Ko Tao... then Midterms

Sorry this post is so delayed... the trip to Ko Tao was amazing but right when we got back I had three midterms to study for.

So to get to Ko Tao we took an overnight bus, which just so happened to be decorated by Nemo :)

The group of us heading down consisted of 5 girls and 5 guys. On the bus we randomly ran into a college friend of one of the girl's traveling with us. The friend was with his two brothers, one sat next to me on the bus. The guys was younger than my brother but happened to be a pretty huge guy and well it turned out that when he sleeps he cuddles... so i spent the 8 hour bus ride attempting to sleep while this 18 year old large Australian boy attempted to cuddle with me. But don't worry, I asked his brothers about it later and they said it was normal, the last bus trip they had taken to Chang Mai he had done it to an elderly Thai woman. I don't think she dealt with it quite as well as I did though. 

The crew (Niko, Sam, Rachel, Antoine, and in front... Issac)

We arrived in Ko Tao around 11 am the next day and searched Hat Sairee (Sairee Beach) for a bungalow.

On the ferry to Ko Tao... finally made it!

It was so nice to see a beach!

Our taxi ride to Hat Sairee was the back of a pickup truck

Our Bungalow!

They're serious about helping the marine life

Once we were settled we grabbed some lunch on the beach and were in the ocean and laying on the beach for the afternoon.

A couple of us went to try to climb some rocks on the north end of the beach but unfortunately, only about 3 hours after we arrived on the island, two people slipped and cut themselves on the rocks. One ended up with stitches while the other was just bandaged up, but all the wounds were on their feet. So we spent a majority of the late afternoon searching for good antibacterial ointment and bandages and crutches for our friends. However I did get some good pictures from the rocks (I managed to climb them safely) and of some much more upscale bungalows that were part of a resort on the north end of the beach. It was a paradise pretty much. Things you see in movies.

Scene of accident

Hat Sairee

The Bungalows we couldn't afford

That night we had dinner on the beach at a barbeque place. We ate here on the last night too so I could get snapper. basically they grill a fish on a plate, the whole thing. It was soo good. The seafood here was amazing. Then we explored some of the nightlife on the island. Ko Tao, Ko Samui, and Ko Phangan are three island all within a short ferry ride of each other and known for their great snorkeling, beaches, and nightlife pretty much.

At night there were lots of entertainers twirling fire. Most were young adults, apparently they start young though

The next morning Rachel (the girl who cut her feet) and I had a lovely breakfast on the beach and then I explored the beach a bit more with some of the other exchange students.

Breakfast beachside

We found some snorkels and went snorkeling. I found a big school of coral feeding fish around the coral right in the bay of our beach.

That day more exchange students from Chula showed up and we had a big game of volleyball on the beach until sunset. Not only was the game hilarious because of all these different people from different cultures playing volleyball (most of which weren't very good at it, no offense) but the beach we were on was on the west side of the island so we had an amazing view of the sunset.

The next day, most of the exchange students paid for a snorkeling boat tour which took us around the southern end of the island to Shark Bay (where they said there would be lots of sharks but their definitely weren't, I did see a turtle though!), Mango Bay, Hin Wong Bay, and Ko Nang Yuan island. The snorkeling was amazing and it was just nice to be on a boat. We ended up going around the entire island and the Ko Nang Yuan island we stopped at had some amazing views of the ocean, beaches, and of Ko Tao. When we got back to the island most of us were pretty tired so while some of the boys napped, me and 3 of the girls went and got oil massages right on the beach. It was heaven.

Everyone on the boat

Noggin... dude

Snorkeling in Shark Bay

Viewpoint from Ko Nang Yuan

North end of Ko Tao from Ko Nang Yuan

We left the next day and made it back to Bangkok at about 2:00 am Monday morning. That morning I had a field trip with my Vehicle Acoustics class to the Jaguar, Bentley, and Porsche manufacturer in Bangkok. It was an all day thing pretty much, we got to see some really cool cars, including all of cars belonging to the royal family (all roll royce of course). We also saw Jaguar's new diesel engine and we observed some of the acoustical adaptations in the cars. Since our class has only 9 students, two of which are exchange students, and our professor is quite young, it made the experience really cool because it was quite intimate and we got to talk one on one with professor, who really makes an effort to help us understand.

Jaguar Diesel Engine

All Jaguar engines have sensors that can send signals to this computer which analyzes why something went wrong. They now can do this through satellite so this machine can analyze any Jaguar engine in the world.

Apparently there are only two of these in Thailand

In Thailand there is a HUGE tax on cars so if you have one, especially a nice one, it is usually a sign that you are pretty well off. I think the price of cars is almost double than in the United States

Porsche

The rest of last week was left to studying pretty much. Yesterday (Tuesday) I had two midterms and today (Wednesday) I had one so I spent most of last weekend getting ready for those. I did take some time to go see the movie No Strings Attached at the cinema in MBK. In Thailand at the beginning of every movie you have to stand for about 3 minutes while they show a clip of the King. We also went back to that sushi buffet place. So delicious. I can't get over it.

So now midterms are over and I'm off to Ko Chang (Elephant Island) where there is a national park with cool waterfalls and elephants. Supposedly you can swim with elephants as well. And it's an island so I'll a little more beach time in. Then next week I have one more midterm then I am moving rooms. Rachelle (my roommate now) and I are moving in with two girls from Singapore so that we can pay a little less rent. I'm very excited, the two girls came with us to Ko Tao and they are great. Then Kayla Gebeck is coming! Kayla is in my sorority back at school and has been studying in New Zealand for the winter term. I can't wait.

Rachelle is on the right and my soon to be roommates Anjali and Isabel are on the left

Ok sorry this is so long. I'll try to update this a little more often from now on...