A refreshing day at the Waterfalls ...

---

Hi All ... its us again 😊

I think we have adjusted to local time as we all slept in today and finally we had others at breakfast with us!!! Most days so far we have been the first to arrive at breakfast ... which of course has its advantages when Scott and I can get our coffee made as soon as we order and enjoy the service of 5-6 staff for our family of 5!!! Thailand is 3 hours behind Brisbane so we have moved into local time. Also, the mornings are so slow for everything over here and nothing really gets going until after lunch time ... so I'm glad we have adjusted a little. We have been caught out arriving too early for things a couple of times so far!

This morning it was hot hot hot ... so we set off in our little air conditioned car (me in the back ... did I mention that just makes it easier to ensure there are no fights between the boys!!!) and headed to find something cooler to do .... the WATERFALLS!!!

Koh Samui is extremely mountainous and the insland areas are very high so there are a number of waterfalls to explore and discover. I had read that there are a few tourist traps so we drove to the highest waterfall and parked in an area that was fairly busy with tourists ... But walked straight past the "elephant treck to the waterfall", straight past the "4 x 4 jeep safari to the waterfall" and set off on foot to find out way.

Well we were glad we didn't waste our money ... it was only an 800m walk and we were there!!!!! Scott ended up going back to move the car as we found a parking area closer to the waterfall where we could leave the car for free (again there are a few tourist traps where you have to pay to park!). The best part was we beat the crowd ... there was hardly anyone when we arrived at the waterfalls ... the others were busy organising their elephants for the 800m walk or their jeep for the 800m drive ..... hillarious!!!

The boys were eager to reach the top so we climbed up a hill ... steep at times ... and found the view rewarding. It was SO HOT and HUMID that it was delightful to sit under the waterfall in the FREEZING water and let it trickle over us. It made the boys scream like girls ... it was SO COLD.

There was another older Aussie couple there who thought our boys were very brave and game ... well they had no fear and I had to call them back away from the edge a few times. No safety barriers here ... just a very big drop! Don't worry mum ... all was perfectly ok 😊 Actually we came prepared to walk through the waterfalls with our water booties. They were very handy with the sharp rock edges. We didn't see anyone else with them on and people were trying to negotiate with thongs which looked dangerous!

We then climbed back down to an area where we could all swim in a waterhole which was lovely and relaxing. It also cooled us all down so we felt refreshed after the walk. After a short while ... the "tourist groups" arrived!!! We decided to make our exit then and headed back to our car and took off along the ring road in search of ... "THE ROCKS!"

The waterfalls were in the central south area of Koh Samui so we then headed east (yes ... just took the "ring road") and found our way to the south east coast. This area is a little touristy ... but nothing like Chewang Beach where it is jam packed with tourists. We pulled up at a lovely looking beach cafe ... and enjoyed a fantastic local Thai meal once again. We are LOVING the Thai food SO MUCH!!!!! Blake had his standard "Fried Rice" and Dylan ... well Dylan ate Garlic Bread. Argh!!!!! Still trying 😊 The boys enjoyed a fantastic mango smoothie ... they just think when we stop somewhere now they will order a mango or banana smoothie - standard order for them!!! Scott orders the Singha ... and I try the cocktails. Koh Samui is not big on wine .... in fact Thailand in general does not offer a lot of wine options. When it is on the menu it is EXPENSIVE! My standard at the moment is a Mojito - yum!!

Anyway ... after lunch we found the "ROCKS." See the photo and make up your own mind what they are meant to look like! We could see the "Male" version .... but the "Female" version was a little harder for us to detect. The boys thought this place was hillarious!!!!! We all laughed a lot as we took some photos and moved on. A bit of a tourist trap ... even had to pay 20 Baht to park the car!!!!! But it was worth it for the laugh we had.

This afternoon we headed home clockwise around the ring road for 2 reasons ... 1. To avoid the traffic that we would have ran into going "anti-clockwise" because of the busy tourist area; and 2. To drop in to Nathong to do some more shopping! A few Baht were spent on ... you guessed it sunglasses ... shorts ... t-shirts. We just thought ... why not? The boys get very excited picking our their t-shirts (angry birds, fox racing, billabong, rip-curl etc) ... all genuine original stuff of course 😊

We are proud of them .... as they are learning how to haggle with price. Before we got to the markets we told them what is the maximum price we would pay for things ... Kobe was good (Stuck to his guns and took the price down to what Scott said!)... Blake was ok (got very excited each time the ladies lowered their price)... Dylan had no idea (just wanted things - regardless of price!). Anyway ... I guess this is all a learning experience for them 😊

Three tired boys after that, so I snuck into Tesco (supermarket) and bought some dinner that I could prepare in the unit. We arrived back here about 6pm and the boys, bathed, ate and went to bed.

It was nice to be here at this time of night as we got to experience the sunset from the view of our unit. We got some great photos at this time ... so it was a great idea to stay here instead of going back out.

I forgot to mention in any prior post ... when we arrived back here at the resort, because the pathways are so steep, there is a little golf cart that pulls up next to our car. As we get out of the car ... we get into the golf buggy and we get a lift down to the front door of our unit. Talk about service!!!!! The boys just think this is the bees knees 😊

OK ... time for our evening cocktail. Scott is just heading to the bar now to pick them up. What will it be tonight?????

---

Comments

[Noelene]

Love the sunset view - you're looking very relaxed!