Tuesday, 18 March 2014

4. Koh Samui, Thailand

DAY ONE

Well on we go to Koh Samui! Rach was feeling a lot better so we were pleased about that, especially with a long ferry journey ahead of us! There was a bit of drama before we got to the ferry though - the pier had collapsed causing some injuries! This caused us to be a bit delayed and move to a different pier (well there was a big gap in it!). We spent a good bit of time hanging around - not the best thing for how Rach was feeling but hey ho we were on our way!!! 

It was really choppy which wasn't nice but we managed! Well we couldn't swim it so had no choice! Ha ha! :) 

First impressions were that it is SOOO much bigger than Koh Tao!! The hotel was nice and in the centre of all the action. It was so nice being in a private room, especially with the snoring we had on the last night - we were ready for a peaceful nights sleep!!! 


We visited a night market which was close by and it was a great experience. We enjoyed listening to the music from a live band whilst enjoying a cocktail. 




There was all kinds of food on one side - fish, chicken, quail eggs, fresh Thai food, fruit....everything! 





On the other side they sold clothing of all kinds, jewellery, souvenirs and handbags etc.! We treated ourselves to some bracelets and a fridge magnet, after haggling them down of course.


 
There was another smaller market and here they had similar souvenir stalls and food stalls too. One became a particular favourite of ours, a smoothie stall where the lady became a regular sight. She made AMAZING shakes and she knew what we wanted, strawberry (Rach) and banana (me). 



DAY TWO

Beach day....in the shade!!! We couldn't believe the waves - they were massive! We went straight in and Rach was going under them, I jumped over.  It was like a work out at the gym!! Such fun!! 

We also saw this fun looking water sport! 


We had seen bill boards about a kickboxing event that was going to be on that night and we both said we were quite interested - definitely something different! We went to book tickets and try our haggling skills - we are on top form, another 100baht off!


It was really interesting, we just booked normal seats instead of ringside (didn't want any sweat or blood getting onto us...plus neck ache from looking up all the time!). There was also VIP section but that wasn't needed!! 




The ring was blessed by a woman and we all stood up to pay respect to the king - like we would the national anthem I suppose. We then watched 6 fights and some were quite brutal!! We were sat next to the Thai only section and they were all betting away, shouting and doing hand signals! 


There was a great half time show - Son of Rambo! He was walking a tight rope whilst juggling, sat on a stool on the rope reading and spinning a bar - really really good! He didn't get paid for this so he went around the audience and that was his payment and boy did he have a good night notes galore!!!


At the end of the night there was a ladies fight, Swedish V.s Thai and the Thai woman looked so timid compared to the Swedish woman - it only lasted one round and the Doctor got called in to see to the Thai fighter after she got knocked down!! We certainly didn't really know what to expect but it was a really good night and extremely cultural!

DAY THREE

We liked to try as many places as possible so we headed to a restaurant around the corner, terrible decision.

We had a horrendous breakfast! I ordered an American breakfast which consisted of egg (any style) toast, sausage. I asked for scrambled egg - I got fried. 10 minutes later I then got an omelette instead of scrambled egg and awful sausages plus Rach had finished hers! My toast finally came and that was just bread with a tiny little bit of toasting! We gave the left overs to the stray dogs and even they were questioning the sausage!! We stayed clear of that place from then on! 


Rach had French toast which looked like this....


Oh and she had asked for jam.....NOT honey! 

We also booked an island tour for the following day and it was a 9am pick up - early to bed then! 

We enjoyed the beach for the rest of the day. Laying on a bed belonging to a hotel - naughty naughty! 

DAY FOUR 

Today was the tour and it was fab! 

One of the first stops was the Big Buddha and it was amazing. 




There also was a monkey show but it wasn't very nice. They were chained up and yanked so they looked at the camera. Not happy monkeys :( 
We had the opportunity to hold a baby monkey but didn't really want to feed their business and be a part of it. 

 



We then visited some rocks called 'Grandfather and Grandmother Rocks'. These were shaped in female and male genitailia. I couldn't see it myself - I'm not dirty minded!! .....haha.

 



We also visited a Mummified Monk next which was very eerie but very interesting. 


Rachael and I got blessed here by a Monk which was very special and something we will remember forever.  Part of the process was him spraying us with blessed water whilst he prayed for us asking to keep us safe and blessed throughout our travels and life. He then placed a white bracelet on our wrist and tied it and we were on our way feeling happy we had done it. 




Next stop was a waterfall and you could ride elephants around if you wanted but we chose not to. We believe they are not supposed to be ridden. We were that busy playing with the elephants we had to be reminded that this wasn't the highlight and to see the waterfall!! 

We saw a baby elephant and we named her Elsie and a male elephant with tusks called Willie. His tusks were so smooth!!! 





The waterfall wasn't gushing down - apparently Thailand is having a water shortage at the moment - well it is summer! It was still nice though but the elephants were best of that stop! 


We were then dropped off back at our hotel for a well deserved rest before heading out again.

That night there was a bar called Ark Bar further down the beach hosting a beach party. It was like we'd stepped into Ibiza!! Music banging, fire dancers, robots on stilts it was so busy!! 

DAY FIVE

We bought some sun cream from a local chemist and just our luck.....it started to rain! Just a shower so we stuck it out and went to the beach! Strange feeling sunbathing and having a shower! Very refreshing though! 

We packed and headed off to dinner! We heard a guitarist playing and he beckoned us up to have dinner there, a bar restaurant called 'The Loft'. He was such a good singer, singing all the English classics and ballads - very soothing over our Thai dinner!! 



We went back to the market for our last smoothie and to say goodbye. She remembered us and we asked for a picture, she was so lovely and a genuine friendly woman. 



Flying to Krabi tomorrow for more adventures!  See you there! 

Nat xxx 

P.s comments very welcome! :) 

1 comment:

  1. Hi girls! Lovely photos and love reading your stories. I'm showing the girls at work your photos, so keep em coming. I'm on hols this week, spring cleaning and hopefully decorating spare b/rm, but not sure if I feel like it! �� it's raining at the moment, so I'm watching day time TV! Ha! I'll text you again soon, love J-x-

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