Ko Samui
Trip Start
Aug 12, 2008
1
9
26
Trip End
Nov 21, 2008
Ko Samui,
Thailand
Friday, September 12, 2008
Wed 10/Sept:
We had a flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani, and then caught a boat from this little port town to Ko Samui. Originally we were gonna skip out of this island, but it was so convenient to travel to, and so we figured we'd give it a
few nights.
When we got there, it was bigger than we thought
the fabled khao san road
. The main strip is like a Huntington Beach, packed with tourists, a long stretch of crowded beach, and overwhelming choice of bungalows and hotels. We were stopped by a German guy who claimed he was from Hawaii, and before we knew it, I was on a moto-bike with him to his bungalow up in the mountains to scope it out for Lauren and I. It turned out to be a great find. Tucked away from the mayhem, and in a grove of swaying palm trees, we had ourselves a mini-home. By far the nicest place we've stayed at so far, and still pretty cheap. The first night rained pretty hard, we ordered in, played a bunch of guitar, read some books, and just relaxed. It was exactly what we wanted for our start.
Thurs 11/Sept:
We knew we wanted to get to Ko Tao, had no info on the boats. Note that if you're travelling to the Thai Islands, there is a lot of transportation between the islands, but the private charters are about 3 times as much, and half as safe, the longtail boats. So we had banked on these (or I had), and when we found out this news, we decided to spend another day in Ko Samui, for we had missed the once a day boat to Ko Tao in the morning.
that´s my girl
A day in Ko Samui isn't a wasted day by any means. It's the biggest, most populated, tourist destined island, but still maintains its beauty. Sort of like visiting a mini version of Waikiki, Oahu. We had rented a motorbike, I loved zooming this thing around. We got all over the south island relatively fast. Usually hurrying to dodge the rain. We took a long walk on the beach, the first Thai beach we'd been on at this point.
The evening was spent at the most beautiful restauarant, a reall good find. We just had some drinks overlooking the entire beaches of Hat Chaweng and Hat Lamai. The water was still as could be, and the sunset, while behind the western mountains, still turned the ocean really cool colors. All the way out here, they were playing Jack Johnson tunes, made us feel right at home. I figured if I was staying for a month or so, I'd definitely set up in the corner, and rock some acoustics right off the clifftop.
It was a pretty mellow day, we had a great dinner in town, a funny juxtaposition. Food eateries setup on the street fit for families and backpackers alike, and right next to the tables setup under strings of lights, were 6 circular outdoor bars, with a stage in the middle, for pole dancers and the like. It was classic, you're sitting there with families from all over the world, enjoying fried rice and fried noodle with chicken, and about 20 ft to your left some "ladybar" is blaring the latest hip hop, with ooglers circling it. OK, so this is the scene here, OK. I had like 4 meals. Kidding.
Fri, 12/Sept:
We got the morning boat to Ko Tao, once we got there, we realized why we came, a perfect little island.
