Island Hopping

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Koh Samui

So it's been about a week since our last report and things are still going well. We spent 5 days in Koh Samui and had a great time. We were staying in the Bophut area on the north side of the island in the Fisherman's Village. We lucked out again and found a great little guesthouse close to all the restaurants and it was just down the street from the beach. The first few days we spent the majority of our time wandering around the north of the island touring the different beaches...we also went down to Chaweng beach which is much more touristy. Chaweng was definitely the nicest beach we have seen so far.. miles of white sand and crystal clear water...also a great spot to people watch (topless old women, men wearing bathing suits that resemble diapers.. lots of interesting people).

The next day we took a tour of the island to see some of the sights.. we weren't too keen on doing another tour but transportation is really expensive in Koh Samui so the tour was the best way to go. We went to the viewpoint overlooking Chaweng and then we went to Lamai beach to check out the famous grandmother and grandfather rocks and a waterfall. Next it was off to see a mumified monk and some really cool temples. The next day it was off to Koh Phangan...

Koh Phangan

After the quick boat trip over the Koh Phangan we were picked up at the pier by Ian, the owner of the Amsterdam Bar and Stone Hill Resort. We rented a little bungalow up in the hills overlooking the ocean and further up the hill there was a great little bar with panoramic views of the island. We spent the first few days touring around and lounging on the beach. Again, transportation on the island is pretty pricey so we rented a motorbike for the second day. The bikes were only 200 Baht ($6 CAD) for the day, but we still found a way to make it expensive. We set off in the morning and drove around the island.. went to see some more beaches and we walked up to a waterfall that was completely dry (it hasn't rained much here). After checking our the northern part of the island we decided to make the drive down to Haad Rin (the site of the famous Full Moon party). The road to Haad Rin was extremely hilly and it probably wasn't the safest road to drive on but Hatch seemed to know what she was doing.. that is until we were cruising down a massive hill and break neck speed and we got a flat tire.. of course. The bike started to wobble and we managed to pull off to the side (at this point we were still 3-4 km away from town). No one around seemed to have any suggestions so Ash tried to ride the bike into town and I got the pleasure of hiking into town. After climbing up and down hills I looked like a drowned rat and people seemed to be entertained by my misfortune.. no one stopped to offer me a ride.. instead they laughed and honked as they whipped by on their motorbikes.. but eventually I made it to town 😊 Apparently flat tires are a regular occurence.. 15 minutes later and with our wallets slightly lighter we had a new tire and we were back in action.

The next night we went back to Haad Rin for the Full Moon party which was quite an experience. We spent most of our time watching drunken idiots skipping with a flaming rope.. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time but guaranteed most of them are dealing with some nasty burns today...we have some good videos to post when we get home. All in all it was a good night and we have a day to recover before heading over to Krabi and Phuket.

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