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Published: April 26th 2010
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April 19 - April 26 With the end of our travels unfortunately in sight we decided to kiss goodbye to our daily budgeting and booked ourselves into a boutique hotel on Samui for a week. It was a bit of a splurge but after months of accounting for every penny (in Simon’s case in the form of a spreadsheet!) we thought we’d put the credit card to use and treat ourselves.
We’ve enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing week chilling out by the beach, snorkelling in bath temperature azure waters and drinking cocktails on the sand.
Instead of spending a whole day travelling to Samui via train and ferry we decided to splash out on a flight with Bangkok Airways which was a bit extravagant but so worth it. I also got to have my first airport lounge experience as the airline has a lounge with free wifi, drinks and snacks. It certainly beats slumming it with the riff raff on the bench seats in the airport.
Samui airport is the quaintest little place ever. As soon as we landed we felt like we were on a tropical island as there were palm trees fringing the runway and the
airport was actually a series of wooden huts which we were taken to on the back of an extra large floral-covered golf cart.
Our hotel, Pandora, was on north Chaweng beach and our suite was very colourful and quirky with lots of curved edges, a huge bed with Egyptian cotton, a massive LCD TV with a library of films, bathrobes and slippers! It was heaven. We also had his and hers sinks and surprisingly Simon’s was surrounded by more lotions and potions than mine. I’ve become very minimalist in terms of make-up and hair as it is far too hot for the former and straightening my hair when it’s at least 35 degrees every day would just be futile. It will be interesting to see if this low maintenance me will continue when I return to the UK… I wouldn’t bet on it.
Our initial walk along the beach did not inspire us as there was a massive amount of seaweed along the shoreline and the water looked murky. Thankfully the next time we went down the sun was out, waves had washed away the seaweed and the sea was the perfect shade of milky green and so
very warm.
We spent a couple of afternoons (as we don’t see mornings) hanging out at the ocean club Beach Republic. This is a fab peaceful place where you can lay out on sun loungers by the infinity pool overlooking Lamai beach and order delicious tapas (mini lobster calzone was our fave) from the bar. It was so hot in Samui that the pool was very needed and it was good to cool down with a dip while looking out at the sea.
With our hotel booking we got a free snorkelling trip out to Koh Tao which is a world famous dive site. We managed to get up for the 7.20am(!) pick-up and had a lovely day out on the water and snorkelling in the much too warm sea. The snorkelling was nowhere near as good as we had seen off Phi Phi but we enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately we both got a bit sunburnt on the way back as didn’t reapply the sunscreen. I can hear my nan tutting from here!
Another freebie was a luxurious spa treatment that was just divine. After having a coconut hair mask applied we were sent to the steam room
that was like a subterranean chamber underneath our suite and then after ten minutes were told to cool down in the pool before getting back in the steam for another ten minutes. Then we were both scrubbed from head to toe with fruity body scrub before washing that off and settling down to our full body massage. This is Simon’s second massage and he isn’t keen to have a third as he says it hurts too much. No pain no gain I say and although at one stage I did think my toe had been dislocated I came away feeling two inches taller and very supple.
We’ve explored different beaches on the island by travelling on the back of the buses that are like pick-up trucks with bench seats in the covered over back part. It’s good fun bouncing around in the back although journey length differs every time depending on how many people need picking up on the way. There are no bus stops, the trucks just beep as they go past people and are flagged down as needed. After the various transport options we’ve encountered in Asia cars are going to seem so very pedestrian.
It
pains me to say that Chaweng is the last beach we will see for a while as we are heading back to Bangkok tonight and who knows when we will be able to afford to go on holiday again! It is strange to think that in less than a week we will be back in the real world. The past 11 months have been completely, overwhelming special and the thought of returning to the world of work and routine is a sombre one. How will we manage with early mornings, the cold (can’t remember the last time we were cold), wearing covered shoes instead of flip flops, not dicing with death every time we cross the road?? It’s certainly going to take a bit of adjusting. We better go and have one final pina colada at a beach bar to help us come to terms with the inevitable....
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anonymous
non-member comment
hi
Hello Leanne and Simon, Ive enjoyed reading about your travels so much and been transported by the fabulous photographs. I will really miss them when you return home but I know how much your Mum (Sandra) is looking forward to your home coming. Safe journey home, Su xx