Koh Samui, Surat Thani Province, Thailand

5th July – 8th July 2018

After running from van to bus stop and back to van again, in the rain, we were on our way to Koh Samui. Although it was portrayed as a short journey, this wasn’t exactly true, which I guess I should have expected.

It took us about two hours to get to Surat Thani town, where we were dropped off at a different bus station and given tickets for the ferry. We then had to wait forty-five minutes for another bus to the ferry port, which was about fifty minutes away.

When we arrived at the port, we only had to wait a short time before we could get onto the ferry and be on our way across the water to our latest island. During the journey, I took a little nap to pass some time, as the journey was an hour and a half long and we were surrounded by Russians who were getting drunk and trying to talk to us in Russian.

After leaving the bungalow in Khao Sok before 9, we finally arrived on the island of Koh Samui at 2.30! We had prepaid for a transfer as we didn’t know what to expect when we got to the port and we were too tired to haggle with people. This was a good decision, as we got straight into the van and were the only ones who had booked this, so we were off straight away and didn’t have to do any stops along the way. However, on the way, we did see some elephants just casually walking down the road – I wish I had my camera handy!

Just before 3.30, we arrived at our hotel, finally! We checked in and were shown to our room, which was a cute little bungalow away from the main road, although it was a bit basic. The first thing we did when we arrived, was get all our soggy clothes and shoes out of the bags and get them rinsed so that we could dry them properly – they smelt awful!

We soaked the clothes, before hanging them out, going to get a quick sandwich from 7/11 for lunch, as we hadn’t eaten in a while. Once the clothes were out, we sat on our little porch for a while, until the rain was back and spraying us – we weren’t hopeful that the clothes would ever dry.

After a little rest, we went back out for a walk to see what was around. I was a little bit disappointed with how touristy the area is. Although I don’t know what I expected of Thailand, I know it wasn’t to be this touristy.

Once we had walked up the street, we went back to do some research for the next couple of days. We chilled out and did a little bit of planning for our final few weeks, before the rain came down again, even heavier.

We waited for the rain to settle a little before heading out for dinner. In the end, we just put our rain coats on (which had only just dried) and went out. Joe had done some research for dinner places and we had been told about the street food market, but we thought it was too wet for that.

We ended up at the place that Joe had found and both ordered different dishes. I ordered sweet and sour, but it just tasted like canned tomato sauce, it wasn’t nice at all, which was a shame. Joe’s was okay, but nothing special.

As a compromise, I was allowed an ice cream afterwards, which I ate while we walked to the street markets, as the rain had stopped and we wanted to check them out for the next couple of nights. When we got there, we wished that we had just waited for the rain to pass, but it was too late by this point and we still had two more nights.

After our walk, we went back to the bungalow hut and settled down for the night. We caught up on a few bits, did some planning and research and then played cards until we fell asleep.

The next morning, we didn’t have much planned, so treated ourselves to another lie in. I was awake at 8, as usual, but Joe slept in until about 9 when I woke him. We got up and ready, and set off out for some breakfast.

As it was our first time properly exploring the Lamai area of Koh Samui, we weren’t really sure where we were going. We set off in the opposite direction to where we went the day before and eventually found a bakery (we knew one was in that direction, we just had to find it). We both ordered a pan au chocolat and sat and enjoyed it in the café area.

Once we had finished, we made our way back, in the direction of the hotel. Just before the hotel, was the turning for the beach, so we took that and headed down. We didn’t know what to expect from the beaches in Koh Samui, as we knew it was a little busier than other areas in Thailand, but we were still in low season.

It was quite a surprise to step onto a very busy beach. Although it was clean, so I didn’t care about how many people were there. We walked along a little bit and found a place to set up. After getting our towels out, we lay down and chilled out.

After not very long, I got up because I couldn’t stand just lying there, I went for a swim in the sea and was shortly joined by Joe. The sea was also pleasant: it was clean and warm (once we were in) and it didn’t feel too salty. We floated and enjoyed the rest for a while, before getting out and drying off.

Back on the beach, we lay down for a bit and dried off, but I soon got bored of just sitting on the beach, so we decided to go for a walk. We packed up our things and headed off down the beach. The weather was perfect for us, as it wasn’t too hot and it was quite overcast, so we didn’t have the sun beating down on us.

After walking to the end of the beach, we stopped for a rest. It was much nicer down at the end of the beach, there were lots of big rocks and rock pools and it wasn’t too busy. We sat and rested and re-suncreamed, sitting in the shade for a while.

Once the cream had soaked in and we were ready to set off again, we made our way inland to the roads, as the beach had ended. We went to the shop to get a drink to refresh and popped into a couple of travel shops to price up our next transfers and see about a day trip. As we were quite a distance from our hotel, we didn’t book anything, but it was good to know some prices.

From here, we made our way to Hin Ta and Hin Yai (grandma and grandad rocks). We had both read about these, as something to see and as they weren’t too far from where we were, so we made the trip. However, when we got there, we weren’t too sure what we were looking at, as there were lots of rock formations, so I just took photos of everything. As we were leaving, we found an information board explaining the story behind the rocks and that they were formed after two people had died at sea, going out to meet their sons new wife. It didn’t quite make complete sense to us – it was a strange one!

After seeing the rock formations, we wanted to go to the view point, but it was unfortunately closed. I think this was because it was quite windy, but nothing was there to tell us why. While going to take our polaroid of the day, at the rock formations, the polaroid ran out of battery and the spares were back in the hotel room, so we decided to head back there.

We walked back along the beach, enjoying the views and beauty of it all. When we got back we changed the batteries and dropped our things off, before going to book some things, before it got too late.

In the travel shop, we booked transfers, including ferry and bus tickets to our next stop, and booked a day trip for the next day. It was a little more expensive than we had hoped, but I wanted to see the Ang Thong Marine National Park (it was one thing that persuaded us to visit Koh Samui). Plus, I couldn’t spend another day around the beach.

Once we had sorted that out, we went back to the beach for a few hours. We put on more sun cream and just took the necessities, leaving the expensive stuff in the room so that we didn’t need to worry about it when we were in the sea.

When we got to the beach, we set up again and lay out for a bit. I think we both took a mini power nap while we were lay there and when we woke up, we needed a swim. We got into the sea, but my body started stinging and I noticed I was a little pink. I’m not sure how that happened, as we had been careful with the sun cream and it wasn’t even a sunny day, particularly, so it was strange.

After getting out of the sea, we decided to go back to the hotel to have showers, as my whole body was stinging now.

Once we were back and showered, I felt much better, but I noticed how pink my body was. It was very annoying, as it was the first time all year that I had sun burnt, so I put it down to the rubbish new Thai sun cream that we had bought in Ao Nang. We chilled out for a bit on our porch, cooling down and letting after sun soak in, before heading out for dinner.

Just as we were about to head out, the rain started to come down, so we waited a little more. Luckily, it was only a short shower, so we were soon on our way to the street food market.

When we got there, we looked at the stalls again and decided where we wanted to eat. I liked the look of one from the night before, but it was shut when we got there, so I had to choose a different place. We both went to the same stall and it was cooked freshly for us, which was good to see. I ordered a massaman curry (which is definitely my favourite) and Joe got yellow noodles, as he had seen someone else order them and they looked good.

When the food was ready, it didn’t disappoint. Both dishes were so tasty and we definitely chose well. We were sat outside eating, so were just hoping that the rain would stay away for us. When we finished, we decided to head back, stopping at the shop for a drink and some treats, for during the football, on the way.

Back at the room, we chilled out and I managed to catch up on some blog work. We got ourselves sorted for the day trip the next day (as it was an early start), before it was time for the football. We put the football on the laptop and as it was only France vs Uruguay, I wasn’t particularly interested, so fell asleep during the game.

When it finished, we put everything away and went to bed, ready for our early alarm to go to the national park.

When the alarm went off at 6.45, we got up and ready and packed everything that we needed for our day trip. We went out to the reception area for 7.30, where the driver was waiting for us, to take us to the pier.

On the way, we stopped and picked up others, who weren’t ready on time and didn’t seem bothered about keeping us waiting. One family even looked at us waiting and then went to get breakfast, even though their hotel had pre-packed them breakfast for the bus – it was weird. We eventually arrived at the pier just after 8.30, where we checked onto the boat and soon after, we set off.

As we were nursing some pretty bad sunburn, we made sure that we stayed under the cover for the boat trip and were in the shade whenever possible. There was fruit and tea and coffee available for breakfast when we arrived, so that was good.

After about an hour and a half, the boat stopped, so that whose who had paid extra could get off and kayak. We had considered this option, but it was a lot more money and we’ve done a lot of kayaking on our trip so far and know how difficult it is, especially in the sea, so we gave it a miss.

The boat carried on to the island, where we got onto a long boat to take us over. The island was called Mae Koh Island, and had a salt water lagoon in the middle of it. We had to take a walk up some very steep steps to see the lagoon, but it was worth it.

At the top, we had views on one side of the emerald lagoon, and on the other, the rest of the marine national park. It was beautiful, and we were luckily there earlier than most other boats, so it was quite quiet, meaning we could get some photos.

Once we had enjoyed the views, we walked down towards the lagoon, but we weren’t allowed to swim in it, so we just enjoyed closer views, before continuing back to the beach. It was a very steep and narrow path up and down to the viewpoints, so it was difficult, especially in the heat.

Back at the bottom, we had time to chill on the beach until the kayakers had arrived and had chance to do the walk. We were told to be ready for 12, but 12 soon came and went and we didn’t quite leave on time.

Soon after 12, we got into the long boat again and were off back to the main boat. When we got there, lunch was ready, so we were handed a plate with a spring roll and chicken leg on, and sent to the buffet to help ourselves to rice and salads.

We ate lunch on the top deck, while the boat carried on to our next stop. Our eyes were a little bigger than our bellies, as we couldn’t eat it all, but we managed most of it before the boat stopped at Wua Talap Island (known as sleeping cow island, as it apparently looks like one from above).

After getting onto another long tail boat, we made our way onto the island, where we were told our options: we could either swim, snorkel or hike to a viewpoint of the whole national park. We were also told that there weren’t many things to see while snorkelling and we didn’t want to be in the sea because of our sunburn, plus the hike sounded really good, so we took that option.

It was a little more strenuous than I first thought. There were lots of steps up to the top and it was steep – 500m up didn’t sound much, but it was! Luckily, there were a few rest points along the way, all of which had beautiful views of the islands in the national park.

After about half an hour, we made it to the top and it was so worth it. There was only one other couple when we got to the top, so it was ideal. We took some photos and asked them to take one of us, but it was a poor effort of us with sea as a background, missing the beautiful islands – I guess that’s the risk you take when you ask strangers to take your photo.

We didn’t stay long at the top as the sun was beating down and there was no shade, so we started our descent after getting some pictures. It was a little easier on the breath going down but the rocky steps made it difficult. We made it to the bottom in just under an hour in total, which was pretty good going apparently.

Back at the bottom, we had about forty minutes left until we had to be back on the boat. We stayed in the shade for the whole time, as we just wanted to protect our sunburn. We went into the visitor’s centre, where there was a whale carcass that had washed up onto the beach on the island in 2003.

After a quick look around the one room that made up the visitor’s centre, we sat on the steps outside for a while, to cool off in the shade. After a little bit longer, we made our way to the beach. The sand was so soft and white, and it was just so inviting. We set up the sarong under the shade of a coconut tree and sat for a while, enjoying the views.

Just before 2.30, we were called back to the long boat, to go back to the main boat, to head back towards Koh Samui. Once we were on the boat, we knew we had a long trip ahead of us, so we got the cards out and filled the time playing multiple games.

Two hours passed and we arrived back at the port in Koh Samui. We got off the boat and were loaded back onto our minivans, to go back to our hotels. As we were first to be collected, it was understandable that we were last to be dropped off, but it was a little annoying as I was desperate for the toilet.

When we got back, we went straight back to the room to chill for a while. We both had showers and caught up on a few bits. I facetimed home for a while, which was nice, before we went out for dinner.

As it was the England World Cup quarter final, we had planned to have dinner a little later, so that we could stay out and watch the football afterwards. We went to the night market again for tea, and tried food from a different stall. The food was still good, but I preferred the curry from the first stall.

After we had finished, we had about an hour until the match kicked off, so we took our time wandering up and down, trying to find a good place, with cheap drinks, and a football screen. We didn’t want to find somewhere too soon, as that would mean that we spent more money, so we took our time.

All of the bars we saw seemed expensive, as they were all western bars and in the touristy spots. As we wandered down a street we hadn’t been down yet, we found a different bar that Joe had read about online. We had a quick look in there and liked the look of it, so sat down.

In the bar, we had our own private mini sofa and a great view of the screen, ready for the match to begin. We still had about half an hour to go, so we got the cards out again, to keep ourselves entertained.

When the match started, the music went off and the TV sound came on, which would have been great if it wasn’t in Thai. It still created a bit of atmosphere though. It was quite a split bar of English and Swedish fans, so there wasn’t too much cheering after the goals, but it was much nicer being on the winning side.

Once the match had finished, we paid up and walked back to the hotel. We didn’t realised how late if was, especially in comparison to normal! We stayed up for a bit and caught up on the football buzz on social media, before going to bed around 1am.

Our transfer to our next destination wasn’t collecting us until 11.30, so we had long morning to chill out and get ready. We had a lie in, before getting up and packing. Once we were ready, we sat out on our porch and enjoyed the peace and quiet. We also went for a walk to buy some snacks, as we knew we had a long journey ahead of us, to Hua Hin.

When 11.30 came, the bus transfer came straight to our bungalow door, which was handy. We loaded our bags and got in, and were on our way back to the port.

Koh Samui was a warm and welcoming few days after the rainy jungle. Although it was very touristy, the beach was nice and clean and it was a perfect gateway to the beautiful Ang Thong Marine National Park. The sunburn was annoying, but that wasn’t the islands fault, we’ll just blame that on cheap, Thai sun cream. As we head further north, we are expecting the weather to not be as good, but we hope the scenery will continue to impress.

To travel is to live, Katie x