Blogs from Ko Samui, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 3

I flew into Bangkok and eventually met up with Clay, Marc, Kim and Meg for a long awaited reunion – a little over three years since I had seen most of them in London! We caught our flight to Koh Samui and headed to our hotel before meeting up with some of the party who were already there including Leo, the bride to be. We wandered along the beach and were treated to an impromptu fireworks display which was nice of them to welcome us like that. Our first day here was mainly spent by the beach and the pool – where a lot of the holiday was spent to be honest! I was happy enough exploring locally as there was plenty to see and do around here. On our second day we had Andy’s stag ... read more

I sleep like a baby and awake a new man. What a relief, after feeling so lousy for the past few days. Today is another wasted day, and our last day in paradise. Four of our group arrange an excursion to a waterfall, but we hear from them later that the trek through the jungle is difficult and the temperatures unbearable, so they don't even make it to their destination. One couple goes shopping for the afternoon. For the rest of us, it's beach life. Even though I make an effort to stay out of the sun as much as possible, I still manage to pick up a burn on my shoulders and back. We are very close to the equator here, and so the sun literally is closer and hotter. Unprotected skin burns in a ... read more

I don't sleep well, unfortunately. I don't understand what has got my insides all knotted up, but it's damned uncomfortable. Somewhat better come morning. I am able to eat some breakfast. The plan for today is to visit a tourist area known as Fishermen's Village. It turns out the the cheapest way to get there is to take the free shuttle to Chaweng, then another free shuttle from there to Fishermen's Village. This works out well for me, since I missed Chaweng yesterday. Chaweng is how I described it yesterday: lovely beach, over-commercialized shopping district. We have a couple of hours to kill, so we eat lunch at Tropical Murphy's, an "authentic Irish pub." It's silly, but the burgers, fries and potato skins really taste good. The couples go their separate ways for shopping. Violet "wants ... read more

We awake in paradise. The view from the back patio of our room, which faces inward to one of the pools, is idyllic. We enjoy a leisurely buffet breakfast with a huge variety of choices (even ice cream!). Hmm, this is going to be a short blog entry. Here's what we did the rest of the day–nothing, with a capital N. We spent the day almost entirely on the resort's small but lovely beach. The ocean is very calm here because we are in a sheltered bay. We swim in both the ocean and the large infinity pool that meanders around the resort, passing under many bridges. We actually enjoy the pool more, because even though it's bath-water warm, it is, incredibly, cooler than the ocean. One of our party spends most of the afternoon sculpting ... read more

All right! Hooray for stable WiFi! Ok... so after a quick change of plans, I ditched out on the Bangkok idea and headed straight to Koh Samui yesterday. My flight was painfully at 6am, but that meant an entire extra day here on the island. Good call. My change of plans came as a package deal with a travel companion as an added bonus. It's been a pretty good setup having two of us as I've still been able to stick to my solo beach plans while she gets a feel for the social scene, and we meet in the middle once in awhile. So, Koh Samui! I apparently decided to come to an island during its monsoon season. I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter of timing, but it does find me imagining ... read more