Koh Samui

Im sure you can take a guess of how everyone was feeling the days after the full moon party. Ya, not too great. The last thing we want to do is check out of our bungalow at 10am and jump on a boat for an hour to go to Koh Samui, but that's what we did. 

This boat was hangover city. All the souls had clearly been destroyed the night before. There were people with paint and sand still on them trying to board this over packed boat. There were definitely numerous fire safety violations and I ended up having to sit on top of a crate cause there wasn’t any place to sit or stand.

The only good thing about the boat trip was it was the most beautiful day I've seen since traveling. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and there was only a small breeze, just strong enough to disperse all the body odor from your neighbor.

Chaweng beach - Not a bad place for some TSD right?

We arrive at the pier and get a songtaew to Chaweng beach where all the action is. We look at a few guesthouses and hotels until we stumble across a gem called P&P resort. After haggling the price, we paid 700 baht a night together which is about $12 each. We had our own clean beds, a balcony, AC, fresh towels, and finally a proper shower! Score! We were stoked and anxious to get our asses to the beach to enjoy the miraculous weather.

The center of Chaweng breach is at the Ark Bar hotel which we were conveniently located next to. The surrounding area is all resorts, restaurants, and bars with a few Thai strip clubs in between. It's a really nice, but developed area. Clearly here is only one business here and that's tourism. But it's cute, and more importantly, cheap.

Ark Bar's nightly festivities

McDonalds says, "Sawatika!"

Officially it is recovery day. As you can imagine, 3 days o binge drinking can really f$(ck up the body. I was beginning to get the shakes (probably withdrawal symptoms) and I desperately needed to rest my body.

Consequently, after our relaxing day at the beach we mellowed out in the room and watched a little bit of BBC world news but bad no idea what they were talking about. Heather and I are so uneducated and more importantly uninterested in politics that we more or less zoned out for a few hours.

That night we wanted to hang out with Toby and Jensen before they left the next day to go back to Australia so we met up with them on the beach. They were enjoying some beers and convinced us to at least have a glass of wine. So we did... So much for recovery day right? Damn peer pressure. We chilled for a few hours and until we all needed to pass out from not having slept in days. Chiang Mai was the last place I remember having any sort of measurable sleep.

The next two days were kind of a blur because they really didn't have much to them. It was all about TSD - tan, shower, drink. And more tanning. Fortunately, the weather was simply delicious and we did our best to soak up as many rays as possible.  I’m significantly darker then I was last week. Just the goal I was trying to achieve while being on the islands.

T of the TSD

Ark Bar during the day... where all our tanning went down

Connect four girls hustling on the beach

There were snippets of meeting other people on the beach and in the restaurant and in the bars but it was all the same. All fun, but as the Thai say: same same. One thing I will say is that we met so many Israelis. We had no idea all 7 million of them came to Koh Samui for their holidays. They were everywhere! It was almost hysterical because even Instance a women spoke to us in Hebrew thinking we were also Israeli. When we met her question with blank stares she asked in English. Whoops!

The evening activities were reminiscent of Koh Phangan except at a classier level. We enjoyed several drinks (and cheap buckets of sangsom) while playing connect four with the devilish young Thai girls hustling foreigners out of their pockets. Damn they're good. We bar hopped down the main road, steering clear from the ladyboys and strip clubs.

This particular day was definitely a highlight. Heather is a big scuba diver and has been certified for over 10 years so it was essential for her to get a good dive session in while we were on the islands. I am not a scuba fan but I love to snorkel so we found company to cater to both of our needs for the day.

As the sun was beginning to rise, we were picked up from our hotel and taken to a pier not far from Chaweng beach to board the boat. There were only 16 other people with us making the common area spacious, a change of pace from our ride from Koh Phangan a few days earlier. The crew was a bunch of hippies who had made their life there for years and do nothing except teach scuba diving. Though they were a mix of German, Australian, English, and Scottish, they all had sun kissed highlights in their hair and their skin was already on its way to being a dark shade leather. Regardless, they were a fun group that made everyone feel welcome.

Happy days

At about 8am we set sail to Anthong National Marine Park which is a group of uninhabited islands northwest of Koh Samui. It takes 2.5 hours to get there but its 100% worth it. We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of eggs, toast, and fresh fruit before arriving at our first dive spot. 

Our first dive site at Anthong National Park

In graduate school, my exercise physiology class discussed the body's effects when submerged in water. Though I did go scuba diving once when I was in Costa Rica, I’m now bloody terrified from studying the effects of how unnatural it is to be under water i.e. lung volume, nitrogen, and all things that can go wrong if you don’t ascend properly. None the less, there were only 3 of us who just wanted to go snorkeling. The other couple was German and the girl didn't even get her hair wet.... I mean, I know I’m too scared to go all 20,000 leagues under the sea but seriously, what a pussy.

Heather works that scuba outfit!

Heather and her group jumped in the water and immediately went to the bottom to do some cave diving. It sounded really cool but I got to do some cave snorkeling so I was just as content. In a matter of fact, it probably was better because I was all by myself. I felt like I was the only one in the ocean and at one with nature. The small island had a shallow reef out front but there were plenty of caves formed from the water and I got to swim all around it and explore for about an hour. I saw plenty of fish, coral, and sea eneminies. I probably wouldn't have gone on the trip if it wasn't for Heather, and I'm glad I did because it was truly spectacular.

Reef fish

Sweet coral

Under the sea

Who wants to live here?

Paradise

Light came through to shine on the bate ball

Opening from the cave

The next island was the size of about 1 or 2 acres and when everyone started their dive; I managed to swim around it twice in an hour. I looked at more fish and enjoyed paradise in the Gulf of Thailand. 

2nd island - all by my lonesome... and its was awesome!

Baracuda!

Anyone know what that is??

Naturally we were craving seafood when returning to Koh Samui. After showering we found a nice seafood restaurant to treat ourselves for the first time since being in Thailand. We couldn’t have picked a better restaurant. We both had a mixed seafood plate and mine came with an amazing curried rice and some kind of sauce I wish I had the recipe for. Absolutely epic. 

Dinner and a show and in the background!

Jealous much? So good!

Our souls and stomachs were mighty content. The night was still early so we roamed around the bar scene and found many things to do and plenty of drinks to drink. Not a bad day right?

Originally our plan was to leave the day after snorkeling, but we were so exhausted afterwards and we were having such an amazing time, we decided to stay an extra day. No regrets because the weather was once again scrumptious and we took advantage of that. TSD all day baby. 

Sunset

Since it was Saturday night, we made the most of our evening activities. We went to the Green Mango because there was a huge dance party there. There were about 3 stages and they were all packed with people. It was a blast because most Europeans don’t know how to dance and we got a lot of attention. The 2 for 1 buckets of sangsom probably helped a bit too…

Green Mango party!

All in all, Koh Samui was a great place to camp out for 5 days while we enjoyed sunshine and fantastic food. If you’re looking for a comparison, it’s a cheaper version of Hawaii. And when I say cheaper, it’s only literally cheaper. Our room was about $25 a night and that's split between both of us. There are numerous resorts that couples and families can take advantage of. My only complaint is that it’s probably a little too like Hawaii in the sense that there’s no real culture here. It’s nice resorts, restaurants, bars and beaches and that’s about it. It’s only a part of Thailand and that’s the best part. If it’s not what you’re looking for, you can find it somewhere in the north, or on the east coast, or wherever.