Life is a Journey

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Well they say life is a journey! I am truly on a journey and really interested to see what life has planned for me....

This time in Koh Samui has been relaxing, and a great time to settle and just enjoy going with the flow, which some of you will know I am not always that good at!! So I am sitting on a ferry on my way to Surathani, where we will be picking up a car and then driving around exploring for the next few days, ending up in Bangkok on Friday to catch my plane, early, early on Saturday morning back to Australia, via Vietnam. A bit of a round about trip, but I get another day in Hanoi and so it will be good for last minute shopping and eating of some more yummy Vietnamese food. But first some stories of my time in Koh Samui.

The time has been spend exploring on the bike the island, and coming across little restaurants and bars in quiet places and eating food in places that maybe we shouldn’t have!! But it seems I have a cast iron constitution and have had no problems with the food or ice in the drinks, touch wood, I have another week to go!!

We went for a ride and ended up on a small beach with just one bar. It was in the process of being built and was owned by a French guy who called his bar “French Kiss”. It is going to be an amazing place, right on the beach with a view of Coral Island and a wonderful beach with long boats lining up. We ended up booking a tour to Coral Island to do some snorkelling for the next day, and that way we could also check the progress of the bar. He had heaps of Belgium beer and I think it will be a popular place and I would love to set up a little cafe right beside him as I think this will become a new place for the tourists to visit and will eventually become developed up!!

On the way back from this stop we found a little roadside cafe, they just seem to pop up anywhere and the Thai people are eating there so we thought we would give it a try. The food was great, though I have no idea what we ate, apart from some BBQ chicken that we saw being cooked. There were only warm drinks, so it was either have ice or have luke warm drinks, so I braved the ice. The lady didn’t speak English so when I was trying to order food, I just pointed to the Thai people eating and said “I will eat whatever that is”. Somehow she worked that out and she presented me with a wonderful meal, and for $6.00 for two that was pretty amazing.

After that lunch we went off road on the bikes, well we started on the road, got to the top of a massive hill and then Peter had a brillant idea, “lets walk down to the beach”.... Well hello, when you walk down a hill, you have to walk back up it!! But anyway we took off down the hill on foot, just as well we would never have good the bikes back up again, it was a 45 degree angle down and much to scary for me to try and ride. It was well worth the walk down as we came upon a wonderful little beach, and a perfect place for a swim and relax. Then came the walk back up – all I can say is I made it and it made the 1000 steps look like a walk in the park.

Closer to the resort we stopped at another cafe, where the staff had called out to us on the way out and said hello so I thought, well it’s time for a mango shake anyway so we should give them a go.

It is here that we met Mam who is the owner and the chef at this restaurant. She is an amazing lady who really is a great salesperson and knows how to market her business. She immediately made me feel welcome and at home and it became sort of our local place to eat the best seafood in Koh SamuiI think!! We started that day with Prawn Spring rolls, just as afternoon tea, and quickly agreed to come back that evening for a dinner of fresh fish and a cooking lesson for me! We went back that evening and had the most amazing food, prawns and calamari in pepper sauce, fresh fish in oyster sauce and stir fried vegetables (which I got to cook!!). I don’t think Peter has seen me ever eat as much as I did that night!! So at the end of that dinner, we talked Mam into having a Friday night BBQ of seafood and said we would be back!!

The weather had been unsettled for a couple of days, still really warm but a bit overcast, and that evening there was a massive storm that looked amazing in the glass room watching the black storm clouds roll in and the wind and waves crashing around, quite spectacular. Has not been good for sunset shots!!

On Friday morning we headed back to the French Kiss restaurant to be picked up for our longboat ride out to Coral Island and some snorkelling. The sea was looking a bit rough after the storm and so we were not sure we would be going out, but when we got around to the other side of the island it was calm so we jumped in the boat and it took us out to an great spot where we snorkelled and saw some brillant fish, including a couple of stingrays which I was happy to steer clear of. After a couple of hours we decided to head back as the breeze was blowing up and it was a bit of a rough trip back but still a great way to spend the day. We headed into Nathon for some shopping and stopped at our favourite market on the way back to sample some of the local delicacies and also to have our fruit shake which we are becoming addicted too!!

That evening it was another fantastic array of seafood and Mam had managed to get quite a few people to attend the BBQ and she thinks I am good luck for her restaurant as the BBQ was a great success. And the food never ends, and at the end we had the best mango sticky rice ever. See what I mean this trip is all about food, food and more food!!! After this meal, Mam talked us into coming back on Sunday night, our last night for a Lobster dinner that she would get in fresh just for us!! What a salesperson, we of course agreed and she arranged to have us picked up so there was no need to ride the bikes home after just a few drinks!!

On Saturday it was a sad day as we had to give up our bikes, I had become quite attached to my red speed machine, yeah right, 60kms tops, but still it feels fast!!!! We did a bit more exploring on the way to dropping the bikes off and stopped at a little roadside cafe, bought a shrimp and vegetable fritter and a bag of banana fritters and went and sat down on the beach to eat lunch. This lunch cost us about $1.20 for two, and it was a lovely way to end our bike riding adventures!! We did sit in a bar in Lamai for awhile watch a massive storm roll in and then went to an Aussie bar for a drink, but were happy to jump on a Baht bus, after a banana pancake and head back to the resort. It was an exhausting day, ended up quietly sitting on the beach for the evening just enjoying the peace and quiet.

Sunday was our last full day in Koh Samui and we had booked a dive tour for Peter and a snorkelling one for me. The day dawned sunny and beautiful and we headed off on a slow boat to the national park for a day of sun and swimming. On the boat I met up with a Belgian girl and we spent the afternoon talking and talking and talking about life. It was amazing the things we talked about as we had only just met, but I guess that happens sometimes you just click and we had a lovely time. Jumping off the boat every now and then, after we had done some snorkelling to cool down. Oh dear, who forgot to top up the sunscreen coating!! Little bit red by the end of the day, but it had been a wonderful day and a great way to spend our last day. Of course the day was topped off by dinner at Mam’s who had made us a wonderful lobster dish, with yellow curried king prawns and vegetables! Spoilt me for life now, and Mam has made me promise to come back next year, (well why wouldn’t you, I think we were her best customers this week!!) Also she wants photo’s of my children and house and for me to send her photo’s of us that we took together. It was great to meet her and learn some of her cooking skills.

Now back to the start of the blog, on a ferry to the mainland, and we will pick up a car and head – well who knows where????? All we know is that we have booked accommodation in Bangkok for Friday night, we may end up in Krabi, or Khao Lak or even Phuket.........

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Photos

Cooking Lesson
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