Koh Samui

The island was beautiful. Our resort sat atop one of the hills of Koh Samui and had a 180 degree view of the bright blue ocean. We were within walking distance of the beach, and only a short ride in the back of the resort truck to the town of Lamai Beach.

We were able to see the most famous beaches of the island, Lamai and Chaweng, and few of the more hidden gems as well. This island was the largest of the three we went to, and it had a lot to offer. The second night we were in town Koreana and I went to the Lady Boy Cabaret. It was hard to believe that many of the performers were actually men. The talent was less than impressive, but the fact that many of the men were prettier than me, I was impressed by that alone. It was a real show, to say the least.

The next night on the island was the night of the full moon party. Full moon parties originally began on Koh Phangan, so I assumed we were out of luck. Zoe, one of the girls at the resort, told us that she would be going to the party. We were psyched to find out about the speed boats that shuttled people back and forth for the night of the full moon party. We booked the trip with 6 other people at the resort, and we were pumped. We were all picked up at around 9 pm and transferred to the beach on the north part of the island. We were told to wear our necklaces and informed of the schedule of return times. As we stood on the beach we saw a very large speed boat come close to shore and immediately fill with people. None of us were brave enough to push our way into the crowd, so we waited. About an hour and a half later, and 20 or so fireworks later, we were still waiting. As the boat approached, everyone just started making a mad dash. Everyone in my group was already up to their necks in the water and climbing into the boat! I knew I had to go. I definitely didn't want to be separated this early in the night, so I followed the crowd. I climbed onto the boat and stepped onto the cushion on the bench. The only problem was, the cushion wasn't totally on the bench. I went down. Hard. I stood up to avoid being trampled and made my way across the deck. I found a seat with the rest of the group I came with, and held my position. People were swarming the boat. They were coming from all directions. It was scary. Then I realized that wow, my foot hurt a lot. I looked down and saw that my knee was a little bloody from my spill. No big deal. I'm on the boat. Let's go.

We sat. And we sat. We waited as more and more people came aboard. I could hear people yelling in Thai and broken English, but I wasn't paying much attention. Wow, my foot really, really hurts! Yeah, that doesn't feel good. And, nope, I cant' totally move my toes. Okay, I'm overreacting. Let's go to Koh Phangan!

We continued to wait. Finally, we were able to figure out what was going on. A police officer, one of the first I have seen in this country, had come to the beach. He was not allowing the boat to leave until 10 people got off. He should have demanded 30 people, but no one moved. We sat for at least another 10 minutes. No one was moving. Then our group started to chat. There were 8 of us in total, and we could just get off and do our own thing. But before we went anywhere, the boys demanded we be refunded our money. They weren't happy about our demands, but eventually agreed. I stood up to get off the boat, and I knew I had a problem. My foot was in bad shape. I told Koreana I thought I broke it as I hobbled off the boat, into the water, and up the beach. She thought I was joking. I wasn't.

We were put in a songthaew and shuttled back to the resort. We made a stop to buy beers for our own full moon party and were genuinely happy about our decision to skip the boat. I was simply relieved to not have to walk anymore. All in all we had a great night. The people from our resort were awesome and we had a wonderful time over the next few days. I had a little bit of trouble with my foot, but it happens. I definitely hobbled and popped pain meds, but I made the best of it. And my parents, well, they had already dealt with a broken hand in Mexico, so they were seasoned pros when it came to another one of Meaghan's broken bones in a foreign land.

My foot is still swollen, and it still hurts, but I'll be fine. Some of my shoes are still too tight to wear, but I probably brought too many pairs anyway, and this just makes my decision easier in the morning. The foot didn't stop me from seeing the important things on the island, even though it probably should have. The last photos are of the famous Grandfather and Grandmother Rocks... I'll let you figure it out.