Koh Samui - 1 month on a beautiful beach - Week 1!

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Hey hey all!!!

Ok, so Tracey and I have been in Koh Samui since Sunday and so far things are amazing!

I need to paint the picture for you though... it was quite an adventure getting here so let me begin...

Last Friday morning, the 9th of April, Tracey and I were offered the awesom opportunity to go to Koh Samui, help out a Jetski company and have all our meals provided for. We thought... What we didn't think, we said yes straight away and went straight to Khaosan Road to book our bus tickets for the following evening. Now, at this stage we had to drive through the red shirts to get to Khaosan road and there wasn't anything happening that would make us think that there would be problems. We bought our tickets, did a bit of shopping and headed back to our Soi 19.
We needed to checkout of our apartments as we were going to be away for a month which meant that we needed to pack up ALL our belonginings and would be taking everything with us to Koh Samui. It seemed fine!! Now I've bought a few things while being here, including a pillow, towel and clothing. So I arrived in Thailand with a suitcase (on wheels, not a backpack!!!) and a laptop bag, that was pretty much it!


Saturday morning we finished packing but when I walked out of my apartment and into the lift, I had my handbag and another bag over one shoulder, then my laptop bag over my other shoulder, my big red stuffed suitcase being pulled in one hand and my pillow in my other hand... yeah you see where this is going!!We went to go checkout then spent the rest of our afternoon at Coffeeshop 19 to spend some time with Korn and Noon before we headed off. It was quite sad as we didn't know when we would be seeing them again. They gave Tracey and I each a notebook with a lovely message inside and we had quite a few photo's taken with the staff and of the fabulous menu - of course!!

We were hoping to leave at around 4 in order to get there, with all our bags and hopefully get a place on the bus as we were told its a "first-come-first-serve" basis. At 4 Korn came to us and said that the Red Shirts had just paraded through Khaosan Road and that all the roads surrounding it had been closed off by the army and we were going to really struggle to get there. There were rubber bullets being fired and it had turned quite violent. At that stage we pretty much realised that we weren't going to be leaving anymore. We could here the drama from where we were sitting and it didn't sound good at all. So Korn and Noon watched the news for us (in Thai) and tried to keep us updated on what was happening in case we could still leave. At around 17:15 Korn thought it was safe to go and asked another Thai man we had met, Kung, to join him in escorting us, but across the river as it was the only way. So there we go, all our bags and pillows missioning across the river and then running to Khaosan Road. We had to make our way through Monks and back alleys of restaurants, it felt so surreal! We made it to Khaosan Road and there wasn't anymore evidence of red shirts so we said our goodbyes and waited in the agency. We were collected and taken to a bus stop. Now those of you who've pulled a really big bag on 2 little pathetic wheels will know how easy it is for these bags to topple off balance and roll over dead when they feel like it. Yeah well when you're walking through back alleys of BKK nothing is even... my bag became a kamakazi jet and became the biggest irritation I have experienced on this trip! We waited at this bus stop for about 20 minutes then were told that we needed to walk further to another bus stop. Yay for me!!! So we walked and walked and I fought with my bag and swore at it a couple of times. So we waited at this other bus stop and wiped the sweat from our brows and longed for the chance to sit back and relax in an airconditioned bus.... Whoa no no... Not to be. The guy we were following came running up behind us and told us to cross the road and hurry as he knew where the bus was. So we crossed the road and missioned behind him with this other lady running alongside us shouting into her phone. All along while this is happening we can hear sirens and cheering getting closer and closer. So guess where we find ourselves... on the same boat that Tracey and I found ourselves on earlier with Korn and Kung. Just as we were sailing we saw the sirens and people right at the bridge. It was exciting! On the otherside of the river our bus was waiting for us and we could all breathe our sighs of relief and were able to enjoy that airconditioning! So at 19:30 we were on the bus at last and arrived in Koh Samui at 11:30 on Sunday morning... it was a lot of travelling... with that bloody red bag...

We eventually made it to our little hotel, Akwa, showered, had a beer and headed off to the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! We swam and chilled and enjoyed the fresh air, sea water and mountains in the distance! Priceless really! We left late afternoon and missioned up and down the road looking at the shops and were quite surprised at the big price differences compared to BKK. Stuff is expensive here! If possible, try and get tops, shoes and cozzies in Khaosan before going to the islands! We were also looking for a place for dinner and found this cute little Italian restaurant and so had pizza and beer and just unwinded! oh... you will appreciate this... I bought a backpack on our way back to our room. Spent the rest of the night unpacking and repacking. Threw a lot of stuff away and was it was as though a weight had been added to my shoulders... Fantastic!!

Monday morning we had arranged to meet our contact at Tesco's where we were picked up by a driver, dropped our bags off and missioned to the beach. We met our new boss (hush hush) and some of our fellow employees. We had a brief introduction and then were told to relax for the rest of the day, walk on the beach and pretty much just see what happens.
Tuesday was Songkran (Thai New Year) and we didn't have to work. So we enjoyed the streets festivities of lots of water by means of water pistols, buckets, hose pipes and a powder water concoction that is smeared on your face... I think the latter was more an excuse for some men to smear it over our chests. There were also some more European traditions of a kiss on both cheeks that would happen every now and then...
We spent part of the day on the beach getting to know the other guys a bit better but were able to come and go as we pleased.
Wednesday was officially our first day and we were amazed at how chilled everything was.

So this is our daily routine:
08:30 - Arrive at work. Wait for the Jetski's to arrive and help where possible setting the stand up. Chill
11:00 - Eat breakfast/lunch which is traditional thai food - rice and about 3 different curries. Its really tasty and we've agreed that its the best Thai food we've had in Thailand so far!
11:30 - We grab our flyers and head off down the beach. We stop off at the other Panma's Jetski stands, chat, sit and drink water. Then we head off to the end of the beach where we can relax and swim. If it's hot (most days) then we get to take the Jetski's or speedboat back to our main stand.
14:30 - After more sitting and relaxing we head off in the other direction and hand out more flyers. This time of the day is a lot more chilled and most people are sleeping on the beach so we get to take it easy. We arrive at the furthest part of the beach, swim and relax until 17:00 when we can either walk back or wait for a Jetski to take us back.

We were given 2 tickets to the Muaythai Championships for Wednesday evening so we went along, not being too keen on the whole boxing/fighting scene but were pleasantly surprised. It was an interesting experience but I don't think either of us would voluntarily go. It's hectic!

So tonight as I write this, I'm sitting in bed after another long and exhasting day, creaming my sunburn and enjoying the banter on the street below. This is a fascinating little island and look forward to the next 3 weeks here! Til next week, here's to coconuts, cocktails, rice, speedboat trips and fabulous photo's!!

Ciao Ciao Bye!

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Comments

[coffeeshop19]

hi
miss you.