Ko Samui, Thailand

2013 was a rough year. I will refrain from boring you with the details, but believe me, this was one of the toughest to date, if not the toughest. So 2014 is here, new beginnings, it simply has to be. We are still firming up on the “new beginnings”, which must not to be confused with new year’s resolutions, which I have had many of in the past that all withered away by the end of January. So, this is different. I can feel a sabbatical coming on… This morning we took a break from gym, had a full monty breakfast, and set off to the beach. The weather was pretty overcast but we headed to Choeng Mon again, to check whether the weather was in better shape there. We found it as cloudy and the wind was also up. We decided to stay put in any case and the weather cleared up nicely and the day turned out to be just great. One thing that we have learned here in Koh Samui is that no matter the weather, one can can head out to the beach, it is bound to change during the course of the day. Guess who we saw on the beach today, none other that Ben Color, yes, he of the “London suit” karaoke fame, building castles in the air, sorry, sandcastles, with his young son. We decided last night that it would be a great day excursion to go to the island of Koh Phangan, which is about a 30 minute ferry ride away, and can be seen from most of the north coast of Koh Samui. Koh Phangan, if you don’t know already, is where the famous, or rather infamous, full moon parties take place. So on the way back from the beach we stopped off at the pier in Bang Rak to get all the relevant information. You will not believe me, but as we were walking down the road towards the pier, the waitress from Choeng Mon Restaurant passed us on a moped with a big smile and a big wave. We saw her at the restaurant 30 minutes ago, what coincidence ! Anyway, we found out that the ferry leaves Koh Samui twice a day, at 08:00 and 13:30 and departs Koh Phangan for Koh Samui at 11:00 and 16:30. This ferry also goes ro Koh Tao after its stop at Koh Phangan. I do believe Koh Tao is very beautiful, maybe another day trip sometime ? The return fare to Koh Phangan is 500 Baht (2013) per person. If one purchases a ticket from one of the little travel agencies which are all over the place, it will cost you 800 Baht. Went back home to freshen up after which we went to Fisherman’s village for a quick walk around and a beer at the Emerald Irish pub and restaurant. We were contemplating having supper here but Adri suggested she make us a green curry, now that she has skilled up on her Thai cooking. An hour later we were munching away on this traditional Thai dish, better than in any restaurant we’ve tried !