Well, Koh Nang Yuan, to be specific. But Koh Tao was close enough.
I loved being on Ang Thong. It was a bit slow for our travel style, staying there for a full day, but it was sooo relaxing to spend time with not much to do on an island that was an outrageously stereotypical island paradise. I didn't like the main islands as much - they were pricey, hard to get around, and they ate my passport.
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In the past 30 hours, my travel devices have been: Long Boat, motorcycle, catamaran, charter bus, train, taxi, taxi, city bus, skytrain [elevated train], motorcyle, taxi, taxi, underground rail, underground rail and skytrain, and much much walking.
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The ferry schedules were not convenient in the island, but we were able to jerry-rig a schedule that actually worked out quite well. We took the early ferry (8am) from Koh Samui to Koh Tao, a 2 hour cruise north. On Koh Tao, famous for its Scubaing, Anna and Sam walked into a random tourist shop* and rented a long-tailed boat for the afternoon (300B total). The boat took us to Koh Nang Yuan, were we snorkeled from 11 to 1. And somewhere in the coral reef there, my passport, which I always have on my person (and did for the 2 days of wearing my swimsuit in Angthong), drifted out of my pocket**. The water was clearer than Angthong, and there were a staggeringly large about of fish, some of which tried to eat my feet. Anna had a lovely time snorkeling, and I would have too if I hadn't discovered my passport was missing 20 minutes in.
*We do this sparingly, but to high success.
**Yes, I went snorkeling with my passport. No, I will not make any further attempt to defend myself in this blog. As the official in the embassy said with the perfect balance of incredulity and scorn, "You went snorkeling with your passport?"
Upon our return to Koh Tao, we had 45 minutes before our ferry left. We quickly gained internet access to figure out what I needed to do, and ascertained that I needed a police report. With Anna and Sam at the ferry terminal ready to leave without me, I hopped on a motorcyle taxi and sped to the local police station. Filing the police report was a strange experience. The officer said very little to me, in Thai or English; he showed me a completed "lost passport" form, I wrote my appropriate answers in English on a blank sheet of paper, and he copied my answers over in Thai into an official form. I then took that form with me, leaving no copy at the police station. I found this very odd, but sped back to the ferry terminal and got on the catamaran with a few minutes to spare.
We had purchased a joint ferry-train ticket to Bangkok at the tourist office. The catamaran cruised to Chumphon. In was a 3 hour drive; I fumed at myself, Anna fumed at me (I assume, the girls have been good at not saying anything), and Sam slept. In Chumphon we caught a bus transfer to the train station. In Chumphon we paid 20B each to shower (gloriousness!) and went to town on food at the nigh market (Loss on the dry dougnuts, win on the banana muslim roti and the 10B sugary popcorn [my breakfast and lunch today]). Astonishingly, the train left exactly on time.
A few hours too early we rolled into Bangkok. We walked out of the train station, looked for breakfast, failed, and hailed a taxi to the US Embassy. We arrived right as it was opening at 7.30am.
And hence began a long day. Which will be explained later, perhaps on my long bus ride to Cambodia. But worry not, I have a new, valid passport in my pocket, and we leave tomorrow morning for Cambodia, Siem Reap, and Angkor Wat. Wish us luck.
AJ
DORK
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