Day Six

(Sunset on Koh Samet - a bit hard to take)

Day Six dawned bright and early.

A quick shower and it was off to breakfast. I had the American breakfast - complementary with my booking. It was a pretty good spread on offer. Juice, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, bread and pastries, a good range of hot food including omelette how you like it. I did. The coffee was strong and thick - a good heart-starter. They do coffee pretty well here in Thailand, I've been pleasantly surprised.

After breakfast I wandered down the beach to where they had jet-skis for rent. I hired one for 30 minutes at 1200 baht. After a quick tutorial I was by myself. I zipped up and down, bouncing over waves and jarring my legs and back but it was all good fun. No lasting damage - I hope.

I sunbathed for about an hour or so, but with no sunscreen. I thought I didn't get burnt, but how wrong I was. I was a little pink by the time I got back to my room. By the evening I was red and very sore. I made sure I put on sunscreen for the rest of the day, but the damage was done. Ah well... maybe I'll get a suntan out of it after I peel... (Still peeling after a week back in Japan! The tan is looking OK though.)

Lunch was a pizza and beer at a cafe which had tables on the beach. Sand through my toes again - mmmmmm....

My waiter was from Cambodia. He'd been living in Thailand for five years and said he really loved working on Koh Samet. He pointed out some asian girls in bikinis in front of us and asked what I thought. I replied that I worked out why he loves working on Koh Samet. He just laughed and winked.

The afternoon was spent reclining by the private beach near my room, in the shade, reading my book and taking it all in. It was tough.

I went for another walk along the beach as the sun was setting. It was good to see some Aussies out playing beach cricket. Just down from our resort was a place called the "Bob Marley Reggae Bar and Karaoke". I think I must have walked past that place ten times and never once heard reggae coming out of it! Another bar was having a 'Half-Moon Party' with some of the worst music I'd ever heard coming out of a sound system anywhere. I had to stand in front just appreciate how bad it was.

Dinner that evening was at another beachside restaurant. This one was one of the many that did a seafood BBQ. I had a prawn kebab with baked potato and grilled sweet corn (Yum!) with a sweet dipping sauce, all washed down with a couple of Thai beers.

My waitress was from Bangkok, and she was literally half my height! She had a couple of kids and one of them was running up and down the beach as she worked. She said that this year was very quiet compared to last year. The place I had chosen maybe had 20% of the tables taken. A couple of other places were over half full, but some others hardly had a soul in them.

After dinner it was time for (what else?) a walk to work the dinner down. I passed a couple of fire shows put on by the bigger resorts. The best one had five performers juggling various flaming implements. It was pretty spectacular.

Another day in paradise done... my last full day in paradise. Dang... in 48 hours I'd be back in Japan... freezing cold Japan.