Ko Samui

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What an epic travel day! We got picked up by a minivan and driven to Phuket town where we got into another minivan. That one took us up to Suratthani ( a fun 4 hour drive) where we were dropped off at an office to confirm our ferry tickets. Then a truck with the bench seats in the back picked us up and took us to another office. Then we waited some more. A big bus finally came and picked us all up and took us an hour out to the ferry terminal.

Pictures

We met two girls who were about our age backpacking as well and they gave us some helpful advice as the one girl had been here before. We got onto the ferry and finally headed to Koh Samui.

We shared a taxi with the other girls as we were going to the same place (Chaweng beach). We had booked a place in advance but we were pretty disappointed when we got there. It wasn’t the cleanest of places but it was cheap. We had dinner and spent the night in the hotel room figuring out where we could stay. I also ended up getting some massively swollen ankles. I’ve never had ankles that big in my life haha. They weren’t painful but they looked like they were. I’m guessing it was from the epic travel day.

The next morning we walked (with our bags in the heat!) down the main road and found a hotel that had been recommended to us by some girls we met in Patong. It turned out to be a way nicer place and of course a bit more money but so worth it. We hopped into the pool which was soooo refreshing and you could see the beach from it. This was basically our relaxing place. For a couple of days we didn’t do much but sit in the pool or on the beach. We met up with the girls from the ferry for dinner one night and then we ended up going to the Black Moon party with them.

We each had our own Thai whiskey buckets and danced around with all the other people. The black moon is a much tamer party then the Full moon party. We were however still offered drugs and saw plenty of lady boys trying to dance with western guys. It wasn’t really my scene but what was cool was the saxophone player who came out into the crowd and played with the DJ. We were there until about 4am and it was still going strong.

We decided to rent a jeep with the other girls and as there was now 6 of us (2 more of their friends arrived) we rented two jeeps. Michelle and I set off with Nicla from South Africa. She drove as Thailand drives on the same side of the road and car as New Zealand and it was a manual. We set off to do the loop highway around the island and our first stop was the Big Buddha. Somehow we managed to lose the other jeep so we headed on our way. We saw a giant buddha from the side of the road so we assumed that was the one we were looking for and we stopped and had a look around.

There is a giant big buddha and another giant statue and a temple with some monks wandering about. We got a text message from the other girls saying they were at the big buddha but we didn’t see them and finally figured out that we weren’t in the same place. So we hopped back in and found the real BIG Buddha. This one was gold and up a bunch of stairs. We met the other girls there and then decided to go to a waterfall place for some lunch.

Well, as we are driving along we start to see more and more cop/military looking guys and children lined up on the side of the street waving flags. Eventually a cop guy waves us to get off the road and we pull into this little parking lot and get out. We find a thai guy that speaks enough english and he tells us that the Prince of Thailand is on the island and they clear the roads for him and his entourage. It was so hot while we stood there waiting for what seemed like forever. Finally a few cops cars go speeding past and then about 10 white mini vans go by followed by an ambulance and more cop cars and that was it. Couldn’t even see him or anything. Seemed kind of silly.

We continued on our way when we got a text message from the other girls that their jeep broke down and they were waiting for the rental company to come get them but told us to continue on. Sucks for them but good for us! We started heading up this mountain which seemed ridiculous and barely a road but Nicla kept going. We made it past one hotel looking place in the middle of no where but there were signs for another place she wanted to get to so we went past but we didn’t make it very far. Then we got stuck when she was trying to turn around.

Luckily for us some thai guys came along and one hopped in and helped get us unstuck. We stopped at the other hotel place where there were just thai kids sitting around and another white couple. SO we ordered a drink from one of the young kids and talked to the other couple who had come up the mountain on a tiny scooter, no idea how they managed that!! The lady was a bit too scared to go back down on the scooter so we gave her a lift down and her husband bought our drinks for us.

We headed over to Lamai beach after that and found a nice little restaurant overlooking the ocean and the “grandfather” rock. The grandfather rock is basically a penis shaped rock that they have decided to call grandfather, not sure why haha. There is also a “grandma” rock in the area as well which we think we found but we’re not sure haha. I’m sure I dont have to tell you what that one looks like.

We headed for a waterfall after that. Where you park your car there are elephants just wandering around as you can ride an elephant to the waterfall if you want. We hopped in the back of a truck which took us to the bottom of a path leading up and we saw the most unamazing waterfall ever. Haha. We later discovered that you had to climb all the way to the top to see more but it was way too hot to do that.

We made our way back around the rest of the loop to Chaweng where Nicla dropped us off at our hotel with plans to meet up at the lady boy show later that night. But our communication didn’t work well as there are two lady boy shows with the same name and we both ended up at different ones.

The Starz cabaret is a free show but you are expected to buy drinks. So we got great seats and waited. Some of these guys look amazing and you would never know they used to be men. Others are a bit scary. So we had Diana Ross come out, Tina Turner had a go and other various acts haha. It was quite an entertaining show. After the show the performers all line up outside and you can get pictures with them and of course, they ask for a tip to be shoved down their tops. We took our picture with a couple of them. One was quite a beautiful looking woman and the other was a bit more scary with a lot of fake boob hanging out. You can see the scared look on my face in the picture.

Next up is Ko Phangnan!!!!

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