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Ko Samui
We left Bangkok on the Disco Rave Karaoke bus on the Sunday night. We didn't have an allocated seat but were ushered into the VIP section with another couple who were from Egypt, every other bus that passed us had people in that were looking at our VIP section, this caused lots of pointing and I imagine people saying "wow look at that". Unfortunately the space was somewhat limited and sleeping wasn't all that easy (and due to a difference in religious beliefs nor was a drinking and poker night), there was a poker style table in the middle of the room that myself and the Egyptian guy curled ourselves around and then 2 seats that Joff and the lady took.
After being dropped at Surat Thani, waiting there an hour, taking another bus to Donsak, plus a ferry to Nathon in Ko Samui, we finally arrived in Bophut, Ko Samui about lunch time. We had selected some bungalows that we wanted to try, from the book. When we arrived at the back of the bungalows they looked somewhat decrepit with something that resembled a sand car park. We walked around to the front of the bungalows and
Mr Phu BBQ
Great Hot pot for 109 BHT we pleasantly surprised when we saw very quaint bungalows and a lovely open air eating area literally on the beach metres from the water. (Apparently 3 weeks before they had been in the water due to flooding!). They had a free room for about 12 quid if that is not something of an oxymoron and offered to cook us lunch. We took the bungalow initially for 3 nights as we weren't sure how long we were going to stay but we ended up staying for 6 nights. We had looked at a couple of options in Bangkok which involved various buses and boats to Ko Tao and we fancied a bit of island hopping, in the end staying in 1 place for a few days seemed more appealing. At first I was a bit unsure (no flushing toilet, brown water out the taps and shower! (You wouldn't believe how Caroline's standards have been realigned!). As a result of the beach front location we really liked the places and Joff negotiated us a deal if we stayed for a couple of extra nights, so in spite on the somewhat basic amenities it turned out that we really liked staying there.
The first night we went along the beach to eat and had our meal sitting on the sand with fireworks going off above our heads it was lovely. Joff seems to have taken on a German look since we have been away - his hair is incredibly light, but whenever we meet German people they chat to him straightaway in German - and no, he hasn't taken to wearing speedos or a Hitleresque tash!
We got quite into the whiskey, red bull and sprite drinks and have found that you can buy all that you need to make them in 7-11 for not much money at all (essential for a traveling budget) so we quite often sat at the front of the bungalow: eating snacks, playing cards, drinking, reading and relaxing really. There are quite a few big resorts in Bophut, so it was quite easy to walk down the beach where the sand was nicer and swim in the sea. We wanted to do some exploring of the nearby islands and thought that we could possibly take the ferry from Nathon where we had come into Ko Samui and go across to Ko Tao or Ko Phagnan. We
also thought that it might be possible if we went from where we were staying. It said in the guide book that this was possible - anyway. So the first day - Tuesday we set out with everything that we might need for a day trip to Ko Phagnan: Swimming costumes, towels, sunscreen. We walked to the Fisherman's Village, not possible to get the boat to Ko Phagnan and we asked one lady who said that it would cost us 1,700 BHT to get there. Feeling a little disgruntled we stopped for coffee and asked for a cappuccino (because it was on the menu not just to be difficult) it took them about 20 mins to serve it to us and we discovered a couple of days afterward that they served coffee at our bungalows for about 30 BHT! You live and learn I guess!
After finding out that it would be a private boat from the Fisherman's Village, we caught a Songthaiew along to what we thought was going to be Big Buddah Pier. As we headed through Chaweng some miles round the coast passing the place that we stayed at the last time we realised that we
were taking the long route to Big Buddah Pier some 2km away from where we started. I had to ask this Thai lady (who was a German guide) and get her to direct us. We finally found Big Buddha Pier and worked out that we could get the boat from there so we decided to do this the next day it was about 3pm at this point. In the evening we went to Mr. Phu BBQ and it was quite an experience. You collect all of the ingredients that you need (meat, fish, noodles, veg) and cook on the BBQ and cook up a soup with some stock, it was really delicious although the BBQ King seemed a little peeved that the little girl kept coming along and tending to the BBQ, talk about steeling someone's thunder!!!!!
We then went to Ko Phangan on Wednesday and took the ferry from Big Buddah Pier and hung out on the beach for the day. In the evening we went to the Friendly Frog in the Fisherman's Village and ate noodles which were delicious and really good value. They come as mild, spicy and naughty so Joff being Joff inquired as to
how hot Naughty was and then selected spicy and proceeded to demand additional chili flakes. Some things never change.
We had a more chilled day on Thursday. On the Friday we went to the An Thong National Marine Park, which was a fantastic day out. We got chatting to the guy "Liam" (Clearly somewhat different from our own version) who seemed to be impressed that we had started to learn some Thai. We visited the Green lagoon and then went snorkeling, I had been a bit nervous about this as I have a slight phobia of fish but once Joff had showed me what to do I was fine. Joff had all the principles of snorkeling but due to a duff snorkel which seemed to go into the water rather than up to the air seemed to spend quite a lot of time treading water trying not to drown. You could hike up to the top of this hill and get a view of all of the islands but in that heat I was quite happy just to snorkel. We came back and were just in time to catch some of the Royal wedding. It is bizarre that our bungalow had no flushing toilet but a massive TV and we could have watched Wills and Kate tie the knot in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Thai oh and English on BBC World! As Oli and Clare were getting married also we decided to head to the Fisherman's Village and have some drinks and dinner to toast them too. We ended up in an Italian restaurant, where the proprietor was Irish, married to a Thai lady and said his kids were "Thairish" which made me smile. In addition the guy was fluent in numerous languages and met every guest in a different language with a perfect accent which seemed to baffle guests when they found out where he was from.
We had a relaxing Day on the Saturday and packed, did laundry booked onward transport and went to the Fisherman's Village for a lunch and then due to the enormity of our bungalow I had to pack outside whilst Joff packed in the room. We were all set for the pick up the next day.
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