Thrills and Spills!

Today I woke up early, by backpacker's standards, appartently, because i was about the only anglo walking around! It was great because it hadn't gotten too hot yet, and i could just wonder and inhale the smell of other people's breakfasts. Yum! I think it is fair to say that food is half of my entertainment on this trip!
I went for a short swim this morning and bought some tangerines. Then Sheila and I wandered down into the central part of town to rent some motor bikes. We decided to live dangeroulsy and rent one each instead of sharing, and bargined the woman down to $350 baht (about $10) for both of them, and i got a quick lesson.
NAturally, within about 10 mintues of leaving and before actually getting outside of town, I crashed. Don't worry, no seriouse injuries, but a couple of rasberries here and there and some road rash on my hands. What I was most worried about was the bike. A very nice school teacher came out and helped me look at it, and everything looked okay, so after debating wether I could be trusted to continue on I decided to live dangerously and drive slowly, and we took off on our bikes with a new sense of caution. It was amazing! We drove half way around the island, hugging the coast line most of the time. I saw near by islands and a forest of palm trees heavy with coconuts. We eventually stopped at a beach on the north side of the island of Kho Phangan to rest and enjoy the view. It was amazing to get sucha feel for the scope and size of the island. Also, Once I got the hang of driving teh motor bike it was very easy, although we did keep our speed safely low.
This other beach, Hat Yao, was much quieter than our beach and cleaner as well. While our beach is filled with younger backpacker types and kids looking to party and drink, this beach had a lot of older travelers and couples. The food was more expensive (naturally, Sheila and i waited until later to eat, being the 2 cheapest girls on earth), but the bungalows and resorts looked much nicer.
After a while we drove back and are now in a larger city in the island, the port we came into on our boat just a few days ago. We walked around a few markets and sheila had an amazing dish of aquid and pinapple over rice. As an added Thai bonus, the little outdoor restarant she ate at was run by three transgendered women. I've decided that, by having the best of both worlds helped make the women amazing cooks!

Tonight we are going to lay low, maybe meet up with some brittish travelers we hung out with night before last, and then tomorrow leave for a new Island! As soon as i get my bearings it's time to move, but I'm looking forward to the next island, which will be smaller and have fewer tourists.