Koh Samui and Koh Phangan

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From Krabi we headed for Koh Samui, rather than go on bus and ferry combo from a travel agent we once again decided to do the journey ourselves, not because of cost this time but because of numerous theft reports, long delays and other scams on the combo routes. From Krabi to Surat Thani, from Surat Thani to Donsak and then Donsak to Koh Samui we were the only foreigners amongst the locals and we have questioned this a couple of times on our adventure, why are we the only foreigners doing the journey this way?! We booked the SeatTran ferry which would take us by bus to Donsak and then the ferry to Samui. However Thai new year was the next day and a lot of local people travel on this date so it was pretty busy at the SeatTran terminal. There were far more people waiting for the bus than could fit on the bus and unlike everywhere else in Thailand they were limiting the amount of people on the bus to the amount of seats, no standing and no sitting in the aisle.

So when the bus pulled up there was a massive scramble to get on, Carly managed to get herself to the front of the queue and I was further behind with the rucksacks but being in Asia I have to say I am now definitely above average height so I used this new advantage for me and with our two big rucksacks on my shoulders I manoeuvred my way through the crowd, success!

Although Songkran was due to start the day after we arrived on Koh Samui the celebrations had already started and while holding on for dear life to the back of a bus/taxi from the pier to the hostel I was drenched several times with buckets of water. Heading out in the evening as well there were several water pistols and buckets we had to avoid! The next day though there was definitely no avoiding the water and neither did we want to. This was the biggest water fight ever and a highlight of out trip so far. I had a little ice cream cone water pistol from an ice cream I had bought a week or so earlier so we picked Carly up a water pistol and got into the thick of it. Not one bit of us was dry when we got back to our room! In the evening the fight continues a little but where we were there was a live music concert also which all the locals were enjoying, so we had some food, grabbed a cold beer and watched the concert.

Another highlight of Koh Samui was the sea aquapark on the beach near our hostel. This consisted of a load of inflatables in the sea to climb up, run across and jump off. We had to have a go and it was really fun but very tiring and I slipped and fell off a few of them while Carly just laughed.

We had missed the full moon party by enjoying Songkran on Koh Samui as they fell around the same dates but we headed across to Koh Phangan to stay a couple of nights as it would be a lot quieter as the party had already been. The place we stayed at though was still recovering from the party that happened two days prior to our arrival and it hadn't been cleaned at all. Maybe we said how untidy the place was quite loud because over the next day the whole place seemed to get a good clean and on our 2nd day it was a much better place to stay. Again like Koh Lanta there were plenty of movies to watch and relax in the common room but we also took a couple of their bicycles and cycled into the main town, about 20 minutes away. There wasn't much there but we stopped for lunch and witnessed an angry foreigner having a dispute with a local about scooter rental and he couldn't get his passport back until he paid for damage to the scooter, we don't know what the damage was but he had cuts down his arm and was in tears when he had to hand over a load of Baht. It made us glad we can't ride motorbikes and that we stuck to a bicycle!

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Photos

The water fight from distance
This photo was taken from the only place dry enough and so doesn't really show the action but imagine further down the road to the left were about 1000 people with buckets, hoses and pistols.

Pad Thai on Koh Phangan.
They cook it using coconut milk and chili sauce and it turns the noodles pink. They said no where else in Thailand cooks Pad Thai like this.

Comments

[mum]

Kevin get you're gun! Film title there...
No wonder you pair were soaked, with those tiny fight back weapons. good blog as always Ginge xxx

[Mam]

Loved the blogs although how did you get any water out of that little ice cream!! Carly had right idea with her water pistol! Youre having some amazing experiences keep on writing the blogs! Looking forward to seeing the oranutangs xxxx