Koh Samui (with videos)

When we arrived at our accommodation on Koh Samui, we were greeted by a friendly Australian guy who showed us to our beach bungalows. He owned the row of five huts and lived with his wife and toddler in the house on the end. We were definitely jealous of his laid-back life of paradise on the beach!

The bungalows were quite basic, but it was great being just a few metres away from the sea, and so close to the bars and restaurants running along the beach front.On our first night we had a few beers on the porch and  sampled some amazing Thai food at a nearby restaurant for just 80 baht a meal (£1.70)!!:

Here's a video clip of the beach we were staying on:

We spent the next couple of days doing the touristy stuff - we visited Koh Samui's famous "Big Buddah", wandered around the markets of a local fisherman's village, travelled around the island on a Songthaew (basically a tuk-tuk like pick up truck), and went to see a mummified monk who's dead body has been displayed for thirty years to encourage people to become buddists... not sure if it convinced us!

After a hard day of sight-seeing we headed to the island's nightlife hot spot of Chaweng. Within five minutes of being there Amy was accosted by a couple of six year old boys who wanted to sell her a  homemade flowery necklace for 100 Baht! She bought one as they wouldn't leave her alone, but then the second boy wanted her to buy one from him as well! When she said no he started throwing the necklaces over her head like a lasso and asking for money, and when she started walking away he hugged her and would not let go.. unfortunately Amy's a weakling and couldn't prise him off, but with a bit of help from the boys we managed to get away and start our night out. Here are photos from a couple of the places we ended up in:

Now on to the next island - Koh Phangan, home of the Full Moon Party!

Khao San Road & Travelling to Samui

On our second full day in Bangkok we moved from the Royal Hotel to a hostel on Khao San Road to be right in the heart of the main tourist street; perfect for shopping at street markets, eating out and clubbing! When it came to moving to our new accommodation, we realised that Khao San Road was actually only a 5 minute walk from our previous hotel, despite our funny taxi journey the night before, in which Marc had to direct the taxi driver after going the wrong way!

The night out was really fun. We drank beer from towers and cocktails from buckets.  The final club we went in  was called Cliff Club.  It seemed to be very popular amongst locals and we were practically the only westerners in there, probably because it was one of the only clubs with an entry fee! We managed to haggle free entry for Amy though.  There was a Thai band playing very Hoobastank sounding music, which was a bit of a change from the usual club music.

At the end of the night we bought some pad thai, which we proclaimed to be the best pad thai that we'd ever eaten. I imagine this was more to do with the alcohol though! Still, very good drunk food!

The next day, we spent our hangover doing a bit of shopping at the markets and then in the late afternoon we headed off to catch a coach to the South, where we would then get on a ferry to Koh Samui. A predicted journey time of thirteen and a half hours!

Our bus turned up and we were a little surprised to see a minibus rather than a coach. We got on, along with several other people, and off we set.  We were only travelling for 5 minutes when the driver pulled over and opened the door. He told us to make room for another two people in the already full bus! Every seat was taken and all of the floor space was full of luggage, so all we could do was squeeze up.  A couple of people were unfortunate enough to have a random person half sitting on their lap. We set off again, but 10 minutes or so later, the driver pulled over again and opened the door.  Everybody half laughed at the prospect of further co-passengers for this 13 hour journey (either laugh or cry!), but to our relief, the driver said 'everybody out, wait for bigger bus!'.  There were lots more people waiting and we were all stickered up to help herd us into groups.  

We eventually boarded a double decker coach with comfy seats and air con, so we had a much better journey than we were anticipating when we squeezed into the minibus!  However, at 6am, the coach pulled into an undisclosed location and we all had to get out and wait with no further information.  We took every opportunity to try to get some sleep!:

4 hours later another bus that looked like it came straight from the 60s turned up and this took us on the final hour and a half of the trip to the ferry port.  We were quickly ushered onto the ferry and we finally arrived at our beach bungalow in Koh Samui at about 12.30, after 18 hours of travelling!!

Bunnies and Buddha's

We've arrived!

Looks like we left just at the right time with the snow falling just after. It's sunny and 30 something degrees here :)

We arrived in Bangkok at around 7pm on 17th, after flying via Dubai. Shame we couldn't leave the airport there as it looked pretty cool. We were only there for 2 hours though so maybe another time. We dropped all of our stuff off and headed to a local night market, where we had our first street food which was lush.

We had a wander around the market, where you can buy literally anything...from guitars to squirrels (!). They also sold tiny bunnies dressed in skirts (not sure why) for 200 Baht, which is about £4.

On our first full day we visited some temples that were full of Budha's. It was interesting, but there's only so many Budha's that you can see in a day.

Last night we headed to the famous Kohsan road in Bangkok for food and drinks which was fun. We got a taxi back to the hotel and Marc had to step in and direct him. There might be a career in Bangkok taxi driving for him!

Amy, Marc, Gareth and Steven
x

Our Route

Our RTW Route

T-Minus 3 Days

Three days until we jet off to Bangkok, and here's what I'll be carrying around on my back for the next four months:

It doesn't quite fit in a 50L backpack, so I'll be heading into town tomorrow to pick up a bigger one!