Days 344-345 Saturday-Sunday March 29-30, 2008 – Trang to Koh Sukhorn, Thailand
We awoke around 9am on Saturday and relaxed for a bit before heading out of the hotel for breakfast. Time was a little tight, so we decided to head for the nice local restaurant that we enjoyed dinner at the night before. Unfortunately when we arrived, it was closed so we headed back to the hotel to eat a less than average Thai breakfast.
After breakfast, we packed up our things and eventually made our way to the travel agent’s office at 11am as agreed. We opted to take the “budget” route to the island which meant riding on the back of a pickup truck for 40 minutes before boarding an overloaded long tail boat for a thirty minute trip to the island. Once on the island, we had a twenty minute ride on a motorcycle taxi to the resort. While the trip was rather uncomfortable, we have certainly been through worse in the past eleven months.
For the first part of our journey to the island, we were crammed with eight locals into the back of a pickup truck. During the journey from Trang to the pier we made a couple of stops with some people getting off and a couple of others getting on. Once at the pier, we drove along a long concrete platform to where the boat was docked. If I didn’t know 
better, I would’ve thought our driver was taking us into the water!
The long tail boat for our trip to the island was overloaded with supplies. Most of the locals that joined us for the first portion continued on to the island. Since there was no spare room, I ended up sitting on a bag of rice with a couple of dozen eggs just below my feet. I also had the pleasure of having a bag of ice behind my back, keeping me chilled in the hot Thai weather.
As far as boat trips go, twenty minutes is nothing and the water was rather calm anyway. Before we knew it, our boat was docking at an almost identical concrete pier on the island. Just as planned, a motorcycle taxi was waiting for us and we were treated to a nice tour of the island on the journey back to our resort which was located on the other side.
Upon arrival at the Koh Sukhorn Beach Bungalows, we were greeted with a warm smile and quickly shown to our bungalow. After settling in, we got some lunch and pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around. Jasmine and Shawn Reece did play some beach volleyball with an older couple from England, while I couldn’t resist getting a 1hr long Thai massage for a whopping 175B. (31B =$1USD) The resort reminds us a bit of Fiji, except it is more modern and having air conditioning is a luxury we never had in the Pacific island nation.
In celebrating being out on the island, Jasmine and I had a bit too much to drink on Saturday night after Shawn Reece went to bed and this made our start on Sunday a little slow. Once we got into gear, we decided to rent two motorbikes for the day to explore the island. Since the island is relatively small and has good roads free of large vehicles, this seemed like a great idea. I didn’t know at the time that Jasmine would ride her motorbike like an old lady and that the sun would be so brutal.
On Saturday when we arrived on Koh Sukhorn it was partly cloudy with a nice breeze and the heat didn’t feel too bad. Sunday was a different story with very few clouds, almost no wind and one hot sun. Our rental agreement with the hotel gave us five hours with the motorbikes and we set off just when the sun was getting brutal at around 11am. For the first two hours of the trip, we drove through the side of the island closest to our hotel.
From the hotel, we bypassed the village and made a left onto a seaside road with many large hills. During the first few minutes on this road we climbed higher and higher before coming to a decline that was too much for Jasmine to handle on her own. Yes, she made me ride my bike down and run back up the hill to take her bike down. It was hot and I was cranky and a few heated words were exchanged.
Following our seaside jaunt, we found a smaller road that ran through the forest. This provided much needed shade, but also came with a trickier and narrower road to maneuver on. Slowly, we made it through and decided to drive to the village. The village is laid out along two parallel streets, with one housing the commercial areas and the other mostly made up of residences. We drove up one street and down the other waving back at the incredibly friendly villagers who came out to greet us. By the time we toured the village sufficiently, it was just after 1pm so we headed back to the hotel for lunch.
Our resort provided a nice place for a little relaxation and a good meal and at 2pm we got back on the bikes to visit the rest of the island. We were pretty exhausted and I was sweating so bad that trying to get sunscreen to stick to my skin was near impossible. This time we didn’t take two hours, but saw as much as possible. I knew I was getting dehydrated and I am sure the beer from Saturday night didn’t help.
We arrived back at the hotel around 3:30pm and lounged around until 7pm when it was dinner time. After dinner, the three of us headed back to the room and watched the Family Guy take on Star Wars on our computer’s DVD player. All in all it was a great day and Shawn Reece had a blast riding on the back of the bike with me. Jasmine on the other hand…… well what are you going to do but smile?
We want to thank everyone for the comments and emails. Your support is truly appreciated and keeps us going.
The Coomer Family
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