Ko Samui - 3 days of pure happiness!!

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I was so sad to say goodbye to Koh Phangan as I had such an amazing time, but I was coming back to the island for me and Nat's honeymoon, so it wasn't goodbye for long. Plus now I had something amazing coming up - the wedding!!! I could barely contain my excitement, the day was finally nearly here!!! After saying our goodbyes to Karla (the person that helped run Lighthouse Bungalows) we were on our way to Koh Samui.

When we arrived Beckie, Kate and Sam headed off towards Cheweng as they were staying at Jungle Club, high in the jungle above Cheweng and me, Nat and Lisa went in the opposite direction towards Maenam, which was supposed to be a lot more chilled out than Cheweng (no late night venues, no McDonalds etc) and lot more Thai feeling. Me and Nat were staying at a resort called Florist Resort in their most expensive room, the Seaview Suite and it was amazing!! It was enormous and very traditional as it was made out of Thai teak wood. Outside there was a lovely sala overlooking the beach and downstairs we had our very own plunge pool. Oh the feeling of luxury was amazing after a few days in our sweaty little hut with scratchy bed sheets (although i really did love our hut on Koh Phangan). It was so nice to have a few more luxurys like a duvet, a TV, cotton bed sheets, a bath, new towels each day and best of all aircon!!! Its been so hot and humid here that aircon was almost orgasmic. We spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling out and chatting to Nat's brothers and their girlfriends as they were also staying there.

That evening (the night before the wedding) I went to the Jungle Club with Lisa, Lucy (who had arrived the day before) and Katy (Nat's brother Jakes girlfriend). Amy (Nat's brother Seb's girlfriend) wasnt very well, so she stayed in bed. The Jungle Club was somewhere I had been considering staying myself, but I had decided against it as to get there you have to go up a steep hill through the jungle and taxi's wont go up there. Only 4x4's can make it. I had imagines of my hair being destroyed and my dress getting ruined on my wedding day, so even though it looked gorgeous I changed my mind. It turned out that I was right, we got picked up by the hotels converted pick up truck, that had no roof so by the time I reached the top I looked like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards. The view made it all worthwhile though, I cannot put into words how breathtaking it was. The whole resort was beautifully landscaped, with a lovely infinity pool and some sala areas where you could enjoy a drink or some food while you took in the view of Cheweng below. As it got dark and all the lights lit up it was like a little slice of heaven. The cocktails and food were lovely too and Beckie had been upgraded (again), this time to the honeymoon suite, which was lush with its own sala area and an open air shower. Jealous!!!! Still my place was lush and had aircon - which would be vital when getting ready foot the wedding the next day, so I wasn't too jealous. This was definitely a place I'd love to come back to though. We all had a lovely girly night, nice and chilled. Just what I wanted, as I wanted to look fresh, not hungover the next day.

Well it was finally the big day, I was getting married!!!! I was so excited, I just couldn't contain myself. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. After I put on my dress (this was the first time Nat had seen it) Nat said I had never looked more beautiful. He looked gorgeous too in his grey pinstripe shirt and shorts (as close as Nat gets to a suit lol), plus a more practical version of a suit considering it was hot and humid outside. We all got picked up at 3pm, me and Nat in quite a bling vehicle (don't ask me what it was, I'm useless at cars, but it looked cool). Everyone else went in a minibus. As we turned up at Lipa Lodge where we got married the sun was shining, there were beautiful palm trees swinging in the breeze and you could see a beautiful white sand beach outside the resort. We ordered cocktails all round for everyone to start the celebration (mine was a Mojito, yum). At about 5pm all the guests got taken to their seats and I heard our wedding song start to play (Ladies and Gentlemen we're floating in space by Spiritualised) and our 2 Thai flower girls turned up. They looked gorgeous dressed up in traditional Thai outfits and as we walked towards the aisle they threw petals at us. As we walked down the aisle I felt like a film star, everyone was looking at us, their camera's clicking away. I'm sure everyone feels like this on their wedding day, but I felt so special and so loved by my friends and Nat. There was a moment where we messed up a bit as we hadn't remembered our vow's - we thought that they would read them out and we would just repeat it as this is what we had seen at English weddings, so the person marrying us held them out for us to read. Somehow this just made everything even funnier and both me and Nat couldn't stop smiling and laughing. Once the ceremony had taken place we had to walk around so that the photographer could take some photos. It was a bit weird walking around for no reason, getting into cheesy poses, but it was funny. Once all our photos etc were finished and we'd had one last cocktail, we headed back to our resort for a lovely beachside meal with everyone that had come out for the wedding. A Philipino lady called Angel was our wedding entertainment, she is part of a duo with her husband and I had been worried what they would be like, but they were fantastic. We had a dance on the sand together and I even got to sing (Fernando by Abba, my favourite karaoke song at the minute). The food was gorgeous, we had barbequed fish and it was just stunning. All in all it was a perfect day and evening and I was sad for it to be over. However in our room there was another treat, Angel had organised for petals to be thrown all over our bedsheets and all over the room. It looked perfect!!! The best day of my life, without a doubt. The only thing that would have made it more perfect, would have been if all my friends and family that are back in England could have come (especially our parents), but we still have our wedding reception to look forward to in June, so in a way its better, now we get to have 2 wedding days.

The next day 8 of us decided to go on a boat trip to Anthong National Marine Park (all of us except the welsh crew, who wanted to look for a beach hut for their last day). This turned out to be a much better trip than I had expected. Anthong is just beautiful, if anyone is coming to this region you really must go there. It started with quite a long journey to the park as we were going by a big boat so that I could get on easily without getting my foot wet (you could do speed boat trips, but I was worried that my foot would definitely get wet). The first stop was Tul Lep (I think) where you could do kayaking, snorkelling or a trek up to a viewpoint. To get to the island they sent a longtail boat across and it was quite entertaining getting out of the longtail boat as you would normally have to walk through shallow water, instead i got on Nat's shoulders while he was steadied by Seb. Was so funny!! Obviously I couldn't do snorkelling and the kayaking cost more so we all headed up to the viewpoint. It said it was 500 meters which didn't sound much, although it rated the trek difficult and said to allow 1 hour 20 minutes for it, which sounded a lot for 500 meters. Well it was like climbing rather than walking, scrambling at best. Luckily someone had put a rope up to guide you or there is no way I could have made it up to even the first viewpoint. There were 4 viewpoints, the first one at 100 meters was very pretty looking out at the next island and the beach. The next viewpoint at 200 meters was a bit more spectacular as you could see quite a few islands in the marine park. At this point we were all drenched in sweat and exhausted, so Lucy, Katie and Lisa headed back down to do some snorkelling to cool off and the rest of us carryed on up. Seb and Amy had already gone on ahead earlier, so it was just me, Nat and Jake. Well the next 300 meters were incredibly hard going, I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my life, but there was a real sense of achievement when I reached 500 meters, not to mention a far superior view, so I got some good photos. However it turned up 500 meters was not the top and to get to the top you had to go up the 'climbing route'. Well we had all had enough, except Seb it turns out, who had already set off up the climbing route. Rather him than me. Getting back down again was almost more challenging than going up with my short legs, so I did most of it on my bum!! Very amusing. How I wished I could go in the sea when I finally reached the bottom.

We had lunch on the boat, which I scoffed down I was so starving after the trek. To Those of you that know me, this is nothing unusual, but I think this must have been eaten in a record time, even compared to usual. Afterwards we headed to the emerard lake, which is a lake fully surrounded by cliffs so you can't get into it from the sea and its a really amazingly green colour. This time it wasn't such a big walk, which was good as my legs had proper turned to jelly after the last trek. The view of the lake was gorgeous and totally worth the climb. After that there was more snorkelling, but there were unusually low tides so everyone that did the snorkelling came out covered in cuts and rashes from the coral, so I was glad I watched at a distance this time, taking in the view with a nice cold drink. Well that was the end of the tour so we headed back to the mainland where a minibus was waiting to take us back to our hotel. We were all supposed to be meeting Beckie, Kate and Sam at Jungle Club, but we were so exhausted that food and an early night beckoned.

The next day we all headed off in separate directions, except Seb and Amy who were coming to Thong Nai Pan on Koh Phangan with us. I was sad it was all over and that I had to say goodbye to everyone, but I was looking forward to my honeymoon. Thong Nai Pan is supposed to be stunning, I hoped it would like up to my high expectations.

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Photos

Beautiful views at the Jungle Club
As it was starting to get a bit dark when I got there my photos do not do the place justice, it was incredible!

Comments

[jo enright]

Thank you Donna
Your blogs have been really great Donna and made me have some real feeling of being involved. So glad all went well and your day was so very special tho I have to say most days of the trip seem fairly special to me! he photos have added so much to your enthusiastic writing and for me it was special to see my lads together looking so happy! Enjoy the rest of your holiday and although you won't be looking forward to coming home I am looking forward to that! Jake and Katy back tonight so no doubt I will be pestering them both for even more info!! Love to you both honeymooners! Jo xxx

[Deb Holmes]

You look absolutely beautiful, Donna! You are as beautiful now as you ever were all those years back when I used to babysit you! x Many congrats. x