Philnsonjas Travel Adventures: Koh Samui May 2013

Orchid garden in the airport

Koh Samui 18/5/13

We spent a long night at Singapore airport after arriving at midnight. While I love the airport, it is not much fun when all the shops shut at around 1 am and all the reclining chairs are taken up by sleeping bodies. I think that next time; we might get a transit room if staying overnight.

Beach at Saboey Resort

19/5

We left for Koh Samui at 8 am and arrived 1.5 hrs later, which was about 8.30 due to time zone changes. It was very warm and humid just the way I like it.

We caught a mini bus from the airport to the Saboey resort and couldn't be bothered getting a cheaper one outside the airport as we were both exhausted. We were able to have the room early which was lucky and went for a swim and then relaxed for the rest of the day. The meals we had at the resort were excellent, and the beers also went down well in the balmy evening.

The Big Buddha

20/5

We walked to the big Buddha after breakfast and had to slow our pace down in the heat as we quickly got dehydrated if we didn't keep drinking water. The statue was impressive and people went there to worship and bang the prayer bells around the Buddha. We stopped and had lunch at the BBC restaurant where we could see the planes coming in to land right in front of us over the sea as the runway was only about 2 km away. By the time we had walked back to the resort we were well and truly ready for a swim.

Dinner table

21/5

After a lovely breakfast and a chat with the resort manager John, we caught a taxi to Fisherman’s Village to have a look around. The place was a tourist haven with lots of little shops and tailors everywhere to make you an Armani suit, but no one makes jeans from scratch unfortunately. Phil was starting to get a dose of Bali belly so we had to make a quick dash to a public loo. We decided the safest thing was to head back to the resort. We tried to catch a songtheaw back but not one passed us in the 30 mins that we waited. We decided to be adventurous and catch a scooter taxi each which was great fun. Shortly after we got back, I also developed the dreaded bug so we spent the rest of the afternoon fighting for the loo. To make matters worse, the power went out which meant no air conditioning or water for 3 hours.

The Passage Resort

22/5

It was time to move to the next resort so we had a slow morning of getting ready and we left at lunch time and caught the same taxi we had the day before (the drivers wife was travelling with him on both days).

The island is so small so it only took 20 mins to get to the next corner of the island. The Passage resort was stunning and set on a remote corner of the island, where there were no shops or other buildings except for another resort further up the beach. We just relaxed for the rest of the day and swam in the pool.

Sunset from the rustic bar

The taxi driver told us to walk around the point to a rustic bar to watch the sunset. When we got there it was definitely rustic. There was a horse tied up which had a bandage on his face and covered in flies and a couple of dogs with mange and a couple of plastic tables with chairs, but with a stunning view. The guy who owned the place was very friendly and the beer was cold so we stayed to watch the sunset. The guy wanted us to stay for dinner but we declined the offer due to the apparent lack of hygiene and our delicate state of health.

Leeann and I

Dinner at the resort was delicious and we met a lovely waitress called Leeann who spoke good English and loved geography so she knew exactly where Adelaide was. She had her own food blog which I now subscribe to with great recipes to try when we get home.

Fishing boat at Nathon

23/5

We caught the shuttle bus to Nathon which in this case was a twin cab Ute as no other people went into town. Nathon was the main port of entry to Samui from the main land and also a fishing port. We walked to the end of the large pier and watched the busy process of unloading the fish, sorting and packing, and also net and boat maintenance. It was extremely hot and the Thai all wear long sleeved dark coloured nylon clothes. I don't know how they do it. We had to drink 1.5 L of water between us when we got off the pier. We were too hot to have lunch and by the time we had walked around a bit more, it was time to catch the Ute back to the resort. The pool was a welcome relief to swim in when we got back so that concluded another day in paradise.

Passage pool

24/5

We desperately wanted to take a kayak out to the drop off so we waited for the tide to come in but it seemed to be a dodge tide that day, so we kept waiting. We spent the day walking down the beach while Phil collected flotsam and jetsam as we walked along but that soon became too tiring as it was so hot. We then invented our own pool games by throwing soccer balls through floating baby seats as water basketball and other games using the floating devices. That kept us amused for most of the day and by the time the tide was high enough; a huge wind came through and blew up a storm which was great to watch but meant that we missed out on kayaking again.

Beach at The Passage

Dinner was lovely again and as we weren't going to see the night staff again due to leaving so we exchanged email addresses with Leeann and we told her she could come and visit us in Australia anytime, and she said she would be our own personal chef. She has been trying to get a working visa as a pastry chef in Australia for a while.

Pool at Coconuts

25/5

We rang the same taxi driver as before and he sent one of his mates to pick us up and take us to the next resort, who could do it for a better rate than a taxi provided by the resort. The location of Centra Coconuts resort was stunning. We were near a couple of islands and also not too far from the mainland. We watched a storm brewing in the afternoon and the staff madly ran around closing all the umbrellas. The food was also very good.

Getting hosed down

26/5

It was time to get out and explore so we hired a scooter. It looked hilarious with 2 large people on the small scooter, but it got us around most places apart from the steep hills where the 100cc motor just wasn't strong enough. We drove to an elephant trekking place, and booked to go for a ride through the jungle. The Indian elephants name was Victoria and she was in beautiful condition, and her handler looked like a lovely gentle soul. His name was Diah and he told us that it took 2 years to become a handler and we could tell that Victoria liked him. The trek was great and Victoria hosed us down when we came to a river.

On the scooter

After the ride we tried to go up the steep hills to a waterfall but the poor bike just didn't make it so we stopped and had a lovely lunch half way up. In the afternoon we took the bike to the busier part of the island to Lamai. We could see the clouds rolling in and thought it might be wise to return to the resort. Unfortunately we didn't make it and we got saturated in the rain laughing all the way. It took a while to get back as we kept getting lost, and the image of dumb and dumber sprang to mind as the 2 drowned rats finally returned to the resort. We loved every minute of the ride in the rain though.

Longtail driver

27/5

We hired a longtail boat and driver from the locals a little way up the beach, to take us on a snorkelling trip to a couple of outer islands. The weather was on our side and we had a beautiful sunny day with relatively calm water. The coral was a bit ordinary but there were plenty of fish. The boat driver couldn’t speak English but he gave us a bag of stale bread to feed the fish, which attracted plenty of large and very hungry fish.

Snorkelling

After the snorkelling, we went across to another island to walk along the beach. We saw the beginnings of a fancy resort being built there but no other sign of local people living there. We then took the boat to the other island where we had lunch at a small Eco resort.

As we were back early, we decided to hire the scooter again and set off to do more exploring. We rode past the next resort we were booked into and attempted to ride up a few hills again in vain. This time we almost made it back before the rain hit, at least we weren't saturated. Another great meal and that ended another awesome day in paradise.

Crystal Bay

28/5

After breakfast, we decided to use the scooter until we had to hand back the keys, so we explored some of the back streets until we were almost out of fuel. There are some amazing places tucked away in the back streets which you wouldn't even think were there unless you stumble upon them. We rang Chai again and he came to pick us up and take us to our last resort at Crystal Bay. The bay was stunning and more crowded than we were used to, and one too many pairs of budgie smugglers I might add, however the view was gorgeous. There were many little restaurants dotted along the bay with cold beer and cheap yummy meals, what more could we want!

Stir fry Ginger Chicken

29/5

We loved getting around on a scooter so we hired another one and drove around the busier side of town at Chaweng. For quiet season I thought it was crowded. The beach was packed with all sorts of characters, but we soon got sick of the crowds and moved on. For dinner we went to a small place next door where I had the hottest, spicy ginger chicken, but so delicious.

Muang

30/5

After breakfast, we realised that I had made a mistake in the booking and we had another day on the island, so we decided to book a more up market place for our last night. We still had the scooter for the day so we explored some more. We took the bike through the middle of the island where it was a little cooler and very lush and green. We sort of got lost but if you keep on riding, you always end up back on the ring road eventually. We had lunch at Fisherman’s Village again, and then drove around the point where we saw some very nice houses for sale, which were all well above our budget even as a holiday rental. You could see down to the bay that we were spending the following night at. I was a bit dubious about letting Phil drive down any steep hills as it meant I might have to push or walk back up the steep inclines. After a lovely dinner again at the beach we came to the conclusion that Koh Samui makes the best banana fritters ever!

Dinner on the beach

31/5

We called Chai again and he took us to the last resort at Choegmon, called Muang Samui Resort. It was stunning with a room the size of a small house and a massive spa bath, and the biggest shower head I have ever seen! The pool was lovely; we were in heaven for our last day. We have been to Asia 5 times now and have never had a massage so we ventured out on the beach and had a massage together – It was bliss. Dinner on the beach was also lovely. We managed to tick a few boxes on the to do list like riding an elephant, riding a scooter around the island, and finally a wonderful Thai massage. Despite the recurring bouts of Bali Belly and several serious work phone calls, we still had a great time. Samui is beautiful.