Ko Samui - End of Week 3! Already...

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Hello Hello!! This is a bit late, so apologies!!
I can't believe that we have been here for 3 weeks already! Time has just flown by.
This last week has actually been quite eventful. I say that as though I'm surprised, but it really started off quite chilled but looking back we actually got quite a bit done!
Monday morning started off quite normally. We walked over to the beach and waited for our day to begin. We had noticed that the sea was very rough and even commented that riding Jetski's would be quite interesting. Not 10 minutes later and we're told that there won't be any Jetski's that day, we have the day off. Now it might not seem like it, but this was our first day off since working here. Yes, I know, it's not really work what we're doing, but still! So I wasn't in the mood to shop just to kill time or sit in our room watchin crappy movies and eating junk food! As all tours on the island need to be booked the day before as they depart at 9.30 we though we'd try and catch a 9.30 departure or maybe anothe tour. Luck was in! There was a tour around the island leaving at 11am and they would pick us up from our hotel! PERFECT!! Camera, sunblock and good spirits were packed up and we were ready to go!
We were picked up by Ning, he was going to be our tour guide for the day. We were his first passengers and therefore got chatting with him. He asked for our names and due to experience we've had on the beach, we decided to help him out and give him our "Thai" names that have been given to us by our colleagues - Lulu and La La. I'm La La... it makes such a difference and always gets a good response from the Thai's. Apparently Lulu and La La are famous twin sisters who sing in Thailand. So needless to say, Ning found this very amusing and for the rest of the day he took great pleasure in using our names!!
We started off at the View Point. This is pretty much a point, on a mountain side, with a view over Chaweng beach. Now this was quite significant for us as it showed exactly how far we walk every day! It was pretty awesome!
the next stop was to the Grandfather and Grandmother. These are rocks in the shame of genitals. Makes for great pictures!! These rocks are pretty much in the sea so it was quite exciting getting pics when the waves are crashing around you! We had a good laugh and yes.. we have good pics!
Our next point of call was the Monkey Show. We weren't too keen on this as it was exactly what we expected. There were monkeys that looked like smalled versions of baboons, they had chains around their necks and were tied to coconut trees. It was quite simple actually, the monkey handler would whistle and the monkey would climb the coconut tree and release coconuts which would drop to the floor. People could get photo's taken with the monkey resting on their arm but at no point were we allowed to touch them in anyway. I agreed with this, but it did make it all a bit staged. The highlight however, was... We each received a fresh coconut and got to drink the milk while walking around and looking at the little curio shop. There might have been more of a significance to this stop but it wasn't explained to us, so we don't know if there is anything else going on on this piece of land other than monkey being used to pick coconuts...

We all piled back into the bus and were heading to the waterfall! We were looking forward to a nice swim in the river as it was another beautiful day. We arrive in this forrest, we can see people climbing onto elephants preparing for their forest trek but the most noticeable thing would have to be that we couldn't actually hear the waterfall. That would be due to the fact that there was no actual waterfall, a trickle down the side of a mountain is more like it. There hadn't been enough rain and was quite normal for that time of year. Bit dissappointing I must say. Tracey swam but I didn't. The little pool was about waste deep but I didn't find it worthwhile. I must say that it was lovely being in the forest and seeing the butterflies and other insects as we haven't seen nature properly since being in Thailand. This was a definite bonus. We met a South African couple in the forest so chatted to them, took a few pictures then headed back to the bus.

The next stop for us was quite interesting. We went to see the Mummified Monk, which is quite literally the body of Samui's most famous mummified monk who is "sitting" in the same meditation position in which he died. Ray Ban sunglasses and all! Very interesting. These placed have the mystical appeal to them. Everyone talks softer, some even walk a bit slower. It's one of those places where you feel the need to take everything in, in your own space and time. You see all these people walking on their own paths, finding different things interesting. It's quite special atually!

Off we went to Nathom town. This is the oldest area of Samui and we were given an hour to walk around, grab something to eat and just experience the town. We were looking for a place to eat lunch and decided on this very clean looking Green Onion. It almost seemed like the Thai version of Kuaui, so of course really appealed to me! The menu was huge and we took a bit too long to decide and order. We were meant to meat the bus at 3:15. We only ordered our meal at 3!! Maybe we weren't thinking entirely rationally. The thing is, in Thailand we've found that food comes out really quickly and thought that this would be the case here.... Not so! 3:10 came and went and we eventualyl had to ask for our meal as a take-away and there we were literally running down the street, delicious meal in polystyrene containers in our hands. The bus was waiting for us and yes, we were now running behind schedule!

All was well though! We were on our way to Big Buddha. We had heard so much about Big Biddha that we were quite excited to eventually get to see it! It was incredible. This buddha is massive! Big is an understatement. It was incredible. The view from the top was great and we were even able to see Koh Phangan!
Seeing that we still hadn't eaten, I had to get Tracey to try one of the famous Thai pancakes! These are actually more like deap-fried pancakes, but WOW they are amazing! I had first triep them in Krabi so I had to share this experience! I ordered an Egg and Chocolate pancake and Tracey had the cashew nut and nutella pancake. Yummy Yummy Yummy!! They were absolutely incredible!

After our incredible sugar and oil fix, our next stop was right around the corner and was called Wat Leam Suwanaram. This was a large Buddha statue located in the middle of a pond full of fish. Located right next to the Buddha is a 100 year old temple which had the most incredible artwork inside. It was also the first temple we've been in while being in Thailand! Sacrelige I know! After walking through and trying to take everything in, we were quite content with this being our first temple. It definitely was memorable.

On Wednesday night it was FULL MOON PARTY in Ko Phangan. A group of tourists on Samui had booked a Private Speedboat Charter to the party and therefore Tracey and I were able to go along without having to pay! It was quite an incredible party! I was there the whole night and only left at 7am the following morning! It was worth it.
Thursday was spent recovering as we had to work, can't say we were very productive but we at least arrived on time compared to the others and that made us feel better! Early morning swim in the sea woke us up and we were ready to start the day! Slept like the dead that night!

The remainder of the week was quite uneventful. We had a chilled weekend, worked, maintained the tans and got a bit of exercise in as well!

We're almost finished here, few more days and we head back to Bangkok. It's going to be quite hectic leaving here and facing the craziness that is Bangkok... but we don't have to think about that until we arrive there!

Until next time....


Ciao Ciao Bye!

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