Koh Samui

The next stop was Koh Samui. Koh Samui is the second biggest island in Thailand and probably one of if not the most famous island in Thailand. It is known for its beautiful beach and the full moon parties. Did I do either of those things? No. We travelled to Koh Samui on the 12th May and our hotel was very central in the city, but an hour drive from the port that we arrived on. It was nice to be in the city, though, and we were on the doorstep to the mall and a short walk to both the centre of town and the beach so it was a win win, really.

We headed down to the beach as a group in the afternoon and most people stayed in the beach club and got a drink, or went for a swim in the sea. Me and Emma decided we wanted to do some shopping and wander around the town and Simon went to get a haircut. We were on the hunt for a new bikini for Emma in town because hers has gone through the walls with all the travelling it’s done so far in Australia and New Zealand. She looked at and tried on lots of them and didn’t like any of them enough to invest, despite them being pretty cheap, so we gave up and stopped for an ice cream instead.

During our explorations of market stalls and shops in town, Simon was in the barbers getting his hair cut. We both knew that men’s haircuts don’t take that long so we were starting to wonder where he was when we’d looked in so many shops and both managed to eat a huge ice cream one by one. We thought he must have either gone missing or been dragged into an extensive treatment and we’d go back and find him under piles of towels and products. After over an hour, we decided to check on him. We walked back to the barbers and found him sitting in the chair still and his hair looked pretty much exactly as it had done before. We told him we’d meet him later, then, in the shopping mall. When he did eventually escape from the barbers, his hair looked the same and he said it was the slowest haircut he’d ever had. I think it was a bit of a cutting grass with a pair of nail scissors type situation. He has got himself a better haircut since.

That evening, we met up as a group again and went back down to the beach to watch the fire show. It was actually really fun to watch and they even got some of the group up and swung some of the fire nunchucks around their heads. Some people were more scared than others. We were all allowed one free drink on Vera this day so we sat and had a drink on the beach. The gin and tonic I got myself was actually very nice, the only problem was the music was far too loud and we were all once again shouting at each other to talk. This became a running theme on the trip.

We sat there so long that we watched the fire show twice. And, as always, there were people wandering around trying to get some money from the tourists. There were people walking around with books showing images of tattoos - I’m not sure how that one works, I’m assuming they’re temporary but there was no indication about it in any way. People were trying to sell light up glasses and headbands and there were people walking around with iguanas that you pay to take a photo with. At one point one guy dumped one of the lizards on James’s arm. We took no photos while he was sat there frozen.

Day 2 in Koh Samui was our only full day and we had a boat tour booked for us, which meant driving the hour back to the port for the 8:30 am boat ride. There were two stops on the tour and lunch on the boat.

Stop number one was a hike. Vera had told us it wasn’t an easy hike and that we needed to wear shoes – no flip flops. It was 500 metres up to a viewpoint. Sounds not too bad, right? Wrong. The path was uneven and rocky all the way up and the higher you got the steeper it got. It definitely surpassed the 42 angle allowed for internal stairs in the UK. There were a total of 6 viewpoints on the way but if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to go to the top, right?

I believe everyone who took on the hike made it to the top though, so very proud of us for that because it was HARD. Vera had said it would be 30 minutes up, 30 minutes down. We needed longer than that on the top to collect ourselves. The heat and humidity made it the sweatiest walk I’ve probably ever done and we were very grateful for the overcast weather because we all feared that whatever suncream we had applied had completely ran off our skin. We were also glad we’d brought the big water bottles with us rather than the smaller ones because we definitely needed those on the top.

The view ended up being really nice, though, and was enjoyed when we’d recovered enough to try to appreciate it. The worst part was knowing we had to go back down.

On the plus side, I got to take some good photos of a monkey on the way down.

Lunch on the boat was quite nice but they gave it to us in plates that had dividers in it so it felt very much like a school dinner. We ate on the boat and were glad to get back into it as it started to rain on the short ride on the long tail boat from the shore to the big boat, so lunch was timed very well.

By the final stop, everyone was very tired and most people didn’t fancy the hike on offer. I, however, made it to the blue lagoon. Some people were disappointed with the fact you couldn’t swim in it and promptly turned around and went back to the beach. The path was actually all board-walked but was also mostly steps, almost as many down as there was up and were more like ladders than stairs. I saw some sea urchins, a few sharks, some crabs and some fish while I was down there, though.

By the end of the day, everyone looked ready to be off the boat. We sat on the top deck under the shelter on the way back and the bobbing motion of the boat almost lulled us to sleep. I was definitely jolted awake a few times while I was sat up there. We were all very relieved when we finally got back to the hotel.

For our final night in Koh Samui, me and Georgina went for an Italian and, despite our exhaustion, some of us went to watch a cabaret show in the city centre. It was a very entertaining show and we did a little dance with the performers at the end so was definitely worth the trip. It was a very fun way to end our time in Koh Samui.