13 March 2008 - Koh Samui / Koh Phangan

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Koh Samui - Chaweng Beach

Well this is our third trip to Koh Samui so I cannot report anything through seeing it for the first time, except the Transvestite show and the night club we boogied at with the young ones! We had a fantastic time with Sue and Tom, first time in 5 months we had another couple to talk to, and talk we did. The time went so very quick in Koh Samui, while we spent our days searching for accommodation, on the internet planning the next stage, or resting as Carl’s earache came back with a vengeance (and no, absolutely not related to 2 woman bleating in his ear!). Sue and Tom though spent a day doing the various including elephant and quad bike riding (not at the same time though). Sue attended a Thai cooking course, Tom hired a jet ski, and they both hired a motorbike for a day and took a ride around the island, taking me for a run as well, which I must say was bloody fantastic. In between we swam, sunbathed, shopped, and met up every afternoon for drink, dinner, and the search of the best deal Happy Hour!

Of course we visited the girly bars but unfortunately it was on the same night as a English soccer game so they were pretty empty, apparently the English prefer soccer to sex? Anyway across the road from the restaurant at the end of the alleyway to Coral Samui, every night at like 10 pm, one hour before the free show, the Transvestites come out on the pavement to draw people into the bar to watch the show. They poise with tourists and tease the traffic, they were fabulous to watch and absolutely beautiful, amazing bodies. I loved watching them strut their stuff and did so 2 nights in a row! After Sue and I poised for a photo with them we headed to watch the show and were surprised at how professional it was with some great comedy thrown in. So by this time we were revved up to go, and headed into the middle of the nightclubs, my god, I had no idea what happened whilst I slept. There were hundreds and hundreds of foreigners crowded in this central area circled by open aired nightclubs. The young, scantly clad were sardine dancing, even on the stage - I liked that idea! (the dancing on stage, no no not the scantly clad and sardine dancing mate!)

One night I was in a bar and the Thai girls admired how I was the same skin colour as them. Same, same as us - well I did not want to burst their bubble you know, I am actually darker than they are.

Accommodation

Well I go on a bit below and if you are not going to visit Koh Samui on a budget, I would not bother reading this bit, but I wish we had this information before we arrived.

$NZ1 = 25 bhat

Baan Suan Sook - we searched and searched the internet prior to arriving to get somewhere close to Maung Samui where Sue and Tom were staying, and with a pool. We thought within our budget this would be impossible, but were able to pay up to 1800 bhat if we had to, and when we found this place 800 metres back from the beach with a swimming pool and it was only 880 bhat we were rapted with our find. Well we sent them 3 emails on 3 different days from 3 different internet cafes with confirmation details, and never heard back. When we rung from the airport, yes a bit late, they had no record of our booking, and did not believe we had sent the emails as they had not received them, but come to reception anyway. When we got there at 11pm he had a copy of our original email, but none of our confirmation emails. He removed the 8 year old playing on the computer and asked me to look through his email to prove he did not receive them, well of course they were not there. What surprised me was he left me alone looking in his email account which gave me access to all the confirmation emails with credit card details - very insecure. He said that he knows the emails did not arrive cos this has not happened in a long time! I would call it poor email management myself, but anyway he only had 1 room available for 1 night, the most expensive at 1500 bhat, we agreed on 1000 and we would leave next morning. Well it was fate, you had to be a goat to stay at this place, it was built up against a steep hill and the walk up to the swimming pool was such a climb I am not sure we would have bothered. The room was overpriced at 1500 bhat, there are better places to stay in Koh Samui.

Chaweng Park Place - so we went on a hunt for a new place to stay the next morning and walked like 50 metres down the road towards the beach and found this really nice apartment that had bigger and newer rooms, with a fantastic pool for 860 bhat per night. The room had a deck, microwave, king size bed and was not up a steep hill. I would definitely recommend this place, it was a bargain and had a really nice pool area with a view over the lagoon. We did leave after 4 nights, but not because we did not like the place, we did, it was a fantastic place to stay and definitely recommend if your budget is around 860 per night (min week) or 1000 per night then it’s a great deal. It’s a quick walk to town along the lagoon and through an arcade and you are right in the middle of town. But for us we felt after a few days that not being by the beach, we sort of did not feel like we were having a beach holiday, and we wanted to be in town where all the action was. We could afford more, so why not look.

On the way out of Chaweng Park Place they gave us a brochure which advertised 2 other places, one of which was nearly across the road from Maung Samui, if only they had given it to us earlier as it was too late by then. They looked worth considering information available on the website below.

Chaweng Park Place

Samui Coral Resort - So we went searching along Chaweng beach both ways from Muang Samui, looking for a place up to 1800 bhat with a swimming pool on the beach. We were amazed at how many places existed within our price range on the beach which we never found on the internet (Sawadee map mainly). But the first place we went into was Samui Coral (I would tone down the resort) and they quoted 1200, they had a swimming pool right on the beach, restaurant, deck, big rooms, although the tiles in the bathroom a bit grubby and furniture a bit run down, it was a bargain, right in the middle of town and only 200 metres from Muang Samui. So we thought, WOW, first place though, maybe there is better. So we spent the next day looking and ended up back at Coral Samui to book, there was not better. But when we went to book she put the price up to 1500. We could afford it, but it was the principle, she cannot just change the price willy nilly like that (but, you know, she can). So we spent the next day on the hunt looking at more rooms, some were 1800 and horrible, so after looking at about 20 hotels and/or rooms Coral Samui was still the best deal for us, so bugger principle lets go back. New person on reception and she said 1300, so we paid in advance and moved in the next day. It was great, right on the beach with clean swimming pool, and a great restaurant at the end of the alley as you go out on the main road. I would definitely go back to this place again, it was great.

I don’t think they have a website, but see the url below on Sawadee and I comment on our experience compared to some reviews. Obviously don’t take a bungalow, we had a room down the back so away from the beach and we had no noise at night. They did have safes you can pay for a key, we never had any problem with the maids (a smile, tidy room, hello and thank you always helps). Also it quotes 2000, I would not pay that price for this hotel, but what we paid 1300 it was good value. Just turn up its cheaper and you get to look before you buy.

Samui Coral

Well we said goodbye to Tom and Sue and could not believe how fast the time had gone and caught the ferry to Koh Phangan. We were going to go to Koh Tao but the hotel reviews were all bad news. Sue and Tom returned home after a night in Bangkok to 3 degrees and snow!

Koh Phangan - Chaloklum

Firstly this place is magic, its quiet, its quaint, it’s a fishing village, there are hardly any tourists, no shopping, beach views from every restaurant. We had read this was the second biggest town in Koh Phangan so assumed it would be larger than Haad Rin, but things have changed in the last 5 years since the Lonely Planet was published - Haad Rin’s population has obviously exploded. Chaloklum is an extremely small fishing village, the town being in the centre of the beach, a road about 200 metres of a few shops catering for the locals, one souvenir shop, a couple of tour and internet shops, one 7 11, and a sprinkling of seaside restaurants. And being a fishing village, it absolutely stunk of drying fish, which they laid out on the beach every morning on racks right next to our hotel. We were horrified to think what on earth we were going to do for a week, our first thought was how do we get out of this? We even booked flights out of Koh Samui a day early giving us only 6 nights here out of the 7 we had pre-paid. Shame, as after a night or 2 we loved our relaxing days in this really chilled little fishing village.

There appears to be a lot of foreigners living here, some with their Thai wife and kids running a restaurant, or dive shop, or hotel. There are plenty of food choices with restaurants lining the beach all with a view out over the ocean and the squid fishing boats. You can dine extremely cheaply on Thai or western including Italian, English and French, the cooks from the same origin as the food. Our hotel restaurant and bar, Sheesha, is our favourite, the cook is fantastic, he trained at Mai Pen Rai which is our favourite Koh Phangan restaurant. Plus they pour bucket glasses of red wine at reasonable prices.

Some come to dive here, leaving from the pier which is right next to our hotel, so not the best place to swim in the beach, so we would stroll along either way from the hotel and find a perfect place on the beach to sunbathe and swim, eating lunch at one of the beach shack restaurants. We went to Haad Mae for a day and snorkeled along the reef off the beach! Now next time we will come and stay in a bungalow at this beach. This island, Koh Phangan is fantastic, we could spend 6 weeks beaching it around here, it is so chilled and has heap so beaches lined with bungalows.

Now we have seen many things being carried on a motorbike during our travels, from a dead body, to a desk, to a family of 5 plus the dog, 2 pigs going to market and cages of chickens strapped on the back. Just about anything goes on a motorbike, but this is the first time we have seen children riding them. I would say the youngest we have seen would be 8 year old, and sometimes with their younger siblings on the back.

Accommodation Review

Mandalai - we upped the accommodation budget and reduced the food and drink and booked into Mandalia. Anyway we got here and first impression was WOW, the hotel is beautiful, the design of this place makes it a visual pleasure. The swimming pool has the clearest water I have ever seen, the view from the front deck over the beach was white sand phasing into turquoise water. The restaurant and bar had large white comfortable cushion platforms to eat and drink whilst taking in the ocean view. But we were immediately disappointed when shown to our room, it was packed like a tin of sardines with no room to swing a cat, but the décor was fabulous and it had all the little pleasures of a city hotel including in room wi-fi, DVD player and 29 inch TV. But the worst thing is that it was right on the side of the road, you walked out of your room and you were on the street. You could not even open your curtains for everyone walking or driving by could look in. Our first night was the night of the Full Moon Party and also the village had their “Tom Jones” performing at the temple across the road as part of a 4 day festival. The traffic and noise just did not stop, with people coming and going.

So I asked if we could get reimbursed - a long shot but worth a try - we could move to a bungalow along the beach and get some in-door/out-door beach living we loved on Koh Phangan. Anyway they heard we were not happy and upgraded us free of charge- yes fantastic, we had this huge room with a kingsize bed and Jacuzzi! So we were very happy and settled in to enjoy our relaxing week in our spacious room.

I would definitely recommend this place if you like your hotel comforts, it is a beautiful place to stay, very appealing to the eye and the rooms are fabulous, just don’t book the garden view room. If you can afford it the beach front room has a fabulous view, otherwise the pool or mountain view (the one we were in) are great! Personally next time we would book into a bungalow as the hotel does not have any indoor/outdoor living to give you that beach holiday feeling, there is nothing like sitting on your bungalow deck, sipping a wine or cold beer, with a view over the ocean and only ever being a few feet to the waters edge.

Mandalai

Other Accommodation choices - Our hotel is in the middle of the town, and you can take a short stroll to either end of the beach which is littered with bungalows. The best end to stay in a bungalow is the area where the Fanta bungalows are, towards Haad Khom. There are like 4 different places all on that stretch of beach each with restaurant, and no dry fish smell, some come with free motorbike hire. The other end the beach is not as nice and bungalows are set further back under the trees. We did spend a few days sunbathing and lunching at Malibu restaurant which is on a great piece of the beach, but the bungalows are set back over a bridge.

We visited Mae Haad, 2 beaches back and this beach is great, with bungalows right on the beach. You can snorkel off the beach as it is lined with a coral reef, and a sand walkway to Koh Ma. Be careful though there are some places to stay around the side the beach where a reef keeps out the water flow making the beach murky, the waters edge squishing between your toes, losing the whole white sand merging with turquoise water look.

Well we are on our last stretch with 2 nights in Bangkok, turning into 3 when we decided to fly from Koh Samui and not take the bus. This then turned into 4 nights when cheap flights were limited and now 5 nights when we found out there was no plane on the date we were booked to fly back to New Zealand. So we are now heading to Bangkok for 5 nights!

Well, its time to sign off, in 5 days time we will be heading home into cold temperatures, I am not sure how we will cope with the cold as currently we have our air conditioning on 28 degrees! How on earth are we going to show our tans off with winter coats on!
Anyway we would like to thank all our followers for reading our blogs and for sending messages, which we loved getting. It was great to hear people benefited from our information and hope others will continue to do so in the future. Please email us if you have any questions, [e-mail].

Au re voir
Until next time
Lynne and Carl Moir

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Photos

Lynne and Sue at Night Club on stage
Tom, why is that body in our photo?

4 of us
2 cameras and yet not one good photo of the 4 of us