Ko Samui, Thailand

Ko Samui, Thailand

Decided to tale it easy today, spent time at home resting, reading, listening to music etc. We planned to have Christmas eve supper in Lamai, at a restaurant on the beach where they have a barbecue of chicken, ribs and fish every night. Christmas eve was one night where they do not have the barbecue, we were told on our way in. Quite miffed, we walked through the restaurant and out the other side and continued our search for a beach restaurant, of which there are plenty to choose from. Walking along the beach and searching for a restaurant is thirsty work so we sat ourselves down two restaurants up, to have a couple of cocktails. We looked through the menu and was quite impressed, and made a mental note to come back there if we do not find anything better. Half an hour later we were back there, ordered fish, chicken cordon bleu, pizza, and ended off with a sticky mango rice pudding. A very pleasant evening indeed.

Ko Samui, Thailand

Decided to tale a drive to Nathon which is on the west coast of Koh Samui, and from where there are ferries that ferry you to the mainland. We have been toying with the idea of taking a side trip to the mainland i.e. to Krabi, and also to take in Phuket which, as an island, is linked to the mainland by a bridge. Thus this trip to Nathon was ostensibly to find out the details of such an endeavor, i.e. taking our rented car with us on the ferry to the mainland. What we could find out was that the car ferry leaves Nathon for Donsak several times each day. If you book ahead, your place in guaranteed but if you arrive on the day and want to ferry the same day, you need to go to the Seatran ticket yard, which is about two blocks inland, to check whether they can indeed accommodate you. Best to book in advance if at all possible. Had a cappuccino and went on a stroll through the streets of Nathon. One’s first impression of Nathon is not much, but it surely grows on you very quickly. Once we did our strolling we were hooked. The little town just seems more organized and ordered, the shops a bit more like real shops, the prices generally seem a bit lower than in the north, east and south, and one does not get harassed by hard selling store keepers as much as in some other areas. All in all, this was a very pleasant experience, we will be back. We were making good progress home when we happened upon a little reggae beach bar, at the western end of the north coast, it’s the one with a German flag flying outside. The beach bar ambience was great, good music, good wifi, cold beer and the best french fries I have had on Koh Samui. We will be back.

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.