Koh Samui

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Koh Samui!

We woke up (again) at the ridiculous hour of 4.30am from our guesthouse in Kuala Lumpa and brewed a cuppa to get the brain functioning enough to pack and get into the taxi... which at 4.55 we discover hadn't actually been booked! Somewhere along the line, the asking of "can you arrange a taxi" and the answer of "ok pickup is at 5am", the happy-go-lucky receptionist negated to actually call the cabbie!

Fortunately, their driver was awake and in the area, so after 10 minutes of pacing around, he wizzed up to the hostel, threw our bags in, and drove at breakneck speed across KL weaving and undertaking cars, trucks, motorcycles and even an ambulance!

Needless to say, we arrived in time to check in and go grab a much needed Mcdonalds breakfast! A sausage egg muffin never tasted so good :-)

So by 9am we slowly shuffled through immigration in Phuket, which must have been the slowest queue ever. It was't that long - maybe 30 people, but it was so slow that two other aeroplanes came in after us, and all their passengers passed by in other queues! When we eventually got near to the desk, we looked around and there was noone behind or in any other desk. It set the scene for a very slow day!

We'd read nothing great about the whole Phuket region, therefore decided to bypass it altogether and get to Koh Samui early to get the wedding preparations underway. The friendly tour operator ladies advised us that they could get us on the 2pm bus to Surat Thani, connecting with the overnight ferry. It was now 9.30am. But we had little else to do, we'd waited a hell of a lot longer in Delhi airport so we thought what the hell and booked the trip. Rach found some wifi and did some blogging, whilst I flapped about, walked around in circles and procrastinated about whether to hire a motorbike for a couple of hours to go and see a nearby gibbon sanctuary. I procrastinated for long enough that it was no longer feasible to go gibbon watching, and we were dropped at the side of the mainroad to wait for our luxury shuttle bus. Two hours later, we were whisked into a ratty old minibus, Rachel with a gear lever up her bum, and set off at a pretty fast pace to Surat Thani. The fast pace didn't last long though - the driver's flat floor antics put the final nail in the knackered old Toyota minivan's coffin and twenty kms out of Surat Thani the van crawled to a halt with steam pouring out from under the drivers seat. Would we make the ferry? Are the AA as efficient in Thailand as back home? Well we weren't to find out, as the driver's boss told him to soldier on regardless! With heat pouring out of the a/c vents, we crawled along at 10 mile an hour, stopping every minute to cool the engine down! Amazingly we actually made it 40 minutes later, only to find out the the ferry had been cancelled and we would have to spend the night in picturesque Surat Thani.

To be honest, it was actually a good experience - firstly, we got to taste a piece of none-touristy Thailand (quite literally - later on I ate insects at the night market!), and secondly we got to 'make the most of it' with a group of travellers who had just competed their TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) courses and had some interesting stories to tell. After many beers and the cheapest (and spiciest!) food we've ever tasted in Thailand, we had a quick tour of the nightmarkets - where I got to try deep-fried crickets, grubs, and caterpillars. I'd actually recommend it - crickets taste likes prawns (shell on of course!), and grubs taste like popcorn chicken. Yummy! We eventually retired to the hotel and crashed into a very deep sleep.

The next morning we were hurried to the boat, but in true Thai style we had to wait - this time for one other boat to arrive. Patiently we sat on the deck of the boat as the clock ticked by and the sun rose in the sky, no-one really knowing what was going on, and the missing bus finally arrived about two hours later to everyone's delight!

We eventually arrived in Samui feeling sunburnt and tired. What a journey! We’ll definitely take the easy (if more expensive) option next time round. It took us a couple of days to settle into Samui life on bustling Chaweng Beach. It didn’t take us long to fully understand why the culture loving, hippy backpackers have been snobbishly turning their noses up at Samui… but you can also see why the families and couples come here. The beaches are beautiful and the hotels are luxurious in stunning settings … if you can afford them. Alas, we had to wait out the time till my parents arrived in little box rooms above cafes.

Most of Samui passed in a blur of wedding planning, family arriving, wedding taking place! Yes, I am now Mrs Collins! But no, I will not put any pics up online. You all have to come to our wedding reception and ooh and ahh over the video, pictures, dress etc and if you’ve seen it all before you will be bored!

After the wedding we chartered a private speedboat for 11 of us to tour around the Ang Thong National Marine Park. It was an amazing day! The speedboat was awesome, we didn’t expect it to be so nice. It took about an hour to get to the islands, we started with some snorkelling and then headed off to one of the main tourist attractions of the Park, The Emerald Lake. A gruelling hike up the side of a mountain brought views of the bright green lake in the middle of the mountain and walking further up gave stunning views over the islands of the park. Out of breath, we staggered back down the dangerously steep steps and all agreed that there were far too many tourists around! “Captain, take us to a desert island!” So he did. We anchored at a tiny deserted bay, and snorkelled, swam and played ball until ou stomachs could wait no longer for lunch. Back to civilisation…. We arrived on the main island in the park for a very Thai lunch and a bit of nap before commencing our journey back. Well… what a ride. The waves were huge!! We got absolutely soaked in the back of the boat and Mum had to stand up, gripping on for dear life, to save her back getting jarred over every crest.

Everyone was exhausted after the day on the boat but Mum, Dad, Rich, Pete and I powered on through and stayed up to see the lady boy show at Christy’s. It sounds so seedy to go to a lady boy show but the cabaret is fantastic, the costumes and sequins are so impressive, and you totally forget about what may or may not be underneath the leotards.

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Photos

Yummy
Eating insects at the Surat Thani night market

Dance monkey, dance!
At Monkeybay

Cheers!
Everyone arrived in Samui