After the first 3 days of rain we were fearful that we may have another bangkok situation on our hands but Koh Samui finally turned on her charm in an attempt to woo us back.
Shopping here is like being in an oversized GoLo where everything is so ridiculously cheap that you convince yourself you desperately need a genuine of rad ban sunglasses. My Mum would be in heaven here!
Koh Samui is a great place for outdoor activities. We've done everything: kayaking (i think we both regretted getting a 2 person kayak from the moment we started paddling), elephant trek through the jungle (although it's an awesome experience I'm still not sure how well these animals are treated in Thailand & if I as tourist should be supporting it), jeep ride around the Island (we got to sit on top of the jeep), had fish eat our feet (which Chris enjoyed too much), saw a phallic shaped rock (which is one of Koh Samuis biggest tourist attractions), visited a monk so honored that they mummified him and then placed a pair of ray bans on him. Watched a Thai Boxing Championship match which raised money for the flood relief in northern Thailand (although this was a good cause I don't really enjoy watching someone get hurt so badly that after being unconscious for over 5min he started to turn blue, Chris loved the whole thing) it is thailands oldest and most respected sport. I think out of everything we've done both our favourite was the waterfall swim.
Just south of Koh Samaui is an amazing fresh water, water fall. As we were dropped off at the base of waterfall we were told we had 1hr to swim before we'd be taken back to the hotel. We walked for 5min up a gravel track when we reached what we thought was the best place to swim as we were about to head into the water to swim with the other tourist we were approached by a local man who asked if we were wanting to swim. We both replied yes (expecting he was going to charge us for the swim) and without any further questions we followed this man on a hike through the jungle. He spoke little english but manged to ask if it was just the two of us travelling and if we were on a tour, at this moment my mind started to wonder... had we'd been to trusting and where exactly was he really leading us, there was no path so there was no way we'd find our way back. Does he belong to some extremist group that was going to hold us captive for months on end in the jungle until our government paid our ransom (and are my fake havianas appropriate footwear for captivity in the jungle?)??? I started to take note of every detail of our walk and how trusting & kind he'd seem so I could give an accurate account of the event when I had to help create a reenactment for banged up abroad. Luckily for us that wasn't our fate. After 20 min which felt like forever we'd reached the top of the waterfall covered in sweat but had one of the most refreshing swims of our lives with the most breath taking views. Turns out the only thing we had to fear is his very worn and faded speedos the guy wore swimming.
Note to self stop watching Banged Up Abroad it really plays with your mind while traveling.
Thailand fast fact: there are no ping pong shows in Koh Samui :-(
Koh Samui is a great place for outdoor activities. We've done everything: kayaking (i think we both regretted getting a 2 person kayak from the moment we started paddling), elephant trek through the jungle (although it's an awesome experience I'm still not sure how well these animals are treated in Thailand & if I as tourist should be supporting it), jeep ride around the Island (we got to sit on top of the jeep), had fish eat our feet (which Chris enjoyed too much), saw a phallic shaped rock (which is one of Koh Samuis biggest tourist attractions), visited a monk so honored that they mummified him and then placed a pair of ray bans on him. Watched a Thai Boxing Championship match which raised money for the flood relief in northern Thailand (although this was a good cause I don't really enjoy watching someone get hurt so badly that after being unconscious for over 5min he started to turn blue, Chris loved the whole thing) it is thailands oldest and most respected sport. I think out of everything we've done both our favourite was the waterfall swim.
Just south of Koh Samaui is an amazing fresh water, water fall. As we were dropped off at the base of waterfall we were told we had 1hr to swim before we'd be taken back to the hotel. We walked for 5min up a gravel track when we reached what we thought was the best place to swim as we were about to head into the water to swim with the other tourist we were approached by a local man who asked if we were wanting to swim. We both replied yes (expecting he was going to charge us for the swim) and without any further questions we followed this man on a hike through the jungle. He spoke little english but manged to ask if it was just the two of us travelling and if we were on a tour, at this moment my mind started to wonder... had we'd been to trusting and where exactly was he really leading us, there was no path so there was no way we'd find our way back. Does he belong to some extremist group that was going to hold us captive for months on end in the jungle until our government paid our ransom (and are my fake havianas appropriate footwear for captivity in the jungle?)??? I started to take note of every detail of our walk and how trusting & kind he'd seem so I could give an accurate account of the event when I had to help create a reenactment for banged up abroad. Luckily for us that wasn't our fate. After 20 min which felt like forever we'd reached the top of the waterfall covered in sweat but had one of the most refreshing swims of our lives with the most breath taking views. Turns out the only thing we had to fear is his very worn and faded speedos the guy wore swimming.
Note to self stop watching Banged Up Abroad it really plays with your mind while traveling.
Thailand fast fact: there are no ping pong shows in Koh Samui :-(
