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Published: November 30th 2010
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I arrive at my hotel in Koh Samui. There are many hotels on this island. With the help of a friend (thanks RKY), I narrowed down staying in Chaweng Beach. Hotels range from $30/night up to $1,000/night. I knew this was my vacation within a vacation… so I went for the top rated B&B in the area… cost is $50/night. Basically I wanted a clean hotel on the beach. That is certainly what I found.
As I do in every other place when I first arrive, I put my bag in my room and take off. It was almost 9pm so I didn’t want to go too far as I am by myself and in Thailand! I walked what I assume is the main road in the area. Every 3rd store is a massage place. There are more 7-11’s here than there are in NYC. I even see a Starbucks! Otherwise, there are restaurants, bars, clothing shops, pharmacies, etc… I picked a restaurant for dinner that looked nice. Now that I am in Thailand, I am going to try all the Thai food. I order some sort of pancake with chopped shrimp, tofu and peanuts along with a local beer. It
hit the spot! Even though the time was ahead 4 hours from my last destination, I was pretty tired, so by midnight I crashed (probably from the 30 hours of travel and 5 hours of napping).
I wake up and it’s 10am! This is the latest I have slept in weeks! I head down to breakfast as it is included and only open until 10:30am. There are pancakes, eggs, and yogurt – a typical American breakfast… this is a 1st for me since I left the states! All these choices in one place – Sweet!
It is really hot on the island… like 90’s + crazy humidity. Do I want to hang by the beach…? NAH. I decide to take a tour of the island! About an hour after asking reception what to do a pickup truck shows up. I climb in the back of the truck. There are 2 couples and one of their kids from the Ukraine in the back of the truck as well. They ask where I am from and once I say New York, they all get very excited. One of the ladies asked me if I know Carrie Bradshaw. I nodded yes
– of course I know Carrie… I met her when I was in my 20’s. Now that I am in my 30’s I can actually relate with her more than ever. If someone wanted me to, I can create a whole new slew of episodes based on my dating life and my friends!
We start at the company’s home base. Here is where I met my 1st of what I assume many baby elephants. I feed the elephants a basket of bananas. When I am done, one of the elephants blows out of his – blowhole/nose with his entire mite at me! YUK! It was like a 3 second long dirty windstorm – LOL. I couldn’t stop laughing as it is an elephant! We then watch a show with the elephants followed by a monkey show. These were hilarious!!! The animals even knew how to pick up a basket with the word tips on it.
We took off to explore the island. We started at 1 of the 2 main waterfalls in the jungle on the island. It was pretty neat! Two of the people I was with jumped in – the rest of us just hung out.
We then went to see one of the temples that house a Mummified monk! It was super creepy. This was a famous monk whose family and followers preserved the body to keep it as a symbol to aspire future generations to follow Buddhist teachings and be saved from suffering. It was sitting straight up in the glass case. We then drove to the top of the mountain where we saw a beautiful view of the entire island. My favorite part of the day was the Magical Garden. They were many different statues – animals, people (in Thai attire) – all in a little forest area. It was quiet and beautiful!
I got dropped back at my hotel around 6pm. I decided to get a pedicure for 200 Baht (around $7). It was refreshing. I fell asleep in the chair. A hot shower followed by a quick walk into town followed by dinner. I then went to sleep around midnight only to sleep again until around 11am.
Missing breakfast and realizing it was going to rain all day, I decide to take a walk into town to a place that looked good for a massage. While making an appointment
the rain started – or shall I say monsoon! Whoa – it was teaming! Turns out I was able to get a massage right then and there so I did. It was supposed to be a Thai massage but afterwards, she asked for more money as she thought she was giving me an aloe skin treatment massage (total cost 400 Baht ($14). Either way, it was ok. I sometimes love massages and other times don’t I don’t care for them. It all depends on the masseuse. Any massage where I can fall asleep – magic hands! That means I am most relaxed. When my mind starts to wonder about reality and bullshit things that I would rather not think about, that usually means not the best massage.
Lunch followed by watching the rain led me back to my room for a nap. There is nothing to do on this island when it rains. It is flooded, so without rain boots, it’s hard to walk anywhere… I don’t think this is the worst thing as I do start a tour in Vietnam in 3 days and won’t have a single day to myself… so I should take advantage of privacy,
sleep and more sleep.
The rain finally stopped around 7pm. Strangely, the streets were very wet, but no longer flooded as they were earlier in the day. I started a long walk into town… further than the first night. I found it – the cheesy bar scene. I also found multiple markets… After browsing for a while I decided it was time for some dinner. Craving seafood, I decided to try one of the many restaurants with fish on ice outside (none of the restaurants really have proper entrances/doors). I had a feast of fish (no idea what types), crab, calamari, and jumbo shrimps. It was really nice! I forgot my book to read which was ok as the site seeing was insane! The amount of people that come out at night is crazy! It seems that people from all over the world come to the islands of Thailand.
On my way home I stopped for a 30 minute foot massage… Anything to help me relax… as I can get 10 hour long massages in Thailand to 1 NYC massage.
Besides the rain, this place is absolutely amazing. I really would like a little beach time… but if not, I am going to head back to try one of what seems like 1,000 spas on the island. The Thai people are super lovely. Always a warm welcome no matter where you are. Everyone wants to know where you are from. Not a soul here questioned me being alone. I assume lots of people come to Thailand alone. The only one’s who were concerned were the Ukrainians. They were so scared for me it was silly. They asked why I wasn’t frightened. I asked is there a reason to be and they couldn’t think of an answer.
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