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.