I hadn’t booked ahead for
accommodation on Koh Samui, relying on the advice of my ‘Rough Guide to South East Asia’. I randomly picked the ‘Your Place
Resort’ as it was cheap and cheerful and on the beach at Chaweng. Chaweng is
the main hub of activity on the island and not really the place that you would
choose to get away from things, but that didn’t bother me too much, as a solo
traveler having stuff to do isn’t a bad thing.
The
bungalows were pretty much what they said on the tin: basic - but adequate. I’m
sure there was probably better for cheaper elsewhere but I certainly had no
complaints. I was in a fan cooled room a stones throw from the sea for 600 Baht
a night (almost 10 pounds). No TV or hot water, but neither were actually
required. I even found a working WiFi link in my bungalow, I’m not sure where
it was from but it was handy.
The beach
in Chaweng is long and lined with hundreds of resorts of varying standards of
opulence, Having walked the length of it I think the restaurant and pub at our
cheapy resort was probably one of the nicest.
I booked a
four hour island tour which took us in a rickety mini-bus around some of the
sights which included:
- ‘a viewpoint’ back towards the
beaches.
- the ‘Glandfather’ and
‘Glandmother’ (our tour guides words) rocks which show a remarkable
resemblance to the male and female anatomical differences
- a monkey show where a trained
monkey demonstrated his skills at picking coconuts.
- the ‘mummified monk’, a 79 year
dead mummified monk on display in a glass box, seated and dressed in
orange robes and sunglasses to hide the empty eye sockets.
- a rather pricey elephant trek
half way up to a waterfall that none of us walked to due to the
combination of incline, heat,
humidity and laziness.
- Another Buddist Temple
and a couple of rather spectacular Budda’s.
After a day
of doing very little I booked myself on a day excursion to the Mu Koh Angthong
National Marine Park situated to the north
west of Koh Samui. It consists of 42 quite stunning
islands. We had an opportunity to explore an inland lagoon connected to the sea
by an underground tunnel too narrow for humans to get through. It was amazing
to see quite large sea fish in what appeared to be an inland lake. I went
snorkeling on a shallow coral reef, but the visibility wasn’t good. I met up
with a German couple who I’d also been on the Koh Samui tour with. They were
kind enough to act as photographers for me as I’d dropped and destroyed my
camera the previous evening.
I’d thought
about heading to the Khao
Sok National
Park on the mainland but getting there seemed to
be a bit of a mission so I took the easy option and booked myself a flight to
Phuket instead.
Koh Samui
Airport is fantastic. It looks quite new
and seems to have virtually no walls. From check it you walk down a tree lined
concourse to the departures area, the concourse is lined with retail outlets.
The departures lounge has a roof but again no walls. There are complimentary
snacks and drinks for all, and you get taken to the plane in an old fashioned
trolley car. I wish I’d got there earlier.
