Koh Samed

koh = island]

6 months ago Kukie - my bunso, was already scouting the web for an island retreat. Two of her friends from Pinas were coming and they wanted to have a different kind of experience. I took this opportunity to "get away from it all," so I tagged along... and obviously I was the only male [senior citizen] in the group.

Koh Samed - not Koh Samal, is an island off the coast of Rayong, a southeastern province of Thailand. It is a 3-hour drive from Bangkok and then an hour by local boat or 20 minutes by speed boat to any of the beaches around the island.

We missed Jaypea and Nok on this trip.

JP and Nok's night

This night was everything for Jaypea and Nok, except the wedding. It could be a send-off party, blessing, thanksgiving... you name it. Five days from today they would be driving off to Phuket to start a new chapter in their lives, and so this night would be something to look back to when they would be alone by themselves in this paradise of an island, eking out a livelihood on the vanities of wealthy westerners undergoing cosmetic surgery in the Phuket Int'l Hospital.