DAY THREE: …I woke up early and when out and sat on the beach. Forgot my sunglasses, so I had to go in early…the reflection off that sand is really intense…blinding really. Ricky and I hiked up to the top of one of the island tops that surround the flat, middle island. Beautiful, but unfortunately we went up the 1000 stairs right about noon…it was quite hot up there and Ricky and I both got pink (I can just imagine your shock). We sat around most of the day enjoying the fresh ocean breeze, played scrabble, and chatted with a lady named Sally. She married into the family 41 years ago and has been in Thailand ever since. She’s an incredible lady who had some stories to tell. Things you really don’t think about. She lived in Laos with her husband and children during the Vietnam War—their compound was never bombed, they lived on a U.S. military compound, and the U.S. played a large role in funding the Laotians during this time…out of guilt, I’d assume, but she saw first-hand the ravages of war. From Northern Ireland, she said she never saw anything as horrifying in her life. …In the afternoon, we all went out onto a slow-boat (engine working at 65%) to dump the ashes of the grandson of Rama the fourth. They don’t just dump them, they stick their hands in, get a good-sized handful, and then toss it out to sea. Wow. I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect the rocky ride we had, either. Apparently, every afternoon for about a half hour monsoonal winds roll through the small stretch of sea between Ko Tao and Ko Nang Yuan. We just happened to be out there at that time. None of us had life vests, not even the little children, so we ended up doing a small circle and heading right back….after we all got drenched with the warm sea water. We had a late night. Sat up and drank whisky with some of the family and our host, Manop. At about eleven p.m., Manop asked us to have one more “for the road”—at about one-thirty and two bottles later we actually drank our last glass. It was a great time.
DAY FOUR: …We said goodbye to Ko Nang Yuan and spent 12 hours getting back into Bangkok. The driver caused an accident but didn’t get hit, so we all gawked out the back window as our van sped away from the scrunched up cars behind us. Got into Bangkok at midnight. Exhausted. Nice to be home, though.
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