I spent my first week in Thailand on an island on the gulf(eastern) coast of thailand - a tourist hotspot called Koh(thai for island) Samui. I decided on Samui based on a recommendation from a freind. This photo is from the ferry ride to the island. When we first disembarked there was a slight misty rain which dissapeared the further we steamed out to sea. I met a group of 4 Scandinavian men on the ferry who when I asked their interest in Thailand unabashedly(even proudly) answered with a broad toothy smile, "for the sex tourism," then pointing at himself and grinning "I'm sex tourist". That promptly ended our conversation.

Here is the view from my bungalow- it was overall a pleaseant place, though deserted. The pool where I completed my training was only a few steps from my place. The staff was freindly and the instructors knew what they were doing. The general feeling I got from the island was that the locals had grown weary and distrusting of the constant barrage of foreigner sex tourists like that greasy scandinavian on the ferry. Its was clear enough that it was noticable even in passing. At night the island turned into an huge brothel where "every girl - every one - has their price"(this was the first thing my open water instructor told me before our first day in the pool).

Here is the garage where I went to get my scooter fixed after I realized it was fishtailing at speed(not safe). I probably got ripped off but the whole thing(new back tire) cost me $2.50 so I didn't put up too many complaints.

Here is the photo of Chaweng Beach. This is as close to the beach as I got. This is one of the busiest beaches on Samui. Maybe Im spoiled but it simply was not an attractive beach. If you click on the image and zoom in to the beach infront of the restaurant on the left of the photo you should see something very interesting.

Here is a zoomed-in portion from the photo above. Do you see the young man on the beach in the middle of the photo? Do you see what he is doing? Thats right, he is flattening the beach by dragging a flattening tool along the beach. Obviously "farang"(what thais call white tourists) like their beaches flat.

Here is the gas station where I got ripped off again. I still went half way around the island on my scooter for under $2 worth of gas(why is that so hard to believe?).

On my way back from my trip around the island it began to rain and I decided to pull over for a drink to let the rain stop. It was one of the best decisions I made so far. I spent the afternoon learning thai from the young people working in the restaurant. This was the first time I had a significant interaction with local Thais. The rain didnt stop so I invited my freind who I was suppose to meet for dinner to have dinner at this place on the side of the road away from the hustle of Chaweng Beach.

These were the Thais I met at the restaurant. The young man to the right of me is from the northeast of Thailand and was soft spoken and very freindly. The woman on the right of him is the mother of the young woman all the way on the right of the photo, "Lek". The lady in the yellow shirt was a bright-fluent english speaker who was very helpful. Lek was a very bright young high school student who wants to attend university. She was a really great inspiration to me. She was working hard trying to succeed under pressure from her freinds to hangout with her freinds and do poorly in school. Though this tradeoff affects most young people around the world I think in Lek's case the results of poor scores and flunking out of school can be especially tragic.

So halfway through my first week in Thailand and all is well... Once I get the rest of my photos up I will finish with Samui.