Ko Samui: Ending our SE Asia trip on an island paradise

Very little could have gotten me to say goodbye to the magnificent city of Bangkok after only one day. One of these things was the promise of a paradise on the tiny island of Ko Samui in the South China Sea. So we begrudgingly packed our bags for the final leg of our SE Asian adventure.

We hopped in a taxi that got us straight to the airport without hitting any of Bangkok's notorious traffic. In just an hour, our little plane had deposited us at one of the most beautiful airports I had ever seen. We were ferried from the plane to the terminal via a golf-cart-like bus with big open windows. There was lush vegetation all around the tarmac and for the first time ever, I found myself wishing my camera was easily accessible rather than stuffed at the bottom of my bag before we had even left the airport. Weird.

More open walls greeted us at the main terminal, which looked more like a cabana than anything remotely connected to the typical Kafkaesque hell of an airport. As we waited for our bags, we were greeted with a warm sea breeze and butterflies fluttering around the topiary plants within the "terminal."

A taxi took us to our beachside hotel with the very Thai-sounding name of Bill's Resort on Lamai Beach. It was about a half an hour journey, which seemed long for such a tiny island. However the lack of any main streets certainly added to the time. Jon and I were looking out the window with the faint hope of finding an English language school where we could drop off our resumes, and avoid the bitter winter that waited for us back in Korea.

We had big plans for Ko Samui. After out blitzkrieg vacation of three SE Asian countries in ten days, we planned to continue our "do-and-see-everything-we-can" momentum with an elephant ride up to a waterfall. There was a large Buddha on another side of the island too. But once we reached our little bungalow that was just a two minute walk from this pristine shore, we decided the only thing we wanted to do was lounge on the sand, eating the fresh pineapples that vendors provided at regular intervals and watch the jade-green waters of the South China Sea. We spent a little time in the pool and jacuzzi that were just alongside the hotel restaurant, which offered great ocean views.

Happily, our beach time was leisurely, with no instances of "missing time" where five hours evaporate at the blink of an eye. Instead, the slow pace of island life engulfed us and the hours stretched on for what seemed like much longer. We watched the vendors walk to and from, with their elaborate pineapple carving stations, coolers filled with ice cream and hangers filled with brightly colored fluttering beach dresses (after three times, I finally gave in and bought this cute blue dress decorated with elephants).

Our dinner was probably the worst we had had during our time in SE Asia. After the fresh herbs, coconut drinks and banana flowers of Vietnam, the delectable amok coconut curry of Cambodia and peanut-y comfort food of pad thai in Bangkok, our overpriced pizza and too-sweet fruit shakes couldn't quite hold up.

We had just one more morning and half an afternoon to spend on the beach for our final days. Again, time was kind to us by not rushing along too quickly. Our dreams of elephant rides and Buddha adventures were dissipating, but we were perfectly content on our beach loungers, listening to the sounds of the sea, marveling again at the jade-green waters.

Getting into the taxi to go back to the airport was one of the hardest things ever. We had seen the blizzard-like conditions that awaited us in Korea on the news in Bangkok, and also had to begin teaching winter camps the day after we got back. We were hoping just a little that maybe the flight would be canceled, buying us another day or two of tropical weather and beach time. Alas, the flight wasn't even delayed (until we reached Bangkok where we had a 2 hour delay, ugh). And so we bid farewell to this lovely little piece of paradise, with hopes of returning again one day.