Ko Samui, Thailand

Adri was mentally preparing for the Thai cooking lesson today while preparing a big breakfast, this after a session in the gym. Promptly at 14:00, Adri went down to Natty’s apartment so that they could go shopping for ingredients. They stopped off at Makro, then at Big C and also at the fresh produce market down the road in Bhoput. Then the big cooking started with all the ingredients for each dish being set aside separately before the cooking started in earnest. I was whiling the time away doing admin, surfing and beering. Around 19:00 I was called down to observe, and taste the masterpiece dishes. Thai green curry with chicken, coconut milk soup with curry, Musman curry, glass noodle salad with seafood and spicy spaghetti with seafood. A meal fit for the Thai king. A friend of Natty, Kuent, came by during the afternoon and joined us for supper, and what a feast it was (check out the pictures) ! Once the meal was complete, Natty decided to show us a restaurant/pub called The Secret Garden in the Bang Rak area, which many ex-pats living on the island frequent. As we arrived there was a one-man band playing “Stuck in the middle with you” (originally by Stealer’s Wheel) which sounded just great. One more song and his session was at an end and while he was packing up, we searched for a table and found one right next to the stage, in the sand. Cocktails for the ladies and a beer for me, thanks. Then another guy with a “London suit” (see photo) started singing with background music. Essentially karaoke, but the guy was pretty good and entertaining the crowd. Then he invited some people in the pub to come up on stage and do a few songs. A couple of people came up over the next hour or so and they were all pretty good, you can see that they probably were in the music industry at some stage of their lives. The one guy sang a mixture of jazz, pop and blues songs, and he was really good. He ended his session with opera, which I thought at first was a bridge too far. He started singing Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s opera Turandot, and hit every note perfectly, I was amazed ! It was only right at the end, the last few lines (i.e. the part where Pavarotti would have received a standing ovation), where he stopped and told the audience “I simply cannot go that high.. Have a nice Christmas everyone”. I thought that was a nice touch. There was this older gentleman ex-pat in the crowd, way past his alcohol limit, that would periodically come up on stage while someone was singing, pull a couple of moves (see video clips) and then disappear for another drink. Nobody seemed to mind, and actually encouraged him, he was actually quite funny. Everyone just seems to be in such a relaxed state. We were really enjoying the evening out. At some stage Natty was patting her cheeks and her forehead, I asked her what was wrong and she replied that her face was going numb, “I must be getting drunk” ! We decided to call it a night, she still had to work in the morning.

Ko Samui, Thailand

Breakfast consisted of Bacon, eggs, toast, croissants with jam, and fruit. We drove out to Choeng Mon beach which is just to the north of Chaweng. We found sun loungers at Choeng Mon bar and ordered our customary big Chang, Sprite and two glasses. After more of these we took a long walk along the beach which is really pretty, just a nice size with not too many people, just enough to feel comfortable. We then drove into Chaweng town for coffee and and an ice-cream. Got home early evening, had a bit of a rest and then remembered a Greek restaurant we saw previously, just off the main road right next to Tesco’s exit, called Fi. We made our way there and had a starter of olives and Feta, all drenched in extra virgin olive oil, with toast, also containing olive oil with origanum. Our main courses consisted of moussaka and salmon, both were amazing. When it was time to pay I asked the Greek owner whether he accepted credit cards. No, something went wrong with the machine, but if I don’t have cash on me, not to worry, I can come pay anytime I’m in the area ! How often does one still experience this level of trust ? I fortunately did have cash on me and paid up, but I was really taken by the gesture. Needless to say, I’ll be back. Oh, and by the way, they have a wonderful Greek buffet every Friday night.

Ko Samui, Thailand

Today started out with a gym session followed by a breakfast of fruit, croissants, cheese, yogurt, fruit juice, and then it was off to the beach, although it was a bit windy outside, we decided to brave it. We headed to the south of Chaweng, to a beach named Chaweng Noi. As stated previously, it seems that in most instances, getting to a beach one is forced to do so via a resort. We parked on the main road and did a recce of the beach via a resort but it was a long walk. We decided to return to the car and drive to another resort to check whether we could park closer to the beach. We tentatively entered the Fair House resort, wasn’t stopped by security, and parked somewhere along the way to the beach. This resort has the most beautiful lush gardens with what seems to be wonderful accommodations scattered among the gardens. We lay on the beach for a while but then the sun disappeared behind some cloud cover. We ordered drinks at the Fair House beach bar and made use of their beach loungers and proceeded to read a bit. Very relaxing with the surf softly crashing close-by. Back at home we had a shower, a quick rest and then we were off to the Fisherman’s Village Friday evening market. We again decided fo eat at the street stalls and had chicken kebabs that burned all the living **** out of us. We had to quickly follow this one up with a barbecue chicken kebab, making sure that there was no burning stuff on it, a feeble attempt in order to restore the mouth to a state of normalcy. We again stopped off at our favourite cocktail place and had a couple of mojitas. Back on the street, ambling along the stalls, we ended up having coconut rice pudding. These are baked on a type of griddle with little cups which are filled with the coconut milk rice mixture. Once they are just right, the old lady removes one and places it on top of another one still on the griddle. By removing it now it forms a perfect ball of coconut rice pudding. You receive five if these balls and man, are they delicious ! Thereafter we had a banana pancake and rounded the evening’s gluttony off with a tandoori chicken kebab.

Ko Samui, Thailand

We woke up to another overcast day, or so we thought, but it soon turned into a beautiful sunny day. We decided to spend the day on Lamai beach, at a place we identified when we were there a day or so ago. We chose our sun loungers, ordered breakfast, beers, got connected to the wifi, and thus we were settled in for a day in the sun. We went for swims, ordered more beers, moved in and out of the sun as desired/required, what a life ! There is this new craze in Koh Samui, and I expect elsewhere as well, of hooking a pipe contraption up to a jet ski which then pushes water at force though a pipe and ends up lifting a person connected at the other end out of the water by the force of the water escaping from this pipe (check out the photos). Looks like a lot of fun but also some skill involved there, will not be trying it in this trip. After taking in the right amount of sun, we walked up to the Lamai shopping street where we had an ice cream and a general look-around. Similar but also quite different from Chaweng, more pleasant, I’d say.

Ko Samui, Thailand

The weather this morning was very overcast so we decided to sleep in, no beach today. We went shopping for groceries at Big C Shopping Centre and went for coffee at Simply Delicious. We just got back from shopping when Natty (pronounced Nutty) came by to arrange Adri’s Thai cooking lesson. She lives in the complex and works as a spa manageress in a nearly five star spa resort during the week, but also gives Thai cooking lessons in her spare time. She’s a trained chef and worked in many places, amongst others in China, and even for a Moroccan prince. There was a detailed discussion about the menu and she proceeded to inspect our fridge for ingredients. We assured her that we will go shopping and get the right ingredients, she must just let us have a list. Anyway, it was decided that the cooking lesson will take place on Sunday, and that Natty and Adri will go shopping together for the ingredients at 14:00. A tentative menu was decided on but will be firmed up during the week via email. I cannot wait. Oh, did I mention, I cannot wait.

Ko Samui, Thailand

Lamai beach was on the itinerary for today. Tried a different inland route from Bophut to Lamai, but within a few minutes we somehow ended up on the ring road again, oh well. Following the ring road south, entering the Lamai area, we met up with an old friend, the Lamai Tesco Lotus, which we remembered from our previous trip here. This Tesco just seem cleaner, better organized and just a tad smaller than the one in the Chaweng area, to me, just a better shopping experience. And, they still stock Hoegaarden beer, unlike the other one. Adri bought sunglasses here, I bought some Hoegaardens, and after walking around the little shops in the front of the Tesco shopping area, we settled down in the Black Canyon Coffee shop, where we also spent some time on our previous trip. After a very big, and I mean a very big, Americano and a smaller Cafe Latte at a very reasonable price, we were ready to hit the beach. Or so we thought, for, in the meantime it started raining softly, so the beach was out, for now. Decided to drive along the coastal road to the western part of the island, looking for a beach where the run was shining. We drove through Lamai, past Hua Thanon, Bank Kao, Thong Krut, Taling Ngam and ended up at the Raja Car Ferry Port (car ferry to Donsak on the mainland) on the Western side of the island. We were thinking of using this port still during the holiday to ferry the car to the mainland to spend one night in Phuket and one night in Krabi, but we’ll see. Looking south-east, we noticed that the sun was now shining in the Lamai area, so decided to drive back there via the Ring Road. Close to Lamai we got sidetracked to a pub on a beach which we just could not pass up on. Ordered the by now compulsory big Chang and Sprite, yes, two glasses as well please. Spent a good hour here, reading, drinking and just taking in the scene. Once we got our fill we eventually headed for Lamai and slightly struggled to find the same road we found, per chance on our previous trip, that takes you right up to the beach. After a couple of detours we finally found it and parked in exactly the same spot as previously, illigally though, as before… sometimes nothing changes. It was now around 17:00, a bit late to catch the last rays of the day, so decided to take a stroll along the beach in a western direction, until we reached a collection of boulders on the beach. On the way we passed a number of places to stay, from very upmarket to very basic bungalows. The one upmarket place that caught our eye at first looked like a temple, but when we walked into the grounds we realized it was a resort, it looked simply amazing. Unfortunately there was no name on the beach side of the resort. There are also a number of restaurants and pubs on this stretch of beach, some with free sun beds and wifi for patrons. Guess who will be getting our patronage tomorrow, as we will be heading back to Lamai tomorrow, if the weather permits.

Ko Samui, Thailand

Today we planned to spend time on Chaweng, so around 11:00 we set off for that area.We’ve been to Chaweng town before but not to the beach. The long beach is built up with accommodation, shoulder to shoulder, and each resort seem to jealously guard their piece of beach. When one tries to get to the beach through one of the resorts, you are always “welcomed” by a security guard which promptly reminds you that this is private property. Towards the nothern end of the beach there is however a modern shopping arcade that leads from the main Chaweng road directly onto the beach, which we thankfully discovered. This arcade spat us out onto the beach, directly opposite Koh Matlang, a tiny island some 100 metres offshore. Chaweng beach is nice with mostly fine white sand and the water clear in most areas. We ambled along south, passing tanned bodies, beach bars and discos, bungalows, both high end and low, also some very fancy resorts. We finally found our place in the sun and settled down for a suntan, a rest and a swim. We gathered our goods and walked further south, found another cool spot and did the same all over again. Once the tanning was done, we moved back to the main Chaweng road where we settled down for a Cuppucino and an icecream cone. Walked up the Chaweng road for a bit to check out the wares, which are basically the same as anywhere else on Samui, bangles, headphones, wooden serving dish that folds up into itself, fake Tag Heuer watches, fake Ray Ban sunglasses etc. Back on the beach (we managed to slip past a security guard), we walked to roughly where the car was parked on the main road. Adri decided she needed a bit more colour and proceeded to catch the last few rays of the day. I have had enough for one day and settled down at the nearest beach pub, ordered a Singha, followed by another one in quick succession. On the way home we stopped off at our Big C Supermarket to do some last minute shopping and ended up eating roast chicken, chips and a loverly salad for supper, this after the now compulsory, strong, gin and tonic.

Ko Samui, Thailand

We dicided to stay in, hoping to catch the funeral of the great man Nelson Mandela on TV. Woke up quite late, went to the gym in the complex after which we had a lovely homemade breakfast. Our choice of news TV channels are limited to RT (Russia TV) and News Asia, so we did not have high hopes of seeing the event live. Lo and behold, Asia News covered the whole event, from beginning to end. Most speakers did a bit too much granstanding to my liking, but the event went off well. At least this time around they had the good sense not to have a clown on stage doing sign language, subsequent to the fiasco of the memorial servce a week or so earlier. If it wasn’t so sad it would have been very funny. Later we watched a TV channel, it was it fact a live comedy show, where they asked a sign language expert to interpret, if at all possible, what the person signed, and proceeded to play a clip from the event. The expert tried to interpret, it went something like this… I greet you all… I acknowledge and I dream… it is a circle… and once again, I greet you… here it comes again… I eat… Total nonsensicle, total nonsense, total embarrassment. Anyway, this was a very sad event, the funeral that is, sad for his family, sad for his country, as well as the world. The man was a giant. Rest in perfect peace, Madiba…

Ko Samui, Thailand

Woke up at 11 ! This is becoming habit but no-one is counting. Went to the gym for a quick workout after which we had a delightful brekkie, then headed to Maenam beach. Actually, we ended up at a resort which is built on a kinda peninsula with part of their beach on the Bhoput side and the other on Maenem. We settled down on the Bhoput side for some time after which we were very apologetically asked to move to the Maenem side as there was a wedding that was going to take place there. We obliged and whiled away some more time in the sun. After watching the first few minutes of the wedding procession, we decided to annex real estate closer to the centre of Maenem while utilizing the last few rays of the day. We headed out west on the ring road, found a robot, turned right and parked. We stepped onto the beach, walked along the beach for about 5 minutes and found a beach restaurant with deck chairs on the beach. We settled in for a couple of beers/shandies and before realizing, it was dark, we were hungry and tired, so we decided to stay right there for supper. We moved up the pecking order and was shown to a table and chairs, on the front line of the beach, amazing. Had a wonderful supper of curry, roasted vegetables and some other foodstuffs I cannot remember, not sure whether this was due to short memory failure, or the beers.

Ko Samui, Thailand

Woke up early-ish, the weather was splendid, so we decided to hit the beach as early as possible. But where to go ? We remembered when we were on Koh Samui previously, we rented a car for one day and drove around the island when we happened upon beautiful Thong Son Bay, which lies at the north-eastern part of the island. Could not remember exactly how we got there, but we decided to go searching for it.

On the way there we have to pass the Big Buddha, so we stopped off there for a look around. There are a number of little shops and restaurants, and of course, the Big Buddha.

Having made a mental note to come back to Big Buddha for shopping, they have some lovely stuff here, we left to continue our search for Thong Son Bay. We first took a wrong turn and ended up in a very up-market area with many million dollar mansions, built on a steep hill with the most incredible views, some over Thong Son Bay. Having seen our prized beach from this vantage point, we easily found it, ordered drinks from the local restaurant and settled down on a spot on the beautiful soft white sandy beach. After we had our fill of the sun, we moved to the restaurant where we ordered Mai Tai cocktails, The photo of these specific cocktails you will also find on the main page of this blog, picture perfect.

We stayed here until early evening and left for the Fisherman’s Village’s Friday street market. We strolled through the street market which has literally hundreds, maybe even a thousand stalls, up along various streets. We had supper on the road, so to speak, buying doner kebab, fried potato on a stick, sushi etc. at various food stalls. Things to buys are clothes, shoes, leather art, sunglasses,etc, etc. With feet and bodies now tired, we opted to go for cocktails at our favorite cocktail venue here where we watched an old fisherman clearing little silver fish from his nets. His wife was assisting and before too long, their middle aged son also came to help. It was lovely to watch an art which, I believe, is fast disappearing.