Ko Samui - my birthday treat

So it basically took me 3 days of travel from when I left Malaysia to reach my final destination, taking 4 buses and 3 ferries, but it was worth it as I am treated with a sunny day when I wake up on the island of Ko Samui.

As I said previously, I decided to come here since the weather on the west coast is less than desirable at this time of year. I wanted to experience some of the southern beach culture of Thailand, even if it wasn't the more well known areas of Phuket and Ko Phi Phi.

I arrived in the dark and splurged by taking a very expensive taxi to get to the resort I had chosen out of the lonely planet guidebook. I had no idea how big the island was and it took a good 20 minutes of driving to reach Lamai Beach, the second largest beach on the island. I was shocked to have a man carry my backpack for me to the reception area. What luxury!! In case anyone happens to check out the Spa Samui Beach resort online you will find that they are actually well known for their fasting and "cleansing" programs. Well, I didn't know this and when I was checking out the little bungalow that I was going to stay in (complete with my own bathroom with a western style toilet!) I questioned the guy showing me the room as to what the odd looking board thing was in the bathroom. He didn't speak that great of english but he said something regarding cleansing and I thought that it was some sort of wash board. Boy was I embarrassed when I had the time later on to read the very specific instructions as to what the board was to be used for - it was what they called a colema board, what I know as an enema - posted clearly on the bathroom wall. For the record, I did not use this although the majority of the people at the resort were there on the fasting program, I was there to relax and partake in the spa for my massage, thank you very much.

Not only was it sunny, it was also really hot on the island - go figure. The resort I was in was right on the beach and the first day I took a walk down to the far western side of the beach to see the grandfather and grandmother rocks. For the record, these rocks are so named because they resemble the female and male genitalia. Although I was able to understand which rock was meant to be the grandfather I'm afraid that I wasn't able to tell which one was the grandmother, so you'll have to do with my photo of grandfather rock. On the way to visit this interesting rock formation I was a bit shocked to see women sunbathing topless on the beach. I was starting to question what I had gotten myself into!

On the way back to the spa I discovered a great bookstore where I bought Miriam Keys book "Is Anybody Out There?" I then spent my afternoon swimming in the spa's pool and sitting on the beach reading this sad, yet extremely funny book. I got so engrossed that I stayed up quite late in order to finish it. I haven't done something like this in quite a while. It made me feel young again as I was a bookworm (i.e. nerd) who would spend hours laying on my bed as a kid reading through tons of books from the library.

So I ended up sleeping in on my birthday since I had stayed up late the night before. My first task was to head back to the book store, a quick walk away, and trade my book back in for "A Clockwork Orange". Something I've always wanted to read. I had scheduled a classic Thai massage for 4:00 and I decided to head to Chaweng Beach, the largest beach on the island, to check out what it had to offer. To get there I was trying to take a local taxi but I ended up getting a motorcycle taxi instead. I wanted to check out the kayaking company that offered day trips out to the national marine park nearby. I was going to sign up for a 2 day trip but unfortunately because it's not high season I was not able to do this. So instead I signed up for a one day trip for Saturday. After checking out Chaweng I decided I was glad that I was staying in Lamai. not that I could have afforded to stay in Chaweng, but it was not my kind of scene. I was happy to find lots of local taxis and I took a slower, but less expensive ride back to the spa in time for my first Thai massage. They recommend that you sit in the sauna before getting a massage so I tried it out. It was a scorching 118 degrees fahrenheit in there! I thought I was going to pass out! As if it's not hot enough outside. I could only stand about 5 minutes each time I went in and I was happy to find a glass of refreshing tea waiting for me after my treatment. The treatment areas were a bit surprising as it is essentially a big covered area with about 12 mats with people getting massages. Even though there was someone right next to me I didn't feel like there was once the massage started. Surprisingly Thai massage is done with you clothes on, which is kind of a relief as you are laying around with a bunch of other people. I was expecting to be stretched and pulled in all directions from the photos I had seen so I was surprised at how gentle it ended up being. Of course, I use the word "gentle" incorrectly as the way she was pushing on my body was anything but. It did sort of feel good in a sense though. I just had to tell myself to breathe whenever she was pushing on a knot. I was amazed at how sore my legs were. I guess I've been using them a lot more than I have in a long time so it makes sense that they were in need of a stretch and massage. Thai massages leave you feeling energized, or at least I felt good after mine and I headed off for a walk on the beach before hitting the excellent restaurant at the hotel, or at least that was my plan.

This time I headed in the other direction on the beach and I ended up at the Marriott resort at the end of the beach. This place was posh and I can say this because I happened to chat with one of the guests, an American from Charleston, SC who was there with his parents. The poor guy was obviously starved for some company as he was surrounded with honeymooners and older couples so we set off into Lamai to find a place to eat. I never told him that it was my birthday but he ended up treating me to dinner, which was kind of cool! I was a bit freaked out when they brought out a whole fish, scales, fins, and eyes for me to eat. I persevered and managed to eat quite a bit of it, I thought I was going to loose it when I had to pull off a fin to peel back the skin but I made it - whew! So it was fun to chat with another American on my birthday, although it was a bit random meeting up with him. We ended up staying out a bit late and we set a time to meet the next day to see Thai boxing in Chaweng.

I had planned on renting a scooter for the day to explore the island but rain interfered with my plans so instead I went for a swim in the pool and then fell asleep, missing my meeting time for boxing with Josh. I eventually made it and we took the local taxi into Chaweng only to find that they were suffering from a power outage. I had some cider beer in an Irish pub to cheer myself up and we headed back to the Marriott to use the incredible pool. We swam in the pool that was longer than a typical olympic pool length, I swear. The resort was incredibly posh and it made me realize how I hadn't seen a resort nicer than a 3 star since I started on my trip. I think that I might be craving a bit of a stay in a posh resort soon.....but all I have to do is think of my budget and then I am slapped in the face with harsh, cold, reality. Nothing like reality to bring you back.

So I headed back early to get some rest for my kayaking trip the next day. I awoke to a very cloudy/lightly raining day. This didn't bode well. I was surprised to end up in a van full of German couples. I thought I was going to be the only person who spoke english on the boat but happily another two bus loads of people arrived and we set off. I was glad to be paired up with the only other single person on the boat, Chet, a native Kiwi who is living in London and was on vacation. He was a great navigator and we both had the same desire to break away from the group and go fast! Unfortunately that was a bit difficult as there were so many people out there and not too many people seemed to know what they were doing. But we still had fun. He had the idea to take some bananas with us while we snorkeled to feed the fish and although the visibility was horrible I was still successful in coaxing some fish to feed from my hand, which was fun. My only wish was that it would have stopped raining at least for a moment and the sun would have come out. Regardless of the lack of sun, it was still incredibly beautiful but I wish that I would have seen what it looked like without the rain. The fun part was kayaking to an island where we climbed up the side of a steep and rocky hill to reach an interior lake. Incredibly beautiful! Alas, after this our day was over, I was exhausted as being on boats makes me extremely tired and I almost fell asleep on the way back. Except that I was having fun chatting with Chet and another American couple who were on a 2 month long honeymoon.

So I was going to leave on Sunday, the next day but I decided to take another day to see the island. Fortunately it was a sunny day and I rented a scooter to explore the off-the-beaten-path sorts of areas. The island is quite large and I spent almost the whole day driving around checking out the numerous waterfalls and beaches. I headed up to the highest point on the island to check out the views and see a sculpture garden. It was an interesting place and I had fun taking photos with the statues. On the map it seemed that I could cut across the island using the dirt paths and I decided to be brave and try out the state of the paths. Keep in mind I'm on a Yamaha Mia automatic 100CC scooter. Perhaps going off road on this bike was not the smartest of ideas but I had a blast getting into the interior of the island where there were absolutely no people except for some local farmers and fishermen. Eventually I could go no further so I had to backtrack and head down the way I came but I had a lot of fun getting covered in mud on my legs!

So my time on Ko Samui comes to an end as the next day I am picked up at the spa and bused to the ferry dock where I took a boat for 2-1/2 hours to the mainland and was then transferred to the train station where I will be taking a night train to Bangkok. I guess my only means of transport missing for the day is a plane! Ha!