach. I decided to go for a walk along the shore, and I'm glad I did. There were some local people wading and picnicking where I started, but I could see a rock formation a little way away and walked towards that. When I rounded that point I was all alone on a beautiful beach with white sand and palm trees. Why is it deserted? Well the land isn't suitable for building on as it rises quite steeply out of the water. So I walked an enjoyed the solitude. There was no noise except the buzz of insects, lapping water and the sound of monkeys in the forest. I spent a couple of hours there wading, swimming and relaxing.

Then I headed back and continued. I explored several roads and enjoyed the ride. I found one of the tourist attractions, a rock at looks like a penis and it's called Grandfather's Rock. There is a small community built up around it. I sampled a local sweet made from caramel and coconut. Sounds yucky but was actually delicious. It wasn't sickly sweet and was similar to soft Turkish Delight.

Later I found the another beach access spot and found as good beach for swimming. I swam for a bit and then sat on the beach and read for awhile. After I had dried sufficiently, I rode back to my hotel. Relaxed in my room for a bit before heading out to get a bite to eat. There are lots of nice restaurants here, on the beach or in town. But being alone, I didn't want to spend the money, so I just had a half sub at Subways. Good old faithful. Back to the room to blog and read.