And Off Into The Sun

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We arrived in Bangkok late afternoon on the 6th. As we hadn't yet booked a place to stay, and we were only to be there for three nights, we actually booked a place from the Airport. This probably wasn't the cheapest way of doing things, but to be honest we didn't want another episode of Hong Kong walking the streets to find somewhere, with another 10-15 degrees added on to the outside temperature.
The hotel we got was fairly central and you certainly get a lot more for your money than in Hong Kong. The room was massive, with two double beds, and a kitchen area it felt more like apartment than a room!
We noticed immediately how different a city it is in comparison to Hong Kong. We had become used to seeing immaculate streets, which is totally the opposite in Bangkok. There are street stalls most pavements you walk down, selling various different types of both sweet and savoury foods. With these stalls being so close together the smells all conflict each other and you can really pin point what your actually smelling.
As part of our hotel booking at the airport we had been told that we were entitled to a free tour of the city by the agents colleague Nancy. We pretty much new how this was going to pan out before it began. Kinda like a posh Tuk Tuk tour around the varies jewelry and so called designer suit shops. Nancy came along with her driver to pick us up on our first full day in Bangkok around lunch time. We headed around a couple of the city's temples and then low and behold before you knew it we were in a Jewelry store. At one point we even ended up in a rug shop. Crazy, what would we want with rug! In the end after finally realising that we just didn't have the space to carry any purchases, Nancy and her driver dropped us back to the hotel around 4pm. All in all it was worth going, and funny because we immediately knew the ulterior motive for the trip.

On the fourth evening in Bangkok, we headed for the central train station to catch the night train bound for Koh Samui. I love travelling on the train through Thailand, the fact that you can simply hang out the doors at you glide through the night has always seemed to appeal to me. Rob however is not a fan of long journeys. Cursing from the moment we got on, it was clear it wasn't living up to his expectations. There were couple of lads a similar age to us in the next cabin so after a while we all headed down to the drinks carriage where we me up with a few more travellers and proceed to drink the night away.

We arrived in Surat Thani the next morning, then had to change to a bus for a hour, although this part of the trip was a bit of a blur from waking hungover. The final part of the trip was a small ferry journey to Samui, which took about 2 hours, most of which I slept across three chairs.
Now fortunately Samui is one of the few places along our travels that we already have a place to stay. Over the past five or so years my parents have visited Thailand and Malaysia on their holidays a few times, and in 2005 decided to invest in a villa to rent out on Samui. Now I have seen various photos of the place and it looked absolutely stunning, but to date I hadn't had the chance to visit. Needless to say I was keen to finally arrive.
Seeing in real life, made me realise that photos can only do so much. Over looking the sea with an infinity pool in-front of the balcony we quickly came to the conclusion we were going to enjoy our stay.
As the with a lot of villas, it is situated out of town, so we needed to hire a car in order to get anywhere, there was nothing withing walking distance as such. We ended up with a large Mitsubishi L200, which we considered a right touch, as we had only requested an economy vehicle!
With our new set of wheels at our disposal we headed out to explore the island. Being in the north west, we were in a relatively quiet area. The small town Maeman was fine for evening meals but that was going to be about it in terms of the night life. All the action in Samui takes place in the area of Chewang on the East Coast. I'd say it's more functional then picturesque. With rows and rows of English bars and hotels and the busy beach area there plenty to do, but minus the Thais, you could mistake yourself for being somewhere on the Spanish coast.
On our way back we discovered the rather large Tescos that we'd heard about, and did the food run. This seemed to take an age and we weren't really surprised that it was dark by the time we got back outside.
There is one main road that runs round Samui and although not actually that long in length, the surface is poor and can get fairly congested so a full lap can take about an hour and a half or so. The middle of the island is very mountainous, and although there are roads on the map, 90% of these you cant call cross-able roads, unless you have a big 4x4. Our L200 was only two wheel drive, but believe me we tried. Some we conquered but some the old just girl had no chance, especially is you add a bit of rain into the equation!
On our third day in Samui I set of for the pier in the morning to pick up my friend Matt Pink and his girlfriend Dawn. They had set of for travelling about a month before we had and had spent that time in Thailand. They were on the short boat trip from Koh Pan Nagn where they had spent a week or enjoying the night life.
It was nice to see some familiar faces and catch up on travel stories. Over the next week we spent time exploring the island and chilling by the pool. The very few times it was sunny I might add. In the evening we split between eating and going out. Having a proper kitchen meant it was nice to actually be able to cook your own meal as and when you like it. Most of the time when away we only have a bedroom, thus no cooking facilities, so we seldom get the opportunity to cook for ourselves. You may not think that eating out all the time can get boring, but believe me it can! Sometime all you want is a home cooked meal.
On the 20th of December we had to leave the Villa as there was a booking from people that were actually going to pay the proper money to stay there. It was always on the understanding that we would ship out if others wanted to use the place and that was obviously cool with us, we considered ourselves lucky to be there at all.
All four of us moved over to Chewang. Matt and Dawn had booked right through to the 3rd of Jan, then they would leave for Malaysia, whilst we booked to leave for the other side of Thailand on boxing day. Not that we had anywhere to stay over there at this point though!
Over the past week or so we had spent time on the net tyring to book accommodation for New Year. This was proving a hard task with every request coming back as full. To try and overcome this our first day in Chewang was spent going up and down the street into the many travel agency's. After most on them simply pretty much laughing and saying not a chance, we found one place that looked a little harder and managed to find us a room. It meant we had to slightly altar the locations we stayed in but so be it, having somewhere at all was the main thing. On walking back from town, Rob heard his name being called. It turned out to be a friend (another Matt) we both new from back home. He and his girlfriend Carla had been travelling for a couple of months already, which we were completely unaware of. Small world!! Spent the afternoon in a bar along the strip catching up. The next two evenings, all six of us ate out and enjoyed drinks on the beach.

Christmas came and went with very little in the way of festive celebrations. Thais don't celebrate Christmas as such and anything that does go on is more for the tourists benefit than their own. We enjoyed Christmas eve with Matt and Dawn and another guy we knew and had randomly bumped into, by chance from home the day before, Andrew Chalk. Like I said, small world.
Christmas day was pretty quiet, spent on the beach as it was the first sunny day after what felt like ages without constant cloud looming overhead.

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Photos

Final Approach!
After a long journey through the night, we eventually arrive on Samui Island.

Ocean Views
The view from the top balcony at the villa in Samui. If you look to the right hand side, you will see Rob is demonstrating a good way to spend the day!

Matt and Dawn
Taking a well earned rest for a photo on our trek to the top of Namang Falls

Main Bedroom
Fairly certain this will be the best room im going to get to stay in during the time away!

Magic Gargens
In the middle of the island lies the Magic Gardens. All these statues have been created by one guy, and he didn't start on them till the age of 90!

Views from the top!
After the 80 metre climb, the views we well worth the effort, there was also cool swimming area up here.

Lunch by the sea
One of the mainly small village resturants located right on the water!