February 12th, 2023

Do these guys look rested, or what?

We woke up February 10 and grabbed breakfast, then checked out of our room in Koh Tao and stored our bags. We headed to the beach and swam and read our books. Around 1pm, we rinsed off and changed into dry clothes, got some lunch, and headed for our shuttle that would take us to the ferry. The ferry took us to Koh Samui. We got in around 4pm, and by the time we took showers, we were ready for dinner. We ate some curry and then walked along the beach. It was a very chill day!

We woke up early and went to the road to flag down a taxi. A motorbike pulled up, and when Max asked if he had a friend with another motorcycle, he said “we’ll do three on this one!”. Max and I shrugged - we kinda knew how to do it because we’ve seen the locals do it all the time, and it was a short ride. We piled on with our three panniers and held on for dear life. He drove slowly and carefully, and we cruised into the airport in plenty of time for our flight. It was the perfect cherry on the cake for wild Southeast Asia travel methods.

The flight to Bangkok went smoothly. We taxied to our hotel, and after checking in we took the subway to the area where bike zone is. It’s crazy to think how novel this all was a month ago; it feels like we are pros now. We got some lunch at a nice restaurant (Khao Soi noodles one more time!!) and then went to bike zone. The guys there were stoked to see us, and had tuned our bikes and packed them up very nicely. We thanked them profusely, then a pickup to the airport that I had booked online arrived and we loaded the bikes into his SUV. He seemed very nice, but he looked nothing like the Natalya that I had been corresponding with on whatsapp! He brought us and our bikes to the airport, where we tracked down luggage storage. They will keep our bikes and one panniers overnight for about $16… we felt like logistical masters.

Now what was it again I was doing back at work?
We hopped back on the subway to do one last afternoon of touristing. We went to an area called Surkumvhit Road and wandered around the shops and markets. We passed a few food carts that were making such spicy food, it felt like getting tear-gassed when you breathed it in. A taxi driver offered to drive Max to go get a haircut. We got drinks and a snack at a craft beer market, then went for dinner at an open air restaurant. Finally, we headed to “Bang Bang burgers”, which had been recommended to us by a lady at Elephant Nature Park as having incredible live music on Saturdays. It did not disappoint!!! The blues band had an incredible guitar player, with half the paint worn off his guitar from his furious playing, an excellent bassist and excellent drummer, and a saxophone player who was out of this world. After a few songs, a woman came on to sing and she had absolutely crazy pipes. People poured into the restaurant from off the street when they heard them playing. Max and I carefully rationed out our remaining baht; we were trying to use them all up but keep enough to pay for our subway home, plus breakfast, taxi and luggage tomorrow. We headed home way too late again, and slept fitfully as we waited for our 530am alarm.

On February 12, we headed for the airport, grabbed our bikes, and checked all our luggage. Getting through security went smoothly, and we got coffees and breakfast. Our flight takes off at 825am on Feb 12, but we land in Vancouver at 630am on February 12. It feels like we are gaining so much time! But I know we will be exhausted. Our big plans are chores and the superbowl, so we should be okay!

Off into the sunset they go