Life's a beach - and we love it!

---

Although an island we had visited on our travels before, the weather then was pretty much torrential rain the whole time so we were both excited to be going back to Samui. We had originally planned to explore a bit more of the island this time, however, as we were on such a short time frame and arriving in the middle of Songkran, we again based ourselves in Chewang.

Our flight arrived from Bangkok on time to probably the smallest and cutest airport either of us had ever seen, the weather was glorious and as we waited for our luggage we couldn't wait to get to our hotel and onto the beach. After a short delay the luggage started coming round the small conveyor belt and after a while out came the super soakers with their oversized baggage labels attached - at this point almost everyone at the airport started laughing, (probably wondering which pair of idiots or small child had bothered to check these in) we just grinned, picked them up and took a bow haha! With our luggage (and water pistols) in tow, we headed out of the airport to face quite possibly the rudest taxi mafia we had ever met.

The prices being quoted for the short journey were absolutely ridiculous but after arguing until we were blue in the face and most other passengers happily paying the rip-off prices, we had little choice other than to agree, but got a shared minibus instead of a private taxi which was a bit less. We don't mind paying the right price for transport and other things, but hate being ripped off because we are Westerners. Due to the fact that our arrival day was the official day of Songkran, what should have been a 15 minute journey ended up taking us 3.5 hours as all roads were at a virtual standstill with open-backed trucks driving down the street with 10-15 people in the back throwing water at virtually anything that moved, be it old ladies, little kids, people riding scooters and even chickens walking by the side of the roads!

After being stuck in gridlocked traffic for hours we debated getting out and walking to the hotel, as it was probably only 1 mile, but we knew we would be soaked, along with our bags, the minute we stepped out the minibus, so waited it out. We finally reached Ark Bar, a hotel and bar right on the beach that we had seen previously but not stayed at, and were shown to our room. We were 50/50 about staying here because it wasn't the cheapest place (£30 a night) and had a reputation for being a party hotel, but we knew that it had great pools, a good restaurant and was in the best location so we booked it for 3 nights, and were so happy we did! What a great resort - clean, spacious rooms with big balcony's, 3 lovely swimming pools, 10 seconds to the beach and a great atmosphere.

It was evening by this point so we changed and went down to the beach to see if they still did the BBQ's at night, which they did, so we had fresh meat & fish, salad and potatoes alongside some drinks while fairy lights twinkled above us, music played in the background and our toes grazed the soft sand. Luckily down on the beach no one was really using their water pistols to wet people (unlike the carnage on the main road), but when we spied a couple of people using theirs we dashed back to the room to get ours. Unfortunately we were seen before we could react by some people on a higher balcony so got soaked instantly! But we didn't mind and went back to the beach to chill out before calling it a night around 1am.

The next morning we awoke to glorious sunshine, so after a big breakfast (included), we chose a spot by one of the bigger pools overlooking the sea to relax at for the day. Ark Bar holds weekly beach/pool parties on a Wednesday & Friday which unfortunately we weren't there for, so whilst it was busy it wasn't crazy which was nice. We had to keep covering our shoulders (as the sun was behind us), slapping on sun cream and getting in and out of the pool for a dip to cool off as the heat was so intense - despite all of this, after a few hours we still had burnt shoulders and backs 😞 It was so so hot, we had never felt heat like it in all the places we have been but as it was a sweaty heat it was deceiving at times, so for anyone who goes to Thailand in April - be careful of the sun! We met some nice people by the pool and made plans to meet up with them later that evening - a younger guy who had just come to Asia after travelling round South America for 6 months, and an older guy who had been living and working as a teacher in Hong Kong for 6 years.

That evening (after smothering oursleves in aloe vera after sun) there was the most amazing pink/red sunset which we captured on our camera, it was stunning, and Scott went to meet the two guys from the pool at a bar on the main road to watch football (thankfully Songkran was over so no more water fights) while Vic finished getting ready, then we all went back to the beach for some dinner and drinks. It was really nice swapping travel stories and hearing other peoples experiences, and generally being sociable with other people, especially as we love to talk 😉 We had Thai food this time which was amazing - Massaman curry, stir fried chilli beef, rice and of course, Pad Thai - before we all ventured up to the main road about midnight to one of the bar/clubs up there. The scene on the main road is much different to the beach vibe - frantic, loud, busy and very Western - which we weren't too keen on, but after a few more drinks we ended up dancing in Mangoes club until about 3am - the other two guys had called it a night by then so it was just us!

We made it back to our hotel via McDonalds and the 7/11 for some water, which by the way was nice and quiet (our hotel not the 7/11 or McD's!), contrary to reviews that it is a 24 hour party place, and got into our comfy beds, ready for our last full day on the island tomorrow.

On our last day we woke up and again it was sunny, so we had breakfast and deliberated over doing a boat trip that day to some nearby islands, but decided not to as we would be visit Koh Tao next and knew we would be doing something similar there, so spent another lazy day by the pool, this time making sure we didn't burn our shoulders! We wondered down the beach in the afternoon, which is gorgeous, and had a dip in the sea which was really warm because the weather was so hot, and then went to an agent to book our boat to Koh Tao for the next morning. Initially we wanted to book the Lompraya boat as it is quick and nice, but it was full (and more expensive), so we ended up booking a Sea Tran boat for less, after walking up and down the main road to see who was offering it at the best price of course. We had a quick look in the shops but didn't see anything we wanted to buy, and after Scott said no to about 5 people trying to sell him a suit, we went back to the pool at our hotel for a rest. It's tiring being in this heat!

That night, we got ready and walked down the other end of the beach where a small place was offering free BBQ when you bought a drink, so we took advantage of this deal and for the price of 2 drinks (a beer and a malibu coke, about £5), we stuffed our faces on fresh prawns, squid, pork, beef, chicken, ribs, corn and salad until we couldn't move off the bean bags we were sat on!

It is so nice to eat on the beach with the sound of the waves, and debated staying on Samui for a bit longer, rather than going to Koh Tao, but thought we should go see it as we had heard good things about the island, and we had missed it last time due to bad weather. We would like to see more of Samui as there is a lot of nice sounding parts which we haven't seen yet, and it would be good to get out of Chaweng to explore the island a bit more, but this time we just wanted to relax and be lazy, which is exactly what we did.

The next morning we were up early as we were being picked up at 7am for the 9am boat (annoying as it only takes 25 mins to get to the port where the boats go from!), so after a DIY breakfst consisting of a yoghurt from the 7/11 and a McD's hash brown, we were on our way to get the boat over to Koh Tao, the smallest of the islands on this side of Thailand...

---