23rd June 2010

Today we just lazed around the pool. It was hot in the morning but rained at about 3pm so we decided to come back to our rooms and start packing for our early departure to Phuket in the morning.
Guy is meeting us tonight for dinner.
We meet Guy and his mates Wayne and Ali who have been travelling in Europe for the last 4 weeks. First to dinner. Al isn't feeling too well so decides to stay at the hotel. We went to Ninja's restaurant. I have read good reports about this restaurant and am looking forward to trying it. 6 of us with about 8 different meals and we are all disappointed. We had asked for Thai hot and we got very mild meals. Even meals that are supposed to be hot Red and Green curry are so mild that you have to put chillies with them, which shouldn't be necessary  Eating has been disappointing in Koh Samui. Thank goodness we are going back to Phuket tomorrow.

20th June 2010 Touring around the island

Today we hired a car and went around the island.
First we visited Grandmother and Granfather Rock. We parked the car in a car park and went to look for the rocks. We climbed up and down through rocks and over them. Up ladders and around. We finally found them and realised that we had taken the hard way around.

We had lunch at a lovely little place somewhere along the beach, I think at Laem Set.

Stopped for a drink at a restaurant that overlooked lots of long tailed boats and had a sign that we laughed at. Gotta love a Sirgapore Slirg.

Visited the Big Buddah and had another Banana pancake .

We did intend to visit the mumified monk but somehow we missed the turnoff.

22nd June Koh Tao

Today we are picked up at about 7.45 for our boat trip to Koh tao We have a quick breakfast at Petcherat Marina and then are herded onto our boat for the hour and 20 minute trip to the island. The sea is really rough and we get drenched. Al puts on a snorkel and mask because it is like we are having buckets of salt water thrown into our faces and our eyes are really stinging. I don’t think that I have ever been out when it is so rough. However nobody on board gets seasick.
We arrive at the island and are given snorkels and masks and told where we can go to observe the coral. There are quite a few people here the island is really pretty with a thin strip of sand joining two different islands.
The fish are really colourful and I wish that I had a underwater camera. Lots of different varieties small and big but the prettiest is the parrot fish with greens pinks and purple colours. We then go a short way to be picked up by utes where we sit in the back to be taken to a restaurant for lunch. We are all starving and have green chicken curry and omlette mixed vegetables and a pork dish. All very yummy.
We then go a little way around the island where the water is much calmer and anchor at a place called Lighthouse cove where we are to snorkel for about and hour and a half. The water is really deep and the bottom is covered in what looks like a million white coral trees, very sharp and pointy. Around the rocks is a beautiful garden of colourful coral. Lots of fish and I even saw an eel winding its way in amongst the coral to hide.
Back to the boat where we again battle the sea, this time with just our bathers on. It is really rough and at times I think we are not going to make it back to shore. The boat rolls and pitches and every few seconds we are swamped with water like someone is throwing a bucket over us. We are drenched and its not really funny any more.
We then go to an inlet that is part of Koh Phannang where we are given about 15 minutes to swim. I really just wanted to get back to the marina as I felt like I had been preserved in salt and couldn’t wait to have a shower and wash my hair.
Tonight we just walked around the corner for dinner We had dinner at a restaurant called Mini and the lady that ran it was lovely. The food like much else we have had in KS lacked any spice but was cheap and tasty.. As we were all exhausted it was only about 7pm and we were all ready for bed.

Friday 18th June 2010

Up early and a walk along the beach. We walked to see where Guy was going to stay. 7 hotels along from us. We then had a swim before breakfast. Yummy breaky.



We then just chilled out on the beach with swims every so often.

We were told that we could move to our new room at 2pm. This was all done without any fuss.



We all got burnt today even though there wasn’t any sun or not much.

Tonight we are going to collect our laundry and go to Bophut for the fisherman’s market.


Had dinner at Fishermans village in Shades restaurant. Dinner was 950bt for 2 and included. Steamed fish, crab in curry sauce, prawns in tamarind sauce and calamari. It was really hot sitting here eating but the views over the bay were lovely.

Thursday 17th June Koh Samui

Arrived in Koh samui about 3.30 pm. Very hot and humid.
Short drive to our hotel at about 500bt for a 4 wheel drive for 4 people.
Our resort is lovely, but our room is against the road which could be a bit noisy. I request another room and am told that we can move to one that is one back from the beach tomorrow. We are in room 803 and move to 618 which is just one back from the sand. The bed in our first room is enormous. But our second room has a normal king size one. Other than that the rooms are identical. Jude and Al are in the room next to us 617.

We venture out to get our washing done and find somewhere for dinner. Washing 40bt per kg. Much dearer than in CM where it was 20 to 25 bt.
Dinner just up the road very westernized but quite cheap.

16th June Doi Suthep and Tiger Temple

Today we tried to get the same driver that we had for the craft villages but he was not available and he sent his friend. His friend didn't have very good English but we made do.

We actually wanted to go to Tiger Temple first but with the language barrier we ended up at Doi Suthep. The views here were pretty good some low cloud but not too bad. On walking down the steps we saw the prettiest little hill tribe girl all dressed in pink. She would have been about 3 yo.

We got out our cameras to take a photo and as quick as a wink she demanded money.

On to Tiger temple where we are excited about having our photos taken with the baby tigers. We have previously been to tiger temple and had photos taken there with the bigger ones so this time just the babies. Jude and Al were going to have photos taken with both.

This place is so well organised and we didn't have long to wait for our photo session we had paid the extra amount of 300bt to have a photographer and we were so glad that we did. Our photos of the 4 week and 6 week old cubs are just beautiful. The photographer told us how to pose and also took natural shots. I really didn't want to leave the enclosure as the baby cubs were so cute.

Jude and Al then went for their photos with the bigger tigers while we went to the restaurant.

We all had a great lunch here.

Sunday 13th June 2010

Julian and I woke up at about 5am. We were still on Melbourne time. We decided that we would get up and go for a walk to familiarise ourselves with our surroundings. We had seen a restaurant called the Antique house on the map so we thought that we would go and see if we could find it. The streets were just coming alive and it was a lovely temperature. We realised that we weren’t very far from it so decided that we would go around the block crossing over the Ping river and along past all of the restaurants. We took lots of photos and looked at all of the restaurants and decided that we would book Deck one for dinner on Monday night. We then realized that we were not far from the flower markets and thought that we would get Judy some flowers. So we walked across the footbridge and bought some lovely roses and caught a tuk tuk back to the hotel.

 As we were running out of time we didn’t get to go back and look for Antique house.
After breakfast we enquired at the desk of the hotel about going to the handcraft villages. The receptionist told us that we could get a mini van for 200bt for as long as we wanted as long as we stayed in the same area. We left the hotel at about at about 9.15 and visited the silk village, where we bought lots of beautiful things. We then went to the  Umbrella village where I had my netbook cover and my camera cover painted.

Judy had her shorts, glasses case, netbook cover and camera case painted. We had to stop her as she was getting a bit carried away.

We then went to the world’s biggest jewellry store as they had a money exchanger but the rate wasn’t very good.

We bought a tiny Jade elephant charm here. Most of the jewellry was very overdone but it was beautiful. I really wanted to buy some Saa paper but the one that I had seen at the umbrella village in a yellow colour wasn’t to be found anywhere in the paper village. I really wanted it in a cream colour. We also went to the celendon factory where we bought some pepper and salt shakers in the shape of a lotus blossom. We arrived back at the hotel at about 3pm. All this for 200bt which is about $7.54. We did give a very generous tip.

After a short rest we had a beer and fruit shake at Café de Siam. We then hailed a tuk tuk to the walking market. 4 people squashed in a tuk tuk, what more can I say……

We bought lots of bargains at the market and didn’t push the bartering as the prices were so cheap. I got some lovely cotton scarves for 20 bt.

We also tried some grasshoppers, crickets and some sort of lavae.

Our feet were killing us so after having dinner at the far end of the market in a lovely little restaurant that had lovely trees and water features we walked back and caught another tuk tuk back to the hotel. Early start tomorrow for Flight of the Gibbon.