As we awoke on our last full day in Koh Tao we wanted to do the one thing that we had come to love the island for.. and that was to play a round of mini golf and to finally conquer the few holes that had caused us independent troubles. We got a taxi down there and the english owner who we had chatted to at length a few days previous was very happy to see us. We sat again for about 30 minutes and allowed the tropical rainstorm to pass before proceeding out to play our final 18 holes.
It started all so well for me getting a hole in one on the first going 2 under par and slipping ahead of Jack (the golfer) for the first time. Don't worry this did not last as I really did not find my form on the rest of the course scoring a few stroke limits and missing a few half decent chances. Saving the castle hole to last I felt I could confidently beat Jack doing it in 2 and 3 in the past, so I put 100 baht on it. Unfortunately it did not go so well and Jack beat me by getting a 4 and I scored a shocking 6!
We decided to eat at the golf course and chatted to our newly adopted Dad for a couple more hours telling him stories and in turn he told us of the stuff he had seen over the years. Secretly we hoped that in a few weeks we would feature in his stories.. or at least we pray in case you're reading this. After the very nice burger we headed back to town to get changed, watch some family guy and head out for our last night. Alex once again came over and off to dinner we went.
We chose to eat on the beach at the seafood restaurant but by the time we got there all the fish had gone and it was closed so we settled for a restaurant on a beach terrace and ate and drank before meeting up with some friends from a night previous. Lotus bar then featured once again in our night as we went over and had a dance or two before Alex and I left leaving Jack to demolish another bucket and giving Koh Tao the send off it truly deserved!
5.30am and a knock at the door came prompting me to open it to find Jack there, who rolled in and passed out. For this reason he was not best pleased when I woke him up at 10am the next day as we needed to pack and check out. He persuaded me to leave him until 10.25am as he needed 3 minutes to pack and 2 minutes to get dressed. I did and he actually managed to get himself together to go and grab some food in town as our boat was not until 3pm.
We met Alex and then went to the beach. Jack was not feeling his best and was sick several times during the day before we got on the boat. Thinking that we were on the same boat Alex and us parted ways at about 2pm with a casual 'see you later'. When we discovered she was on a different one we thought it really was see you later. Next came the 1hr and 45 minute ferry ride and the waves were very choppy leaving Jack feeling very sea sick. Luckily we managed to get an hours sleep before Jack was sick a few more times.
Then at a little after 5pm we arrived at the pier of Koh Samui. We were taken by taxi to the main tourist area which is Chaweng Beach. The taxi man kindly directed us to the Relax Inn (something Jack really wanted to do). We checked in and Jack promptly went to bed leaving me to explore our new area.. he had but one request and that was to score him a McDonald's double cheeseburger which I with great effort achieved.
On my journey back to the hotel I bumped into a rather familiar face.. Alex. She had come into town before flying off to Bangkok and it truly was unbelievable to bump into her again. I dropped Jack's burger off and still in no state to get out of bed, Alex and I headed out for some dinner before I said goodbye and I myself headed to bed for a relatively early night to get a good start the next morning.
As usual we woke up a little before midday so the whole early morning idea had gone out of the window pretty quickly. Determined to still achieve something we got up and headed out. Attracted by a sign we decided it was a necessity to rent an old school Suzuki Jeep. This Jeep is beyond words.. it has a beautiful rust patch on the passenger door, comes in a gorgeous sea salt eroded blue and the gear box is a little worn; but on the plus side it works and it comes with leather seats.
There is just one big road around Samui and if you stick to it you can't really miss anything (but don't worry we still did). On our route around the island we stopped for 50 balls at the driving range, where I lost 200 baht but managed to win it back; a small jungle trek to see a waterfall and then went to an elephant farm with a couple of monkeys knocking around. Our final stop was a shooting range where for 1000 baht you can choose between 6 pistols and a shotgun to shoot two rounds at a target.. a little strapped for cash we hopped back in the Jeep and promised to return tomorrow.
The route back to the hotel should have been relatively easy but several wrong turns later and we found ourselves back in the same place. Managing eventually to decifer the map we found Chaweng Road and found our hotel that luckily had a car parking space outside off where we parked the beautiful car. A quick change of my dressing and a shower for Jack and we headed out to watch the Olympics and have a bite to eat and that all leads me to here. Another early night tonight and then up early to play Samui Mini Golf! So all is well and all the wounds are looking much better, which is a bonus anyday.
