Not one of the most 'backpacker friendly' Thai islands . . . but we still had fun

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We left Koh Tao during a torrential downpour hoping that by the time we arrived in Ko Samui the storm and bad weather had passed. After a relatively calm 2 hour journey at sea (well it couldn’t have been any worse than last time) we arrived at Nathon Pier at the northern tip of Samui to grey skies; the cockroaches-come-taxi drivers wanted an extortionate 550-700Bht for the journey to Chaweng Beach and after trying to tell us that no local transport run’s this route we managed to find someone who pointed us in the right direction of the local Songthaw’s (open sided bus). The journey took a little over an hour due to the amount of stops we had to make but at 75% saving on the taxi price it was more than fine. It is probably worth mentioning here as well as at the bottom of this blog, that the British Pound Sterling has weakened against the Thai Bhat by almost 16% since December and it does obviously make travelling in this region slightly more expensive - £1,000 in December was close to 50,000Bht, it now comes somewhere close to 44,000Bht - To put it another way, our average room in Thailand has been just less than 500Bht, on £1000 in December at a better exchange rate we were effectively getting 12 nights accomodation for free. We had pre-booked a hotel just off the main beach road, and at 700bht it was more expensive than most of the places we have stayed in Thailand but represented great value here, with air-con and cable tv, even if it was next door to a lady-boy cabaret club. Next on the agenda was food as it was gone 3pm and we hadn’t eaten a thing all day.

However, finding any kind of food along Chaweng which either represented value for money or resembled traditional Thai cooking was a hard ask. In my opinion and I am sure Vic’s agrees, mass tourism in Samui (and specifically Chaweng) has sucked the life out of anything authentic and you could just as easily be in Magaluf, Benidorm, Surfers Paradise with the endless Burger King’s, McDonalds, Pizza Hut’s and Western restaurants etc. We finally managed to find a local market where we could eat proper Thai food even if it did take us 20 odd minutes to walk there but it was worth the hunt as it was delicious and fairly cheap (by Chaweng standards). Walking back to our hotel it started to rain a bit and this was to last on and off for the next two days…

That evening we thought we would enjoy a BBQ on the beach by Ark Bar, a lively resort on the beach that we had visited on a previous trip and loved – possibly one of our main reasons for coming to Chaweng - but after seeing the pricey menu (340 Baht/£7 for 2 skewers of chicken, a baked potato and salad, 160 Baht/over £3 for a Pad Thai, and 230 Baht/£5 for a Thai green curry and rice!) we quickly decided we wouldn’t be able to (and what’s more didn’t want to pay these prices) so after a quick drink from our shop bought bucket we headed back to the local food stalls we had found earlier in the day and had a feast of authentic Thai food surrounded by locals for less than 230 Baht between us – much better. As we were here we thought we might as well make the most of it, so we then went to the shop, bought some cheap drinks and went down to beach to enjoy the atmosphere, before checking out a few of the bars around the back of the infamous Green Mango. One place was offering a free open bar between 1am-2am so we of course took advantage of this, being the bargain-hunters that we are, and only intended to have one or two drinks as there was a big Manchester United game on at 2.45am which I wanted to watch, but somehow time flew by and at 3am without knowing the time we stumbled out of the bar only to see the game had already started! We grabbed a stool and watched the match which Man U sadly lost, and after a toasted sandwich from the 7/11 we went to bed at the ungodly hour of 5am…

The rain did not let up the next day at all but this kind of suited us as we felt a bit ropey not to mention tired, so aside from going out to get some food (Ark bar had a free BBQ in the afternoon, and as you know we love free), we spent most of the day in our room watching TV and catching up on sleep. We didn’t feel like doing anything that night either so grabbed some food from the 7/11 (they do a mean microwave pasta carbonara!) and went back to bed hoping for sunshine the next day. Unfortunately the weather gods were not on our side and it was still grey with drizzle on and off for the most of the next day so again we couldn’t do very much. We had wanted to see other parts of the island which we had heard were much nicer but didn’t want to get a bike in the rain so were restricted again to Chaweng which truth be told, we were getting sick of. It brightened up for half an hour in the afternoon so we legged it down to the beach but it didn’t last long and we were soon rained on again. We had heard about a local restaurant close by with good Thai food and cheap prices called Green Bird so we found it that evening and the food was great! It was only 1 minute behind the beach and unlike all the Western places along the main road it had proper Thai food at proper prices, we would definitely recommend this place and we enjoyed a nice meal there with a few 7/11 drinks afterwards down by the beach. We had booked our boat-bus combo transport to Krabi for the Saturday so had one more full day and thankfully it was glorious sunshine, at last!

It was also the weekly Friday pool/beach party at Ark Bar so as it was our last day in Samui and we probably won’t be back, we thought if you can't beat them, join them, so joined in and had a really fun day, listening to music by the pool, drinking buckets, making friends with a group of nice Israeli’s (Ark Bar is 95% Israeli) and soaking up the sunshine. Vic bought a couple of new bikini’s from the ladies who sell them along the beach and it was a nice end to a mixed few days on the island for us.

Big resorts, package tourists, overpriced restaurants and Westerner’s outnumbering locals 20 to 1– this is not our idea of travelling but unfortunately (we think) sums up Chaweng Beach in Koh Samui. We probably should have skipped coming here and used our time better elsewhere but hindsight is a wonderful thing. It is definitely more of a holiday destination and that’s fine but it just wasn’t what we were looking for and we can’t wait to travel ‘properly’ again in some new places over the next few weeks.

S&V's Travel Info & Tips:

General Info: Approx 44 Baht to £1. Thailand is getting more expensive as the pound weakens (and by the looks of it so will the remainder of our destinations on this trip)

Transportation: We took the Lompraya boat from Ko Tao but it wasn't cheap at 600Bht for a 2 hour journey, although the only other alternative was Songserm which took double the time and was only 50 Bht less. From Nathon pier you can catch a shared Songthaw Jeepney to Chaweng for 100Bht pp.

Food: Luckily we managed to hunt out the seemingly only two budget options in this area - Green Bird and the Locals Market - If you are craving a western fix, most things can be got for a high price. 7/11 toasties and yoghurts have been our breakfast saviours in recent weeks.

Accomodation: If you want tot stay along the beach, you are looking at a minimum of 1800Bht per night. We stayed just behind the main road (2mins from the beach) at Leks City Hotel for 700Bht with hot shower, AC and cable TV.

Other observations:

x) Lots of beer bellies and tattoos on display at all times of day and night - Lovely!!

xx) If the weather had have been great for the duration we would have explored more of the island and possibly come away with a different view.

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Comments

[Home and Away]

When I took a coastal steamer from Songkhla to Bangkok in 1968...
I stopped at Koh Samui. There wasn't one hotel on the island...just coconut trees. The steamer picked up copra. Time changes all things.

[D MJ Binkley]

Looks like you found a party beach
Sounds like you had to search for Thai food. You can't argue with the weather Gods. Not your kind of town but sounds like you were able to get some needed rest.