Koh Samui 28th July - 4th August

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After saying our 'goodbyes' to Siân we headed to Sai Tai Mai, Bangkok's Southern Bus Terminal to catch a VIP night bus then boat to Koh Samui. The bus journey took about 9 hours and we arrived at the port by 5.30am. Being suspicious and weary, we took our bags off the bus despite it coming on the ferry with us. After a one and a half hour boat trip we attempted to get back on the bus after finding it was going to the bus station, but it just drove off! This left us in the hands of a minivan driver who overcharged us to get to Hat Lamai on the east coast of Koh Samui.

Hat Lamai

We found a well priced guesthouse on the resort of Hat Lamai, reported to be the best swimming beach on Koh Samui. Most of our time was spent either sunbathing, swimming in the sea or walking along the 3km stretch of beach. It was much busier than we expected and it was tiring saying 'no' to all the hawkers selling us everything from an ice cream to a tattoo.

The main road running through Lamai was full of shops, restaurants and tailors, in fact there seemed to be a tailors every 3 shops. The tailors were much more pushy that anywhere else in Thailand and Mike was approached much more than me usually with the lines 'Yo brother', 'Hey mate', 'How are you boss?' and even 'Are you Australian?'. Our usual tactic to get out of being pestered by them was to pretend to be in deep conversation when we walked past, which usually worked.

Unfortunately the weather was not kind to us and we only had 2 days of sun during our week there. However the cloud did not stop us going to the beach and we made the most of it.

The Show

Curious to know exactly what a 'ladyboy show' was we went along on Saturday night to the Zodiac Club. The cabaret show was made up of miming and dancing to well known songs and was surprisingly well choreographed. Our favourite act was Tina Turner, but all the acts were excellent and it was difficult to tell that some of them were men. However their large feet gave it away!

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