Today we went to the marine national park about an hour away from Ko Samui by speed boat. The snorkelling was terrible as there was only two types of fish and the water was a bit cold for my taste. The scenaries were glorious as usual, especially since the government takes good care of the islands. We also went kayaking a bit which was nothing super special.

We did meet a lot of interesting, pleasant people though.

Overall I think this was one of my least favorite days. I am pretty sure I really just want to bum on the beach and around the pool for the last few days.

Shabbat in Ko Samui was pleasant. It was a bit smaller than shabbatim we had, but the Chabad rabbi is very nice and the oneg was enjoyable once again. We took a short walk around on Shabbat day, but definitely got a lot of rest.

On Saturday night we went shopping (again).

Today we found a pool on the beach and basically bummed there all day. Very relaxing.
We also played some billiards.

I think the rest of vacation will mainly be relaxing.

This morning we took a nap after getting to our apartment and then headed over to Chabad to get something to eat and use some internet. After we went to the tourist agency to see if anyone could recommend anything for us to do in Ko Samui to which she said basically no. It seems that we have exhausted almost everything to do in Thailand. Her response was that Samui was "Same same" which is a very common expression here. I even bought a T-shirt that says it.

We ended up just relaxing on the beach (which is not as good as Ko Phi Phi in my opinion, although my friend prefers this one), digging deep holes, building sand castles, and swimming.

My friend vomited in the ocean from drinking too much salt water (which I told him not to), which prevented me from swimming anymore. I think he ruined the ocean for everyone forever. Next time you consider entering the ocean, remember my friend vomited in there. (Note: The Atlantic Ocean may still be ok as it's far.)

This morning I woke up and was literally wrecked. My body is really not used to this level of physical excersion. I was planning on taking a leading course in rock climbing so that in the future I can climb anywhere for free but I was clearly in no shape to climb. (My sunburns only magnified the pain.)

Instead, we decided to spend the day at the glorious beach of Ko Phi Phi (shown in yesterdays picture - and yes, it really looks like that). I hadn't planned to go swimming but when high tide came in and I felt the warm clear water I had to go. It was crazy relazing and refreshing. You could easily see fish just swimming about.

I spent about 20 minutes closing my eyes and reopening them as each time I reopened them I was struck by the same awe as when I first saw it. It looks exactly like a perfect postcard - it was truly awesome.

At about 3 PM we started our long journey to Ko Samui. This involved some walking, two boats, two sungthaw's, and a minivan. We slept on the boat (a first for me). This was no cruise ship. Think more along the lines of Cuban refugees. It was pretty ridiculous and there were about 8 young kids who decided they would have a binge party with drinking games which kept everyone awake.

Thankfully I remembered my ear plugs and slept soundly.

We arrived at Ko Samui, watched sunrise on the beach, and rented an apartment for 600 baht a night.

It feels like were in the last stretch of the Thailand trip. It is quite sad :(

This morning I went wake boarding on the ocean as I had hoped I would be able. It is definitely harder than cable wake boarding but a bit more fun. You actually get wakes when following a boat which makes it great for jumping and also you can tell the driver to go faster or slower. I was really not great on the ocean but my wipe outs were amazing. Thank God my friend captured some of them on video. (He also got to drive the boat a little.)

I was really spent after wake boarding (mainly from my crazy wipe outs), but we decided to go snorkeling anyways. First we stopped by another monkey island where we got to feed monkeys hand to hand (I never tire of that), and then we went cliff jumping. I made two jumps one between 10-12 meters and the second between 12-15 meters (40-50 feet). The second one was pretty scary but it was well worth it. It really feels like you have a few seconds of free fall.

We then went snorkeling where we saw a lot of colorful and bizarre looking fish - and sharks. Yes, sharks. I saw about 5 or 6 of them, each about 4 to 5 feet. Weirdly enough I was more scared of some of the eels we saw than the sharks. We had an underwater camera so hopefully some of pictures I took come out decently.

We then went to Maya Bay which is where the movie The Beach was filmed. I had not seen the movie or even heard of the movie before Thailand. Maya Bay was beautiful but not much different than the rest of Ko Phi Phi.

Tonight one of the bars showed The Beach which I imagine they do at least once a week. It was a decent movie, but definitely not IMDB top 250 material. The best part of it is that the movie is about how Maya Bay is paradise. It most definitely is.

This morning we went to the largest cable ski park in Asia (in Phuket) where I did wake boarding and my friend did knee boarding.

Wake boarding was great as usual and I am definitely feeling more comfortable changing stances and working on jumping a bit more. I tried jumping over ramps for the first time which was amazing! I only landed decently on the last one, but I am definitely going to work on it when I get back to Israel. Hopefully I get more wake boarding in Thailand. I want to try it on a boat for my first time.

We then took a ferry to Kho Phi Phi. The view of the island from our ferry when we were approaching the shore was truly breathtaking. Just WOW.

We then found ourselves a small room for 800 baht (the most we've paid so far but still cheaper than what people told us we would pay on Ko Phi Phi). After that we took a short but strenuous trek of about 200 stairs and a steep walk up to the Phi Phi Viewpoint where we could see a great outline of the island. We couldn't help think about how terrible Tsunami must have been when it wrecked this island.

At night we went to a fire show on the beach where crazy drunk people tried jumping over a flaming jump rope and fire dancers twisted and threw fire with disregard. Although enticed, I didn't try the flaming jump rope - I wanted to see how bad people got injured. No major injuries so hopefully I'll get another chance before the trip is over.

Tomorrow we are going snorkelling along Kho Phi Phi Leh.