Island hopping - The start of our Thai adventure!

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Lucy's First attempt at a solo Blog - Island hopping in Thailand

Koh Samui

So, after a week in Penang, we left early on Sunday morning with Ben's keys in hand and boarded the ridiculously tiny mini bus bound for Hat Yai, just over the south border of Thailand to then catch a connecting bus and ferry to Koh Samui, Bens temporary home land. To say that we were squashed in the back of the bus is a little bit of an understatement, but after 2 hours of whirring along the roads of Malaysia, we finally arrived at the Malay - Thai border and were able to unravel our aching limbs from the bus. Passing through passport control and collecting yet another stamp for our passports, we crammed ourselves back into the mini bus and endured another 2 hours of getting cosy with 9 other travellers until we reached Hat Yai, the transport hub of the south of Thailand. Arriving later than scheduled due to issues with a Dutch couples passport, we had missed the connection to Surat Thani (the boarding dock for the ferry to Koh Samui) so went in search of a hotel. Finding a comfortable enough place we checked in before heading back to the ticket office to book ourselves on the morning bus to Surat Thani and then went on to explore Hat Yai. There really is nothing much to report for Hat Yai, it is a pretty basic town serving travellers purely as a stop over place for connections to Malaysia and the North of Thailand.

The next morning we headed back to the ticket office at 9am to catch the 9.30 bus. By 9.45 we were a little curious as to why the bus had not arrived, only to be informed that it was actually 8.45am and we had another three quarters of an hour left to wait!! A little stunned, and still asleep from the early rise, I was amazed to be informed that there was in fact an hours time difference from Malyasia to Thailand - maybe I was expecting a little too much of the non-English speaking cramped min-van driver to make an in-drive announcement of the local destinations weather, temperature and time?! Note to oneself - always check local time in new country when arriving by a mode of transport other than a plane!
Eventually, by 9.30am proper Thai time, we were back on another mini bus, although this one was more VIP like compared to the last one as we actually had leg room! Picking up a few other travellers from around Hat Yai, we finally hit the main road and were North bound on the very long and straight road to Surat Thani. What should have been a four and a half journey turned into a 6 hour journey as the driver seemed insistent on stopping off along the way to either pick random locals up and drop them further up the way or to buy some green leaves which he then proceeded to eat raw, before delightfully spitting the remains out of his windows. If anyone can shed any light onto what these green leaves are then we would be most appreciative as we are a little intrigued to say the least!!

Typically arriving late in Surat Thani, we had yet again missed the connecting coach to the ferry and had to wait on the side of the road for another coach to pick us up and drive us the 15 minutes to the docks - I have no idea why the mini bus driver wouldn’t drop us at the docks, maybe it was because we were foreign, would he have done so if we had bribed him with some random green leaves?? I guess we will never know!! Finally, boarding the 2 and a half hour ferry to Koh Samui, we were relieved to be on the final leg of our journey and island bound. The boat was extremely hot with no air con, but being on deck was a blessing and it was lovely to watch all the uninhabited beautiful islands pass us by. Eventually we docked at Koh Samui, and following Ben’s instructions we headed for Big C shopping complex just before Chaweng Beach. For anyone travelling to Koh Samui, if you can get to your destination by the local Bemo’s then please do so, the taxis charge an extortionate rate for a slightly more comfortable ride, but experiencing the local Bemos is definitely half the fun! But be warned, when you jump on the back of a Bemo, you have to ring the bell when you want it to stop and drop you off - something we only realised when we went flying past Big C, up and down the next hill and came to Tesco’s, about a 15 minute walk from where we wanted to be! Frantically ringing the bell we hopped off at Tescos - yes there is a very good supermarket on the island!! - and brought a local sim card to contact Ben to find out where he was.

With Ben not arriving back home until the following day, we caught a bemo back to the end of Bens road and remembered to ring the bell to hop off in time! We were greeted with a lovely Spanish style bungalow, complete with dvd and a massive tv. Tired and hungry from the eventful day we brought in some fresh food and some drink from the local supermarket and had a relaxed chilled evening in. Knowing that Ben was back the next day, we were up early the following morning and caught a bemo to the heart of Chaweng beach to find some accommodation for that evening. Finding a lovely clean newly built beach bungalow at Lucky Mothers Guest House, we realised that there was a lot to see on the island which could entail a lot of difficult Bemo hopping to get us up and down and round the East coast of the island. With this in mind we decided to hire a jeep at a very reasonable price for an open top jeep which you can have by the 24hours. Needing it only for 24 hours, we paid the 800 Thai Baht (roughly 14 quid) and set off on an afternoon of discovery around Koh Samui.

We would definitely recommend you hire a car if you come to visit Koh Samui because as fun and easy as the Bemo’s are, they are extremely time consuming and only run certain routes around the island. We saw so much of the lovely island and visited all the temples and big buddahs that the island has to offer, as well as making the needed stops at the supermarkets and transferring our bags from Bens house to our bungalow in Chaweng Beach. Agreeing to meet Ben at half 7 for an evening out with him, we explored as much of the island as we could before showering and relaxing prior to our evening out. Knowing someone who lives on Samui was definitely a huge bonus for us as we went to some good places, had some very good food and met a lot of new and different people. Ben had brought another friend back with him from Penang, an Indonesian girl called DiDi and the four of us had a top evening. We spent the last couple of hours in the evening in a bar called Bar Ice, definitely worth a visit as it has a bar which is completely made out of ice. You get given these funky Russian hats and Canadian jackets and gloves to put on - for all the girls, I would suggest not wearing a dress and flip flops as it does get pretty chilly in there after about five minutes!! Although Andy was fine in his shorts and flops, but then again he hardly gets cold at all!! But it is such a good relief from the sweltering humidity that is Koh Samui. The three English men owners were a fantastic laugh and very friendly, they really made us feel welcome, and one of them even brought out their two young kittens for me to hold, needless to say I was an extremely happy bunny!!!

After a fantastic evening and couple of days on Koh Samui, we got on the ferry to Koh Tao, a two hour ride which stops off in Koh Pang Nang to drop off / pick up people on the way. Arriving early afternoon on Koh Tao, we realised that this was a lot smaller than Koh Samui and not quite as developed. There are no large supermarkets here, although the accommodation options are pretty endless. We headed to Sairee Beach, the place where everyone goes to learn to dive. Koh Tao is a massive diving factory, very popular with hundreds of people wanting to learn to dive or to progress further from an Open Water diver. There is a very good, young atmosphere here which offers all sorts of food and nightlife. Staying for only two days, we checked into Bans Dive Resort as they give a discount on rooms for people diving with them. It is a lovely resort landscaped very tastefully, and if you are an eagle eyed person like Andy, you will be lucky enough to see the baby snapper turtles in one of their many ponds!!

Koh Tao was a chill out island for us. Sairee Beach is a lovely paved stretch of accommodation, food, bars and small shops stretching alongside the gorgeous white sandy beach. There is little history to this part of the island, but for people who will spend most of their time under the water and then in the bar apre diving, I don’t think that history is the main attraction. Andy spent a day doing two dives, unfortunately due to the weather (we actually had some rain!) the visibility was not too great, but he still said that there is the potential for Koh Tao to be a fantastic diving spot at the height of the dry season. I spent the day chilling out and relaxing, catching up on emails and blogs and watching a film on our tv in our room - I had forgotten how good it is to snuggle down when it is wet outside and watch a good old film!! Mind you, I think I will take the sunny beach any day! Our last day on Koh Tao was glorious sunshine - typical as we were leaving!! We enjoyed the sun in the morning, walking along the beach before sitting in a bar by the jetty having lunch and waiting for our ferry to arrive. Our next stop is Bangkok, a two how ferry ride to Chumpon, then an 8 hour night bus to the capital city of Thailand.. I am so excited about the markets!!

Hope all is well back home and you are enjoying the summer.

Take care and speak soon

Lucy and Andy

xxxxxx

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Photos

Us in the Ice Bar!
You have to love these hats!!

Gorgeous Sairee beach!
Koh Tao

Palm tree shadow
Koh Tao

Comments

[Jo]

The mysterious green leaves
Sirih (in Bahasa) AKA the Henna leaves. Almost like a chewing tobacco. Hope this helps :-)