Instead of snorkeling at Ang Thong(?) National Park, because the winds are too high and the past couple days were stormy, we did a short jeep-land tour of Koh Samui for Christmas.
The tour started with a visit to a mummified monk, who was preserved in the position he died in (I read) and is probably the only mummy you'll find with sunglasses.
Next we went to an island 'safari park' where we rode a 3-leg zipline (one upside down), which was pretty fun. They got pictures with Dad's camera. But I got pictures of the kittens.
Following the zipping were 3 animal shows, the first of 3 baby elephants all decked up for Christmas. The elephants danced, hula'd, did tricks, and played soccer and tug-o'-war. They also liked to seek their trunks through the crowd looking for bananas.
Next was a monkey show, or rather, a coconut show. We watched how the monkey could climb the palm tree (20 meters up?) and drop the coconuts. Then we saw how the coconut shells were opened to reveal the nut, and how that is cracked open to reveal ready-to-shred coconut, vs a sprouting coconut had a sponge inside, which was interesting to eat.
The last show was a lackluster crocodile show with lots of crocodiles who had to endure the trainers patting them with sticks and putting their hands in their mouths.
Last of all we hiked up to a pretty waterfall (N-something ll) and by hiking I mean walked 2 minutes up a trail, then we walked down and waited. And waited. The other two people on our tour had vanished, and after about an hour our guide gave up on them and we continued, our 8 reindeer reduced to 6. (I don't know what that means either but Ari says it was so.)
Exiting the safari park, we came upon an accident on the road. A pickup was flipped over, another truck had its bumper in its side, and a motorcycle was under the second truck. It was the first accident we've seen, despite the hazardous driving. (Here, lanes are 'guidelines'.)
From there our guide (O-No) took us up to the top of the highest mountain on Koh Samui (not saying much, but it was a nice view), where we ate a decent lunch, and observed more interesting monkeys. The monkeys could reach their entire arms outside their cage and would grab the branch above, so when we went closer we kept our distance. Except Dad. He went too close...... and the monkeys made a move for his sunglasses! But he kept hold of his possessions and we laughed. Thus happened the great monkey heist.
For the last leg of the tour, we visited a 'Magical Topiary'. It was an overgrown park with broken statues, which definitely had a mysterious quality about it.
(There I observed some korobokkuru.)
Our safari was over. Ono returned us to our resort.
We went swimming in the tumultuous ocean, then in the calm resort pool, then ate our Christmas dinner at the restaurant across from the resort.
Merry Christmas!
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