This morning, I packed my bag without haste and got ready for my weekend destination. It’s not too far, only 150 kilometers from Bangkok, and takes no more than 2 hours to arrive at  Balihai Cape in Pattaya. Even late morning like this, Pattaya City is still in its groggy state after another long night of entertaining people. Some other Asian tourists and I are here and waiting to board our boat to our destination, Koh Lan.

Koh Lan is looming larger in my eyes. On the 7.5-kilometer boat trip from …