Location: Ko Samui, Thailand
Ah, back in Thailand. Where the sun is hot, the drinks are cold, and the US dollar is strong.
The Sun: After a bit of trouble with customs, that actually resulted in the completion of three straight classes (including an Oceanography review version of Pictionary – which I’m telling you mostly because it ended up with ‘the purp squad’ winning a substantial bag of cookies, as well as the creation of a Marine Protected Area around the town of Argo during Marine Bio). Unfortunately for the shipmates living up forward, the AC for the forward hallway recently broke, and although it’s cool at night, the hot days can get a bit uncomfortable (especially in the port six-man who happens to house five sweaty, gross teenage boys). Shortly thereafter, three of the boys left with Annie to provide food for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately for them, I was not among them, and so our story shall follow that of the majority (those who remained aboard).
The Drinks: After lunch, we got to head ashore. Which, needless to say, never disappoints. It has been almost two months since we have been in Thailand, and since the very moment we left, I can guarantee you that every shipmate has been missing the freshly made beach-side smoothies. I believe banana pineapple, Mango, coconut pineapple, and strawberry banana were among the favorites. I think someone also ordered a Sprite, which, in my humble opinion, was a little untraditional, but hey – to each his own.
The Dollar: Usually a sad and depleted creature internationally, the dollar has found its stride in Thailand. After the smoothies, the group split up (again), and I ended up with a couple of shoppers. Which, to be honest, isn’t totally a bad thing. We wandered around the markets and streets of Ko Samui and had a pretty sweet time doing it. All I’m going to say is that a couple of shirts were bought, new sunglasses adorned, and elephant pants were purchased. But they all pale in comparison to what I consider the best purchase of the trip by far (I may be a little biased considering it was my own): A large, inflatable, green, floaty bed(ish sort of thing). Treading water during showers? I don’t think so. Lounging in the water on a massive floating blob. Yes. And as I return back to the strength of the dollar, I’m pretty sure I spend $8 today. Which, if I was at home, would probably barely be enough to feed the parking meters on Sunset Blvd. (Exaggeration: Maybe).
After some fun onshore, we returned to Argo (and I got the chill on my floating green blob, and yes, Mom, I shared like a good boy). Everything was going pretty routinely in the run-up to our night out until, that is, Max tried to play a trick on Jack. Of course, Karma was close behind, and he face-planted into two of the large blue buckets that were being used to clean dishes (and usually contain saltwater, a large amount of soap, some weird combination of food scraps, and a few odds and ends). Needless to say, after making sure he was okay, the entire deck of Argo burst into laughter. Even Forrest managed a deep southern chuckle.
This is the last time I will have the privilege of addressing the followers of the Argo blog on this expedition (thus signifying we have less than 18 days left of the trip), so in light of that, I thought to leave you with this:
“I never look back darling, it distracts from the now” -Edna Mode,The Incredibles