Saturday, September 8, 2012

Finally Writing About Thailand! Part 1: Sofia to Ko Samui

At the big Buddha Statue in Ko Samui.  He makes me look so thin. 
Thailand has been about four months in the making, but I need to start writing more because Owen says I only write one blog a year now, which has stimulated my fat, fabulous self to get into gear writing.  I am introducing to you the second issue of the blog, and a third issue will be out sometime by the end of September for the second season.  

What Sofia looked like most of the winter this year, and bitter cold temperatures.  Luckily, I have an underground garage. 
In February, it was bitterly cold and snowy in Sofia, and the temperatures were dropping to -25C to -30C with a balmy -10C as the high temperature.  Sofia became a winter wonderland, but it was treacherous to walk on sidewalks, especially if you're me and are extremely clumsy on the ice.  Snow was building up in the streets, and people fail to shovel the sidewalks and side streets because this is a 'communist' ideal.  There is a law stating one must clean the sidewalk outside your apartment or house, but doing something for the common good of others and yourself is seen as communism, or acting like Washingtonians when there is snow and making up names like Snowpocalypse.   

There was definitely one day we probably should have cancelled school, or at least delayed the opening of school.  The roads were treacherous, Tsargradsko Shosse was barely plowed, and Sport barely made it out of the neighborhood that morning.  The windshield wipers kept freezing despite the defrost on full blast, so it made driving quite an adventure.  My passenger and librarian extraordinaire Kelly I am certain was wondering how was I able to drive and thinking how could we possibly have school. Speaking of the subject: why did we have school that day? Because my school follows the Clarence, New York schools cancellation policy.  This means:  We will NEVER shut down unless there is a national emergency, such as an ice storm knocking out power for a week.   There are some schools who must be strict to balance out the schools who cancel on any threat of snow(sorry DC area, but you know this is true).

How does Thailand ever enter into this story?   It was what I thought about EVERY DAY when I was at work, outside duty when it was -20 or -25C, or when I was at the gym to work on my fat, fabulous body to no avail with the gay divas every night.  George was driven crazy I'm certain because he despises beaches since there is too much sand there, yet supported me in my goal to escape to a beach far away from -25C weather (This is just one of the 236 reasons on why he isn't Bulgarian which he has demanded me to write in a blog to prove that Owen and I actually have 236 reasons).   Bali, Thailand, and the Maldives all entered my mind as the top three after hearing all the great stories from friends and co-workers of these places.  With some help from Kamy's great travel agent, Violetta got me a great package for Thailand for 10 days.

Thailand was my first real excursion to Asia, as crossing the Bosphorus Strait to have tea with Matt and Adair in April 2001 for about two hours doesn't really qualify me to say that I had visited Asia.  This seemed like a fantastic place for me to discover Asia because there as so many options to go with, and hearing about the beaches from Kelly every morning in the car and loving Thai food made me decide Thailand was necessary to visit.

Bungalow bed I crashed on after traveling 24 hours from Sofia to Ko Samui
The first part of the trip was in Ko Samui, a small island about 90 minutes flying time from Bangkok.  Traveling from Sofia to Ko Samui took about 24 hours, and included stops in Bucharest, Doha, and Bangkok with a long layover followed by an additional 90 minute delay and an Auntie Anne's pretzel.  I fought this initially, but I was such an idiot to fight Violetta and the gang from Hermes tours.  One of the best parts of the trip was easily flying Qatar Airways and Bangkok Airways, which will be part of a future blog episode on airline ratings around the world. Be ready for most American airlines to be thoroughly pillaged for the rubbish they are compared to most European carriers.

After a ninety minute flight with an amazing dinner in Bangkok Airways, I arrived in a 'Fantasy Island' like airport in Ko Samui.  Arriving in Ko Samuui at about 11pm local time seemed like a daze, and my one real goal was to find the person taking me to the hotel, and find a bed to sleep in.  Arriving at 11pm Thai time and only sleeping two hours in the past day, this was the moment I was extremely THANKFUL I booked a tour with Violeta and Hermes Tours because there was a guy ready to take me to the hotel, instead of trying to negotiate a 25-30 Euro taxi ride to the hotel like some people had to do.  While it took me a few minutes to find my bus, I was extremely grateful to hop in the minivan and drive past all the 7-11s to my hotel for a hassle free check-in. Yes, you can get lots of Slurpees and bearclaws in Thailand, Denmark, or Sweden, but Sofia only has OMV as a weak substitute to 7-11.

Lovely pool at hotel
In addition to 7-11s, Ko Samui is a small island that has two main beaches, Chaweng(the gay preferred place full of luxury hotels, nightlife, and backpackers) and Lamai (nice, but not luxurious).  When looking at the hotel options, I fell in love with this one hotel in Lamai, and I am very happy I made the choice.  I needed a week to just relax, sit by a pool or beach, and truly relax.  This hotel did that for me.  It was quiet and away from all the nightlife, but yet only a 10-15 minute walk to the center.  Breakfast was eaten with a great view of Gulf of Thailand as I quietly read my Kindle while slowly enjoying breakfast and having the realization that I had nothing to do, nothing to accomplish, no one to see, and my only goals were to relax, read, get some sun, and enjoy Thai food.

coconut shell on Lamai beach
In a moment of honesty, I must first confess I didn't really leave Lamai Beach the entire week I was there, except for the day tour around the island.  Sure, Chaweng was 'the place to be' in Ko Samui and had a bigger beach, but I was simply too lazy and lethargic most days in Ko Samui.  My main goals of peace, quiet, relaxation, and amazing Thai food were achieved quite well in Lamai, and I thought the beach was fabulous compared to the small beaches I am used to on the northern Black Sea coast.  The best food was actually at a Jamaican bar run by a German/Austrian guy and his Thai wife and mother, who were the best cooks.  The chicken and basil there was indescribable in how amazing awesome it tasted when you took one bite.

The Golden Arches in Lamai in Ko Samui. 
In addition to all of these wonderful things, Lamai Beach had a McDonald's, a Subway, an Australian Bondi Bar with a great bacon cheeseburger, and plenty of the most beautiful women who were not women in Lamai for me to heckled by every evening. Every evening, I got the cat calls while walking past all the lovely 'women' asking me to 'play billiards' with them and share some fluids.  While that may have been a nice offer, I was more tempted by Jif crunchy peanut butter, lovely white wine at the store, and massages.  I am still upset Jif is in Ko Samui, but not Sofia (someone at Hit Hypermarket or someone working at the U.S. embassy:  if you're reading this all I really want is Jif or Peanut Butter Co. peanut butter.  I would be your kitchen slave for two weeks in addition to giving a really good economics supply and demand lesson to my fourth graders).  While some may ask why I didn't leave Lamai, my question back to you would be why would you ever leave there??????

My two rainy day companions
There were two days where it pretty much rained the entire morning and part of the afternoon.  On those days, I chilled on my terrace of the bungalow with two cats of the complex who kept me company.  The Varinda had a few dogs and cats who were super friendly, including a golden retriever who hung out at the reception, and there two black cats who spent most of the rainy morning on my terrace once they realized I was kitty friendly.  I spent those morning thoroughly enjoying The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.

A second confession to make.  I saw no ping pong balls flying in bars at night.  While I had a lovely dinner out, I spent most evenings after 10:30 pm skyping George and/or having some wine bought from the store while reading from the Kindle or watching FOX or MSNBC news and being shocked at all the bullsh#$ they presented as news while drinking more wine and getting angrier at the TV for seeing such nonsense being presented as factual news. Amazingly, I found Al Jazeera in English presented more factual evidence than either FOX of MSNBC and it became my new news station which I now occasionally drive Joro crazy with as he calls me a news junkie when I get home.  I only hope Al Jazeera can get Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity to move to the Middle East and spout their views upon a larger audience so I can laugh hysterically at their hyperbole into stupidity. 

One scenic spots of Ko Samui


Main Gate in Ko Samui's Fantasy Island airport.

The lobby in the Ko Samui airport.  So nice and comfortable.
After almost a week, I knew it was time to leave the solitude I created for myself and head towards Bangkok.  I got picked up at about 7:00 am to be taken to the 'Fantasy Island' airport in Ko Samui.  Since I was flying on one of the first flights, I got to take some great pictures which I hope will do justice.  Since I couldn't eat breakfast, it was wonderful Bangkok Airways provided free internet, mini sandwiches, popcorn, and cookies which I really enjoyed for FREE.  Could you ever imagine an American airline ever providing such things to economy passengers?  

Ko Samui was such a wonderful experience, and I am so blessed and thankful I got the chance to go visit one of the most beautiful places in the world.  While Phuket would have been nice, I enjoyed the peace and solitude I created for myself in my artificial world in Lamai. 

As always, thank you for reading the blog, and I hope you got a picture of what my experience in Ko Samui was like.  It might not have been your typical experience for the party crowd, but I had such a lovely time that I would really love to go back some day.  My next issue will deal with Bangkok, which makes Sofia look like a village. 

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