Another day, another beach, Ko Samui

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pronounced Sam-weee. So Patong was lovely. We spent 2 nights there, and after a tiny bit of haggling had a lovely place to stay. The nightlife could be described as tacky but to be honest we were glad to see some white people! And there were a lot of people about so it felt quite safe. Halloween night brought the wierdos out, some guy holding a big lizard thing got a bit close!

Our day on the beach was bliss though, wandering along the shore, sand between our toes, just lovely. And being beside the water, one felt so much cooler. Unfortunately, with all the best intentions and factor 25, we both ended up with some slightly uneven colouring. I seemed to have missed a palm sized spot on the back of both of my legs and stef appears to have a strange disease spreading across her face and back! (it's ok, she doesnt).

So anyway, yesterday morning we made an early start to get back to Phuket Town, then a bus to Suratthani (5 hrs). We get off the bus (it doesnt stop at the bus terminus like I'd hoped) and we're hounded by a sales lady from the adjacent tour shop to buy a ticket for Ko Samui. Now my clever plan was to walk the 200m to the pier and walk-on with our bags but no, this lady was very persistent. We got tickets and she told us to wait for the bus, which I thought was strange because the town was quite small, we could have walked to the ferry. Eventually the bus comes (the same effing one we just got off) and on we get. After an hour of being battered and bruised by a bus with NO suspension we get told to get off the bus and onto the ferry. It turns out there are two ferry terminals in Suratthani, both take ferrys to Ko Samui, but instead of let us make our own way they insisted on making us to pay for a stupid, pointless bus ride!

So the end to that little tale is that we got to Ko Samui after dark, which meant stopping at the first half decent hotel for the night. Not good! After a day on a bumpy bus we weren't feeling all that great, then I saw, I mean smelt the room! Yuck. We went for a walk, and I decided I didn't like Ko Samui. Very quiet (still low-season here) and dirty and dusty and I saw the hugest flying cockroach ever! This morning we got up early and left as soon as we could and got a wee open-sided bus to the opposite side of the island. Evidently nobody here gets up till after 12, because the whole place had a kind of ghost town feeling. But we found a room, not the cheapest one yet, but utterly beautiful! A nice clean room, with air con and a proper toilet and the most amazing shower. Needless to say we feel great now. Spent today walking along the beach, saw some big crabs and some fish then came for a wee stroll along the street.

The new plan of action is to board a bus tommorrow which will take us back to Bangkok and then head straight to the airport for our flight to Oz! Which I am looking forward to. I've like Thailand in general, it's somewhere you have to experience for yourself but 2 weeks is enough. Tourists get a lot of hassle, taxis and tuk-tuks constantly toot at you to get you attention and you can be asked to buy the same thing by a hundred people as you walk along one street. Everyone here seems to think we're loaded! We used to be polite, but after you get asked for the tenth time that morning 'where you go?' you tend to get a bit ratty! So tis cheerio Thailand, hello Australia!

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Photos

So long, Patong
All packed up and ready to go

Comments

[becky]

hi
hey, enjoyin readin ur blog, beach looks amazing tho im kinda glad we're heading straight to oz, i think some things would tip me over the edge. mind you - im a glaswegian - never trust anyone