The smell of diesel will haunt my dreams....

From out little hideaway in the trees, about 20 of us piled into the back of a pickup truck and headed up the sketchiest dirt "road" on the way to catch the ferry to Koh Tao. Many of the places we stay at around here barely have electricity, so needless to say, we don't get access to tvs. If we did, perhaps we would have heard on the news that a monsoon is pummeling all of Asia. Amongst a never ending sea of tourists, we were herded onto a ferry boat... backpacks piled everywhere, grab a place where you can find room! Mars and I headed to the seats below deck. In the span of about 5 minutes, it turned into the worst travel experience of my life! The storm hit, the MASSIVE waves came at us from all sides, and I was sure the boat was going to capsize. The boat filled with the smothering scent of diesel. The crew ran around frantically handing out barf bags to everyone. I have never before been sea sick, but I was mighty close on that ride. Mars was also looking very sweaty and green! Upon arrival at the dock, the waves crashed us into the dock and other boats, and 3 of the windows shattered! In what can only be described as chaos, 100s of wet backpackers tried to find their bags, get out of the rain, try not to fall off the dock, then run around the town like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find available rooms! We were lucky to find a cheap one, very basic, but at least it was dry!!!! Sometimes, the worst part of traveling is traveling. We are on Koh Tao now, and enjoying wandering around, despite the cloud cover. I swear, I can still smell diesel.

Also, the ENTIRE night last night, we heard this sound coming from outside our window. We will mail 100 bhat to anyone who can tell us what/who this is!! CREEEEEEPY.