Thailand Part 2: Koh Samui

It was still early when we arrived which made it all the more beautiful: The sun was just coming up, the ground was still wet with dew and the birds were all chirping. The Samui Airport was like something I've never seen before - it is all open concept, like a big wooden tiki hut, not very big, but surrounded by beautiful gardens and plants.


The lobby.


The view from the front desk.

Again, we had waited to book our hotel until we arrived just in case there were any good deals or other recommendations we could get (the Lonely Planet and Foder's guides only give you so much information). The tourist staff suggested a place called "Ark Bar" on Chawang beach because of it's fun, high quality atmosphere and reasonable prices. Davin had read about it and their infamous Wednesday night parties, so we decided to try it out.

When we arrived we were greeted by the front desk staff who I think were happy to see some tourists coming in - the political situation in Bangkok had really affected the tourism in the south as well.

Our hotel was right off the main strip where all the restaurants and nightlife were located and our room was a 1 minute walk to the beach. Each room was decorated "Thai style" with bright colours and interesting art.


Our room.

One feature of this room (and all the rooms we had in Thailand) that Dav really liked was the open shower concept in the bathrooms. Literally, you shower directly beside the toilet and sink making everything in the bathroom wet - no more having to worry about floor mats and shower curtains. I am known for my inability to keep the floor dry when showering in Canada so this concept worked well for me.

After we got settled we threw on our bathing suits and decided to head down to the beach - it was beautiful. It was still early morning so we were among some of the first people out.


Happy to be in the sun.

We decided to take a walk all the way to the pier to check out the area, and took a few pictures along the way:




The end of the walk. The beach wasn't huge, but it took a good half hour to walk to length of it. As we took this picture there was another Asian couple nearby doing a photo shoot together, putting on their "model faces" and looking pretty silly while doing it. We were going to take a few more but decided to save it for another time.

After the walk we went back to our hotel for our complementary breakfast. I have to say, this breakfast was the best one offered throughout the whole trip. I looked forward to it every morning. They gave you the choice of five items from a long list that included pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomatoes etc.


Dav enjoying it.


So good.

After that we toured around town by foot, checking out the shops and picking out restaurants and bars we had read about in our books. On the road we met a couple guys from Australia. They had been in Koh Samui for a number of years now and were working with a hotel chain promotion team and wondered if we were interested in checking out the deals. They were friendly and although we knew there was some sort of scam involved, we figured it would be nice to see some high class hotels on the island.

So, we visited the office and pretended to be super interested in what they had to offer. We met a nice gentleman who had moved to Koh Samui some twenty years ago and opened a successful bar and now does hotel promotion. He offered to take us to a very posh getaway on the island, 10 minutes away from where we were staying so we agreed.

He took us in an open back truck with cushion seats lining either side of the truck bed (the most common way to get around on the islands) and we arrived at a beautiful resort tucked into the mountain overlooking the ocean. It was very beautiful. We ate appetizers at the hotel and chatted over drinks - Dav and I kept trying to keep the conversation personal and avoided any of the sales stuff. He was a really interesting guy when he wasn't trying to sell hotel getaways. He also gave us some good info about our stay - some good restaurants and good places to go out. Apparently there was a Black Moon party that night by the Lake which he suggested we check out. Not as popular as the infamous Full Moon party where some 30,000 people gather each month to dance and party until the sun rises, but a "moon" party nonetheless.

At the end of our chat we had won a 7-day stay in Thailand, accommodation paid for. I don't know how legit it is and probably will never use it, but it was a decent afternoon nonetheless.

By the time we got back to our hotel it was 4pm and almost time for the Ark Bar BBQ beach party to start. Davin and I ventured down to the beach bar to get our first drink of the trip but were surprised to hear that the staff there had no idea how to make a dirty gin martini. We decided we better teach them how just in case the next clients who came along wanting a dirty gin martini weren't so forgiving.

As we took him through the steps, we watched the bar tender overload the glass with vermouth. Then he brought out a jar of tiny olives that looked like they hadn't been used in years. He was pretty shocked/disgusted when we asked him to pour the olive juice into the drink, but did it for us anyways. The result was a pretty nasty cocktail which Davin and I accepted with a smile. The bar tender was pretty happy with himself and for the rest of our stay, anytime we walked by the bar tenders would shout, "You want a dirty?!" haha.


Our dirty martini's. With our drinks we decided to go down and relax as they set up the party atmosphere on the beach in front of our hotel.


These cushions and candle lit tables look so neat at night.

After this my picture taking stopped for the night. It must have been the martini's. Anyways, Dav and I left the beach to change and go out for dinner at this great place on the main strip. We shared a nice bottle of wine and ate fresh seafood and Thai curry - to die for. At this point it became pretty obvious to us just how badly the tourism was being affected by Bangkok. The lights on the strip were flashing, tons of vendors sat out with their merchandise strewn over the sidewalks, music played and trucks with loud speakers promoting Muai Thai boxing matches drove by over and over and over again...but there weren't many people there to hear it.

It struck me that these people go through the same cycles over and over again - when it's good it is good and when it's bad, they wait for it to get good again. It is a reality check that many people live this way. Even so, the atmosphere was great and most people were very happy and very willing to have a good chat.

We met a couple good guys who run a tailored suit shop on the corner of the main strip and our hotel road. After chatting with them for a bit, Dav realized he had WAY over paid for his suit in Taiwan and told the guys he would be back the next day for a fitting with them.

After than we went back down to the beach party which was busy by now. We tried a famous bucket (literally, a bucket filled with a mickey of rum or vodka, red bull and pop) and found some good cushion seats near the water. We met a young guy who was on vacation by himself, and a rowdy couple from Australia and together, we all decided to head to the Black Moon party by the lake.

It was a really neat setting - there was a big stage, loud music, carnival games and a Muai Tai boxing match going on but it was not very busy. We played around and had fun with the people we met, and went back to the hotel around 3:00am.

The next morning Dav and I had our lovely breakfast and then went back to the tailors so Dav could get fitted for his suits. The guys were really great - we actually ended up spending quite a bit of time with them in Koh Samui because we walked by them every time we needed to get back to our hotel. Dav also had to go back a few times for all the alterations. In total he order 3 suits and 4 shirts and got a great deal on them. We told the guys we stop back in to pick them up on our way back through Koh Samui at the end of our trip.

After the tailors we decided to rent a scooter to venture around the island on - great idea. It was a beautiful day to drive around the island, and the roads were built perfectly to take us along the coastline the entire time. Dav drove and I sat on the back with the map, keeping track of all the neat places to stop.


Just about to take off.


The car parked outside the scooter rental place. It belongs to the owner of our hotel. I think Dav was thinking about it longingly as we chugged along on our scooter out of the parking lot.

Our first stop was a nice secluded beach which was supposed to have an island off the coast that is good to swim too. Dav and I have been meaning to compete in swimming endurance so we figured this would be our chance. Unfortunatly, the water was low making it virtually impossible to swim across. So, we grabbed a beer and walked instead.


View from the island.


Exploring around.

Our next stop was a waterfall tucked inland a bit.


The road to the falls. Unfortunatly, since it had been so hot and dry over the past few weeks, the waterfall had dried up and there was nothing but a big pile of boulders left. The area was quite beautiful though with thick jungle forest and small paths weaving through to walk along.




Davin with his beer in front of the Buddhist temple. I don`t think that is good luck.

After our nature walk we spotted elephants and decided to do a trekk.


Yay!


Our guides.

I don`t really know what we expected the ride to be like, but it wasn`t anything like what we expected. It was really slow and bumpy - especially going downhill. Our guide walked long side us talking sternly to the elephant the whole time and threatening it with a big axe pick everytime it stopped to munch on grass. It was pretty funny.

About half way through the ride we stopped on a hill to do a photoshoot (our guides idea). He must have snapped about 30 photos.


Together.


Dav on the head.


Our guide rode back on the head. See the big axe pick?

At the end we got to feed our guy.




After we said goodbye we kept riding until we found a nice place to eat. Apparently the north west coast of the island is well know for their amazing seafood, so we stopped at a Place called Big John's which is famous for their freshness.

The restaurant was beautifully situated right on the beach with an incredible view of the evening sky.


Our table on the water.


Beauty.


Loving it.


Davin's artistic shot. We had a delicious appetizer of crispy ground seafood which we rolled in lettuce leaves. I had a whole fish with ginger Thai dressing and davin had the mixed seafood skillet. Mmmm.


Full and a bit tired from all the sun.


Just as we were leaving we got this nice photo opportunity.

The ride home was quick because we couldn't see much in the dark. We stopped at a nightmarket so we could look at some of the things the locals like to buy to eat.


Not quite sure.


Davin found a pink fruit he wanted to try. We tried it on the beach later that night but it was mushy and tasteless - definitely not as good as it looked.

Back at the hotel we decided to head down to the beach again to the fun Ark Bar atmosphere.


This is a view of our pool. Both times Davin and I tried to swim in this thing, security came and informed us they had just put chemicals in it and if we didn't get out we would be "itchy." Luckily nothing happened.


This is the night view of Ark Bar beach party that I didn't have from the night before. Pretty eh?

As we sat on the beach we talked about what we would do the next day and decided to head to Koh Phagnon - another island a bit further north. Since we had the scooter until noon and there were still some sights we wanted to see, we decided to get up early and finish our island tour and finish the day on the afternoon ferry to the next island.

Friday morning we woke up and immediately hopped on the scooter and headed for the Grandma and Grandpa rock formation. We decided to switch it up a bit and try a new breakfast place at a nice hotel down the road called Poppies.


The view.


Davin ordered a massive breakfast with about 10 courses.


...And then we were off again.

Our first stop was The rock formations site. At this site, the main attraction (as Davin and I read in both of our travel guides) is a rock that is supposed to look like male and female genitals. I am not sure why, but they decided to name it Grandma and Grandpa rock and it is quite the attraction. there was an entire little town dedicated to this site and it was one of the busiest attractions we stopped at.


Davin, trying to find the infamous Grandma and Grandpa rock.


Oh, found it. This little boy posed for his mom beside grandpa rock for quite a while. And if he walked a few steps to the left he would fall right into Grandma.

After starring at the rocks silently together for a few seconds, Davin and I turned around and head back up to the little tourist street. On the way we passed by a little hut where some of the locals were offering fish therapy. Apparently it is pretty big on the island and it involved sticking your feet or hands in a big tank of water filled with little fish just waiting to nibble all of the dead skin off your body. Now I admit, my feet aren't the prettiest little things so the second Davin saw this hut he immediately suggested we go for a treatment. Thanks babe.


"You want me to stick my feet in that?"



Ticklish


A top view of the attack. It was actually gross feeling all the little slimy things brushing over my feet and sucking my skin off. It was spposed to be a 20 minute treatment but I bargaind for 10.After that interesting experience we took off to the snake and scorpian show!

First we got a tour of the facility and all the different snakes they have.


This little girl was our tour guide. She must have been the daughter of one of the owners. It was so cute, she took us around and pointed to where we should look.


And even bugged Davin to lift her up so she could see everything too. And then it was time for the show.


Dav with a scorpian.


Our suicidal showman.


This is my favourite shot.


Taunting the snake.


And one last scare. Davin with his new friend. She wasn't afraid of the snake at all. She was tugging it and putting her face up nice and close.


I could feel it tightening around my body.

After we said goodbye, Dav and I rushed back to the hotel to check-out and made it to the ferry just in time. Off we went to Koh Phangnon!