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Published: July 13th 2007
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Well it has been a while since our last entry so we are actually now in Borneo which is very nice but more of that next time. The purpose of this blog is to get you up to date with our time on Ko Samui.
The journey from Bangkok was reasonable, just the 12 hour train ride, 30mins in a coach, 2 1/2 hours on a ferry and a 10min taxi and we were on the beach! Whilst waiting for our train in Bangkok we saw a quite bizarre but nice ceremony. Shortly before 6pm about 20 soldiers appeared from the platforms and stood to attention in front of a giant picture of the King in the departure hall, then as the clock struck 6pm they all saluted, everybody rised from their seats or stopped what they were doing to stand and the national anthem was played. A very nice gesture for our departure....
We had chosen Ko Samui although we would have preferred Ko Phangan or Ko Tao but Samui apparently gets the best of the weather at this time of year when the other two feel the monsoon affects a little more.
We spent 5
days on the North West coast just sitting by the beach and trying to make ourselves a little less white!! The beach here was not great though and the sea spent most of the day quite far away so any attempt to swim involved a 600m assault course through the rocks and dead coral.
We then moved on to The Fishermans Village at Bophut Beach. Here the beach was a bit better and swimming only involved strolling about 70m along the beach to a section deep enough. This area had a very laid back and relaxed feel to it with some nice places to eat if a little pricey for us!!
The place we stayed was owned and run by an english couple who moved out here about 3 years ago and set up a very nice little collection of bungalows on the beach, they have a little pool and bar and serve a nice breakfast. Best of all though as far as Vicky was concerned was the fact that they had a resort dog!! His name was Honey (bit gay for a male dog!!) and Vicky made very good friends with him.
During our time there
we took part in the very traditional local evening of the 'Pub Quiz' we teamed up with a Norwegian couple who were staying at our resort to come in 7th out of 16 teams at the very Thai sounding 'Frog and Gecko Pub'.
During our second week we get a little restless so decided to hire a Jeep to explore the rest of the island and take on the Thai drivers!! During our trip around the island we stopped at a couple of deserted bays used by fisherman, the highest waterfalls on Samui, Lamai beach and the Big Budha.
The waterfalls were fun, there are 2 waterfall very close together, one being very easy to get to and having a rock pool at the bottom to swim in, the other involving a 30min hike through the undergrowth and up some steep paths and wasn't actually as good as the first one we didn't think.
The stop at Lamai beach was nice. The beach was far nicer than the one we had stayed on and we felt a bit gutted to be honest. The sand was white and the sea was easy to walk straight into and swim,
although Vicky gets a bit freaked out when underwater plants brush her legs and thrashes around like she was being attacked by Jaws!! This beach is also famous for having two rocks that are shaped like the male and female private parts. We took a walk to the far end to have a look and get the obligatory photo but the water was so far in that we had to abandon our attempt when I was up to my chest in water with my bag and camera above my head!!
Our island tour finished at the Big Buhda which is at the far North East corner of the island. We were a bit dissapointed with it to be honest. Yes it was Big but unlike the lovely Big Buhda in Hong Kong this one had been turned into a ridiculous tourist attraction and the budha had lots of flashing lights around him!!!
After two weeks on the island we decided to leave to seek out pastures new and head to Malaysia. We have a three month Visa for Malaysia free of charge so intend to make the most of it.
Oh and the beard has taken a
vacation so I can get a brown face!!! It will be back......
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batty
non-member comment
Nice wheels
Looks like your both having an amazing time? Photos look great, the sunsets are well impressive. You're not missing much here weather wise, we've just had one of the wettest June's since records began,in fact it's so miserable anyone would think it's still April! You look a different person now that the infamous beard has gone! I think you should go one better and grow a massive handle bar moustache next! Have fun! Matt