Koh Samui, Crashes and Tattoos

Koh Samui, crashes and Tattoos!

Well, I certainly don't think we will be forgetting Koh Samui!!
We were only there for 3 nights, it rained every day, on and off, but we had a great time. 
The hotel was really nice. It was on the opposite side of the Island to all the shops, bars and clubs, but that it what we wanted- a bit of peace and quiet. The staff were really nice and friendly. The food was good, and we managed to get some decent sleep at last! 
On our second day, we decided to explore the island a bit, so we hired a couple of scooters for the day. At 11.00am we left the hotel and at 11.00.02s, the scooter trip was over! 
Imagine, if you will, the hundreds of clips that you have seen on "you've been framed" of someone, generally a woman, sat on a bike/scooter, and they go to set off and open the throttle full, wobble, scream and then fall over/skid/ crash!
Well, unfortunately, this is what happened to Ju!
After a brief instruction on how a scooter works, we set off, only Ju opened the throttle full, panicked, went to turn and stacked it in under two seconds. Bless her! She ended up with a gravel graze on her elbow and a couple of knocks on her knee. Needless to say, she did not go anywhere near the scooters again! Luckily, we were outside the hotel, so she got patched up and we skunk back to our room. I ended up pottering about on my scooter later to go to a pharmacy to get some painkillers and also for a little tour to see what was about. That was the end of that day!!
The following day, we sensibly decided to rent a car to tour the Island. We ended up driving up to the North to see the Big Buddha, and was a big bugger alright! No sooner had we got there, than the heavens opened again and it proper pissed it down, for 10 minutes, then it stopped almost as soon as it started and was hot again!! We had a good mooch around the site and took lots of pics, then bundled back into the car and headed to Chaweng, which is the biggest town on Samui. We had a wander down the main street, and, even though we both said we would not do it, we both got a tattoo done! We both had a traditional Thai Sak Yant done ( the scripture like Angelina Jolie) Ju had hers done on her back on her upper left shoulder blade and I had to have mine in the middle of my lower back, as I am running out of room!!! We had it done traditionally with bamboo as well! Really pleased with how they turned out as well! After getting inked, we headed back through Chaweng and took a tour through the centre of the island to our hotel. 
We managed to persuade the hire car people to let us have the car till noon the next day, so we were able to drive ourselves to the airport and save on taxis. 
I must say that Koh Samui airport is one of the nicest and most picturesque airports I have ever been to! It is literally just big wooden huts, with no Walls, and so laid back. Puts you at ease before you get on one of the smallest passenger planes that rattles along!!!
We had a short flight to Bangkok and actually spent longer in the taxi, with another psyhcotic taxi driver, getting to our hotel, than we did flying!!
Again, we have lucked out with our hotel. It is pretty much central, overlooking the river, and we have got a suite, with a couple of sofas, a kitchen, a kingsize and a balcony overlooking the river!! Great Internet bargain!!
Sad to see the news about Japan, and had to reassure several people that we are ok, and not in any danger. Let's hope that there are no more! 
Off to explore Bangkok in the morning. Looking forward to seeing lots of weird and wonderful things!! :-)