Chapter 6: Somewhere, beyond the sea...

Somewhere, beyond the sea, lies the island of Koh Phangan.

As explained earlier, the gang of 9 was supposed to take an overnight train so as to reach the ferry terminal on time but little did we know the troubles that was waiting for us at the train station...

Absence of good food(we were pampered by the susages and what nots from our original train station), the need to find our own transport to the ferry terminal, scheming locals, the list goes on....

Lo and behold!

The Suratthani train station!!!

Attractions: Wooden benches that has seen better days, toilets scented with the natural smells of nature, 'friendly' ticketing officers, complete with a dusty surronding to accentuate the rustic feel of the whole setting.

Splendid indeed...

Thus, it was with heavy hearts we left the station in search of a paradise that lie beyond the sea...

Our feelings at this moment can be best explained by this kick-ass picture taken none other than... Tinman aka me.

Forgive the intrusion of Kingkong in this picture though...

But there we were, the gang of 9 looking forward to what will be the next chapter in the chronicles.
*Point to note, we had this kick ass ferry ride, no, ferry will be an insult to the naval vehicle we were in. It's a friggin' ship. I kid you not. It is big. Anyway, we had this ferry on the account that we signed up at some agency that provided us transportation that included a ferry ride to the island and the subsequent transport to the chalet itself. The catch? Staying at the beach chalet/resort/thingy - which we will talk about later.

Guess what was the first thing that we did once we boarded the ship?
We went to brush our teeth.
Now remember, we just arrived on an overnight train, had no desire to commune with nature in the toilet at the Suratthani train station, needed to rush a get a vehicle so that we can be in time for the ferry = no time to brush teeth.
And being the hygiene conscious Stinkaporeans that we are, we took the very first opportunity at seeing a decent toilet to wash up and do our what-nots. *Read: Shave(Tinman), Apply pimple cream/lotion/moisturiser on face(Iceban).

And after we finished washing up and stuff, so of us decided to do this:


*Kingkong in (in)action











While others prefer to do this:








Bad spoof of Tit-tanic by Gnin and Iceban











Sadly, I chose to do this:




Tinman(me) and Iceban having some fun with the float.








In short, we had fun even whilst riding the waves, that's us. The gang of 9.
But despite the fun, we did managed to settle down for quite a bit to discuss about the plans for KPN, where once again, Snakey and DragonLady proved to be the most informed about the places and thus, the rest of us more or less agreed to just follow along... and in hindsight, this was probably when the seeds of discord first started...

And with a heave and a ho, we were there....



And then, there was light.
And yesh, this might have been a scene from "War of the Worlds" if not for the bright sunny day, the mass gathering of Asians and the notable absence of Dakota Fanning. I can stand in for Tom Cruise mah...






We went.
We saw.
And we almost got conquered, for the story doesn't end here.
Happenings are happening as soon as our bleddy feet touched the pier.

So stay tune for more adventures, from the gang of 9.

--Tinman out