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Published: August 22nd 2012
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Koh Samui We arrived in Koh Samui off Nok Air. For those how have not visited these islands, there are 3:
Koh Samui: largest island and well established as the most popular tourist destination of the 3. It’s a 30 minute ferry ride to Koh Phangan and 2 hours to Koh Tao. Chaweng Beach is the the busiest and has a beautiful beach with greast nightlife for all. Other beaches we have visited and our thoughts: Choeng Mon Beach is quiet and beautiful. Lamai, we enjoyed watching the girls arrive at work every evening. Bophut, nice village but 5 star resorts dominate the best end of the beach. Koh Phangan: Known for its Full Moon Parties every month, it swells during this time by 10,000-30,000 party revellers. It has many beaches and offers real beach front accommodation to suit all budgets. Research the tides before visiting, as some beaches have low tide all day and no good for swimming. Koh Tao: Famous for its underwater life it attracts divers so if you are not paying to dive it can be difficult to find decent accommodation at reasonable prices, but it also had some great off the beach snorkelling.
The buses and ferries were packed with the party revellers, it’s the high season at the moment due to the European Holidays and they expect 30,000 at the full Moon party on Koh Phangan in the next few days.
It’s our 5
th visit to Koh Samui; we had not planned to return, but now we are really pleased to be back. We are hiding out until after the Full Moon Party when some decent accommodation is available on Koh Phangan. We head to Chaweng Beach, driving down the main road; resorts, restaurants, shops and bars dominate the beachfront, none in our price range this trip. Behind the main road is a lake and a village fully enclosed by brick wall, we stay at one end of the lake, so a 5 minute walk to the main road and beach.
The sun is shining, so we head to the beach; it’s beautiful, blue clear water, white silky sand, colourful loungers, umbrellas, comfy bean bags, the smell of BBQ corn, tanned tourists litter the beach swimming and sunbathing, music pumping, DJ in his elevated box, and motorised water rides in the background. It's exciting!
As the
sun starts setting the beach transforms; the sky turns pink, the dinner tables are setup on the sand, fairy lights are turned on, burning lanterns are released into the sky (and the flight path!!) and fireworks sparkle along the beach. Dining on the beach appears more sophisticated than it was 4 years ago, gone are the plastic tables and chairs, replaced with smart wooden furniture, table cloths and candles. Loungers are turned into dining chairs to relaxe by the water’s edge and have dinner. We find a bar that has bean bag loungers, god they were comfortable, we could not move for hours watching the food vendors, touts, tourists and beach activity!
There are heaps more restaurants on the main road now, so we lunch at restaurant with an open kitchen. There is a dog asleep under our table; slowly slide the leg, dog gets up, waddles slowly off, stops, lifts leg and pees on the pillar next to us – inside the restaurant!!
We stroll past the Lady Boys out on the pavement, all dressed up looking beautiful coaxing everyone into their free 30 minute show (although a compulsory NZ$10 drink has to be purchased, so that’s
Carl out). I visited the show last time with Sue and Tom, extremely funny. There is a party area in behind the main road by burger king with many bars, large wooden platforms for dancing and stages full of huge speakers ready for the dance parties that go through to the morning. (watch where you stay around here – bom bom bom – can keep you awake all night – trust me!)
So we do the norm, spend day around swimming pool, afternoon and evening by the sea and hunt out Swensons to try their ice cream sundaes!
Koh Samui has a great vibe and the beach is a fantastic holiday spot, but Koh Phangan is our favourite island so we catch the ferry across for NZ$14 (door to door each) and arrive at Thong Sala terminal.
Accommodation in Koh Phangan:
We use Agoda to book most of our accommodation and have earned US$100 so far, you get points for booking and points for reviews. We also read trip advisor reviews.
We stayed at Nova Samui; a 10 minute walk to Maung Samui corner or 5 minutes to McDonalds if you walk in front of
the lake, then 2 minutes through an alleyway to the beach. Agoda had a deal for NZ$40 per night – great value. The rooms were a bit worn, but large and comfortable, the swimming pool was fantastic and they had a complimentary Songtaewdrop off at McDonalds every half an hour. Stop for a chocolate cone.
http://www.novasamui.com/
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Jan McCallum
non-member comment
Time you came home
Great blogs Lynne and Carl. I am deeply envious of all the swimming great weather and the new experiences you are having!! Not everyone lives the way the folk in Tawa and Linden do. You are missing some wonderful weather here if you don't mind the wind and rain. Look forward to seeing you soon. Jan