A touch of Paradise
Trip Start
Dec 23, 2004
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Trip End
Jan 02, 2005
Koh Samui,
Thailand
Friday, December 31, 2004
We flew down to Surat Thani on the morning of the 27th December. From the airport, we bused into Ban Don pier and caught a ferry across to Koh Samui. This plane/bus/ferry combo was much easier than we were expecting - or that Lonely Planet had made it out to be! Our plan of attack was to relax for the following 5 days and relax we did! The weather was beautiful the entire stay. We stayed at Chaweng beach. After a late realisation that we should probably pre-book a hotel before arriving since it was peak season (Doh!), hours at the Internet cafe in Nagoya, many many - sorry we are full's we had to take the only place that had vacancies. Arrived at the gate of the bungalows riding a crazy open air truck, crammed with people - tourists, locals with shopping, school kids munching on fried things and even a boozed guy - some sitting on seats, some sitting on crates in the middle and some standing on the back and holding onto the roof, suitcases all on the top of the truck
Beers at the Bungalow
. This is yet another example of travelling that may not go down too well with NZs public transport standards? When you think of staying on a tropical island you think cute bungalow, views of the sea, palm trees, sand - we arrived at our bungalow only to find that there was a mis-booking so we had been landed with a pokey, unclean double room, mankey bathroom, no sea or beach in view, no palm trees, only a very loud girly bar 10m from our room and the sound of cars, bikes and shopping tourists. Not at all happy! Dan and I took one look at each other, dumped our bags, grabbed our wallets, locked the room and started the search for a new place to stay. We went into every reasonable looking place we could see. Being 4 days before New Year they were all booked out solid. Luckily we finally found a bungalow at the Long Beach Lodge and we could transfer there the following day. This bungalow was just perfect - standalone, marble floors, super king bed, spacious bathroom (with loo paper, soap, shampoo!) and clean! The porch had 2 seats and a table perfect for unwinding after the day in the sun with a couple of cold Changs and chippys gazing at the beach and to the sea. Unfortunately we had 1 night of no sleep on the most uncomfortable beds ever listening to the noise from the girly bar to all hours of the morning. Basically our days here involved breakfast followed by a walk down the beach, sitting in the sun, swimming, eating some more, beaching some more, a spot of shopping, eating some more, drinking cocktails on the beach with a Thai entree watching the sunset then finding some dinner elsewhere with some more cocktails and even an Elvis show one night!
Chaweng Beach
. Once again the food never disappointed and we managed to stay away from green curry! Dan even found a kiwi lamb roast meal with all the trimmings! Couldnt get me away from the Thai tastes and I had to try the Thai pizza. The seafood in Koh Samui was the best I have ever tasted - so fresh and tasty especially the giant tiger prawns cooked on the BBQ with a Thai dipping sauce. I think I had the best meal I have ever had at a posh looking restaurant overlooking the beach - Now thats a big call! It was a Thai noodle dish with thick flat glass noodles, fresh seafood and all the Thai flavours -fresh chilli, basil, coriander, lime, lemongrass - just amazing! The fresh fruit is also worth a mention. Vendors walking down the beach with baskets of fresh mango, pineapple, coconut and bananas - only 20B and sliced right there and then, ready to eat. We did drag ourselves away from the Beach for 1 day and went on the Blue Stars day trip to Koh Angthong National Marine Park. This is where the film The Beach was filmed and it was as picture perfect amazing as it looked in the movie. We kayaked around a few of the islands, snorkeled (however couldn't see much that day) and just floated in the sea. Also walked up the hill to see the famous Emerald lake which is a lake. After a lot of kayaking (and Dan was in the back seat just lapping up the scenery!) it was back to the Lodge for a well deserved 1 hour long Thai massage watching the sun set.
New Years eve was a bit of a let down really. The service standards just went out the window and service was soooo slow, the food was not as good, cocktails were not as good. We were starting to feel pretty exhausted after all the sunning. Our Lodge had forgotten to tell the guests that they were hosting the BIG NYs all night party which went until 8am in the morning! No sleep at all just had to lie and listen to 'oonce oonce oonce' all night! Many very angry customers at breakfast! Apart from that - our stay there was great and the bungalow was exactly what i had imagined for my 1st stay on a tropical island.
