Bummer Falls

Unfortunately (for this waterfall), it was deemed and will most likely always be referred to as"Bummer Falls" from within our group of friends. The inaccurate nickname for the waterfall was derived from Nick Carillo's initial reaction....saying that it was "a bummer compared to all of the other waterfalls he had seen."
After consuming large amounts of energy in restraining each of ourselves from slapping Nick for his previous comments, we were able to fully relax in the watering hole at the base of the falls.

At the end of our experience, Nick then retracted his statement and said that the waterfall was pretty fun and it was no longer a bummer to him.......but it was far too late. "Bummer Falls" is now and forever known as "Bummer Falls."


















After the falls, we rode our motor bikes over to a restaurant that our local friend from our usual dining spot next to our bungalow told us to try. However, by the time we had arrived, we were too late. The large BBQ that we were informed of was finished for the day. So the restaurant's owner told us to visit her friend's restaurant across the street. Here is where we met "T," who can be seen with the similar hairstyle to Mikey below. T became an instant homey to say the least. Later that night, we would meet up with T back at his restaurant where we would then head out to White Sand Beach; the location of the largest party on the island.


Matt D, throwing down some licks at the restaurant.

The Arrival of Matty D

The original plan when leaving Bangkok for Koh Chang was to stay on the island for only a few days and then head back to BKK to pick up our friend Matthew "the Praying Mantis" DeSantis when he arrived. However, in a rare scientific phenomenon, we had somehow become glued to the beach and were not able to move a muscle until after New Years' Eve. So, in order to cope with this situation, we sent detailed instructions for Matty D to come and meet our trapped minds and bodies in Koh Chang.
We said our prayers, went to bed early and the stars alligned to bring us Matty D the following day. We met him at the ferry station on our motor bikes and told him to hop the hell on. In taking the scenic route back to our five-star villa, he immediately realized why we were unable to meet him at the airport back in Bangkok.

A photograph of our beloved and rather photogenic friend, Matty D can be seen below:

Loungin

I wnat to say that the following pictures came from our third day of stay on the island of Koh Chang but I cannot be 100% sure. Believe or not, the concept of time on an island in the Gulf of Thailand has the innate ability to become quite irrelevant. Also, there wasn't a clock to be seen for miles.....seriously; it was like Vegas.

On our second, third, or fourth day (whichever one it was), we rented a pair of motorscooters to tour the island with. At a heavy price of around two US dollars a day, it was a big set back and our financial woes completely took the wind from out our sails. Thus we decided to just take it easy and recover on a nearby beach. The stress was nearly too much.

Daylight

The following morning, after arriving on the island was definitely exciting. Everything that we had been so thrilled with the night before was now shed in sunlight, which made for a whole new experience. We had truly found paradise (for a group of 22 year old's with no money).

This picture below is a prime example of how we held it down in the Ice Beach Bungalow Resort. Embedded in our recent SF roots was the concept of the stoop session. This is where you post up on the stoop of your home and then proceed to chill, watch people, and basically shoot the shit for hours on end. We did just that....and I'm sure that Ice Beach Bungalow #'s 1 and 3 got the rep for it.







Mikey (the only one of us with an afro, for those who don't know him) is the Thailand local within our group. After studying abroad through the same organization in 2006, Mikey moved back to Thailand once graduating in 2008 to work for a human rights non-profit organization in north-eastern Thailand. Located in Kohn Kaen city, in the Isaan province; Mikey and his organization are doing incredible things for the poorer sect of Thai people that often go unheard. Being the one with the local knowledge, Mikey's first destination for us that morning was to the liqour store to purchase a few bottles of rice whiskey. If there was ever a drink to supposedly put "hair on your chest," it would be rice whiskey. Straight gasoline. However, we all participated in the local flavor while we listened to Mikey's unending and incredible stories.
Below is a snapshot of Mikey indulging himself in some rice whiskey and M150 (Strength, courage, devotion).


Our first sunset. This was taken on lonely beach which happened to be the closest beach to our bungalow (a whole 1 minute walk away). Thailand has some pretty amazing sunsets.









Thanks to the happy shake epidimic of 2008. I saw Carillo (aka the baby) asleep in this position more than not. This one's on the beach, but he fell asleep all over the place.





Our first night, we decided to choose a restaurant for us to frequent the rest of our stay in Koh Chang. This way we figured that we would be able to make good with the staff and eventually learn a lot more about them. This turned out to be the best decision we could possibly make. By the end of out stay, we were straight homies with the owner and waiting staff of the small hut-like eating establishment. And the food was delicious.
I think that the restuarant employees (Kwon especially) ended up liking us so much because of scenes like this one below with Carillo and Freddy.......or it could have been the fact that Mikey speaks nearly fluent Thai.


Kwon (the woman sitting next to Mikey) became an instant homegirl, if not our Thai mother. She was first our waitress at the restaurant that we chose to frequent but then soon became our Koh Chang tour guide. We knew that she was down when she offered to make us a special Thai meal that was off the menu the very first night. One of the days she hopped on the motorbikes that we had rented with us (3 deep) and showed us some spots to check out accross the island. She had said that she knew what was up with us when she saw us walking back to our bungalow with a bag full of rice whiskey. "None of the tourists drink that shit," she said. Thanks Mikey.


Happy shakes took casualties in more ways than one. Freddy suffered an incident here.