Ko Samui, Thailand

Our second to last stop was in Ko Samui. This island was recommended by many people as the one to see if you have a few days to see the islands of Thailand. It would have been a great stop over if we had stayed in a different part of the island but it was still an beautiful and everything I thought Thailand would be.

Billy chose Chaweng Beach, the most popular. After having stayed on Patong Beach in Phuket we were skeptical about whether we could have an enjoyable experience at the biggest spot. Billy's perception of the most popular beaches was his experience in the states of going to places like Miami or the Keys but in Thailand you don't want the most popular because it ends up being a congested mess. Our beach was 7km long so you see the same thing over and over on the streets, street food doesn't exist, and it wasn't restful. We still made the most of it and would gladly go back to Ko Samui, just to another beach.

Day 1:

Our bus experience from Ao Nang to Ko Samui was quite the experience. Our typical travel included a short mini bus, transfer to a large coach, and then journey in a coach. This route felt like we were fugitives hiding from the law. We were picked up in a small mini bus where we traveled for 30 minutes. Then we got off and stayed at a road side stand for 15 minutes. We were then put on another mini bus for a 2 hour trip. Billy was stuck in the front with the driver and I was in the way back with the luggage because I was small. At around noon we stopped for an hour at another transfer station. There we had lunch of chips and crackers and Billy tried to teach me Texas Hold'um.

After transferring to a third bus we spent another hour and a half driving to the port. At the port we waited for a short 15 minutes before boarding the ferry to Ko Samui. It was another journey of memories and adventures.

Once in Ko Samui we set up our snorkeling trip for the following day and searched for street food. As we learned there isn't much street food unless you walk away from town but the walk would have taken at least 30 minutes from our hotel so we settled on a Lonely Planet suggestion of Ninja Crepes. It had reasonably affordable dishes of about $65 Baht or $2 USD per meal but left much to be desired.

We walked back along the main tourist road and stopped for a beer at Monkey Bar and enjoyed the live DJ and people watched.

Day 2:

We woke up early for our day of snorkeling in search of breakfast. Ko Samui is not a morning city and wakes up at about 10 am. We were able to find a street vendor serving hangover food in front of the 7-11 so we ordered two Pad Thai's to go.

Our snorkeling adventure was a well organized group and well worth the money spent. We took a high speed catamaran to Ko Nangyuan where we were transferred to a smaller boat that took us to Mango Beach on Ko Tao. It wasn't really a beach but a blue cove with water about 20-60 feet deep. We climbed off the boat and into the water for an hour and a half of fun. I was less than excited after having bad experiences in the past but once I was in I tried to relax and enjoy the experience. Unfortunately I had a dud of a mask rental so every couple of minutes it filled with water and I had to flip over like a seal and dump it. We tried everything to get it to stop but nothing seemed to work. I also had to remove my mouth piece so the snorkel would fit snugly, I only hoped nobody would spot me without it.

For lunch we returned to Ko Nangyuan and had two and a half hours to snorkel off the beach in two separate coves and hike to the summit.

After returning to Ko Samui in late afternoon we showered and headed out for dinner. We went to a Lebanese restaurant we found the night before and ate wonderful shawarma sandwiches and falafel. After our dinner we walked back on the beach.

Day 3:

Our last day in Ko Samui we just laid low. We had great plans for the day to go to other beaches, rent wave runners, and take in the beach but two things came in our way. One, Billy was a sucker and got us ropped into a time share presentation for over three hours (we didn't sign up). I think his smile and personality scream gullible because he attracts everyone wanting to sell stuff or make a deal. We ended up not getting out of this until 3pm so touring beaches and renting a wave runner was out of the question. One thing we did get out of the presentation was a recommindation for a great restaurant about 10 minutes away. The second thing that got in our way were cab fees. We wanted to go 10 minutes to the restaurant and they wanted 10 USD. We tried to negotiate and they wouldn't and even the tuk-tuk drivers wouldn't budge. After trying for almost an hour we gave up and had a Thai massage.

This was my favorite of the two since they really stretched my body and she used her weight to help manipulte my muscles. She was a tiny human foam roller. After our massages we stopped for dinner and had a drink and people watched.

What a wonderful adventure it was and we only hope to return some day to enjoy the other parts of the island. One thing that is hard is do you pick whether you should be in town or at a far away resort.