Samui

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We headed off to the neighbouring island of Koh Samui.We stayed on Chaweng Beach which, after being on a much more deserted island for quite a while, suprised us with its over- development on the beach and main streets. Although much busier and more commercialised here, we knew we would enjoy the increased variety of entertainment, restaurants and bars.

We took a tour round the island with a local guide who was enthusiastic about what we would see. We started at the temples on the island and our first stop was the "Jao Mae Kuan Im", or Chinese Lady Monk, located in the far northeast of Koh Samui island - the temple is over 100 years old and helped us to better understand the differences between Chinese and Thai Buddhism.

We also visited the 'Big Buddha' which is so big it is visible from several kilometers away and we had certainly seen it when arriving in on the ferry from Koh Phangan. The 12 meter tall golden image stands proud on its own little island just off the north of Koh Samui.

The Thais have a great sense of humour and generally want to do anything to please you, so putting this together we arrived at our next stop: The grandfather and grandmother rocks. Or in other words, rocks that resemble genitialia!! Okay then, very amusing and worth the 20 mins bus journey and made up legends ahem...

Next stop was another interesting one, The Mummified Monk. Inside a temple was a glass case containing the remains of a monk that died 30 years ago and apparently didnt decompose very fast. So they have left him in the sitting / praying position he died in and placed him in a glass case complete with sunglasses and all so tourists could come and see him... lol.

In the afternoon we visited an elephant farm and took a lovely hike around a mountain to see and have a splash the Namuang waterfall. There were also lots of Gibbons around and the locals demonstrated how they helped with collecting the coconuts, sending them up the trees and pulling them off before coming down and collecting them.

The food was excellent in Koh Samui and there was plenty of western options to give us a break from Thai food, although most places were pricey in comparison to where we had been. The main holiday makers here seemed to be familys and people on fortnight holidays, not very many travellers, but we guessed that this is an island on the rise in terms of package holidays and in a couple of years will be giving Phuket a run for its money!

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