Koh Samui

We left the Philippines after an amazing 32 days in the country. Our next destination was Thailand – more specifically Koh Samui – however had a number of days transit to arrive at our destination. From Coron, we arrived in Koh Samui via Bangkok and Surat Thani where we had a night each, and the transit journey was eventful to say the least! (See shit list)

Hit List

Bangkok
- ‘B-Your Home’ Don Meung. This was our accommodation which was fairly close to the airport (10min taxi). It had rooftop pool and only a 2 minute walk outside led you to an array of street food which we feasted on for breakfast before catching our flight. An early morning walk greeted us with so many amazing aromas and our first experience of thai food on this holiday didn’t disappoint. We had a pad thai and stir fried chilli basil (for breakfast lol) before we headed to the airport and it totalled $5.50AUD or thereabouts.
- Compared to our last Thailand experience, its really nice to walk out of an airport and have kind and warm taxi drivers greet you and not try and rip you off hard.
Surat Thani
- Again, another overnight stop, but our accom (SC Residences) was a great find. At only $25AUD a night it had everything we needed, and was very close to Phantip (our tour company who we booked all of our transfers through) bus station. It was also close enough o a range of food and coffee options for the morning before we headed to the ferry terminal. They coordinated our taxi/transfers to the ferry which was also really helpful
- Finn seeing the Disney Castle (see pics below)
- Surat Thani Vocational School. This was pick for coffee in the morning – and was across the road from our accom. Most cafes didn’t open until 8am, but I stumbled across this gem on my morning walk and was a café/social enterprise attached to said school. The students were keen to practice their English which was really cool, and the coffee was decent too!!

Koh Samui
- Silver Beach. Where our accom was located, and arguably the best beach on Koh Samui. This place had an infinity pool which overlooked the beach and was for guests only. Whilst there were scores on the beach, we were happy chilling by the pool with the same view with only a few people. We spent most of our stay here with Finn alternating between pool swims and beach swims. Motorbike rental from our accom was also easy, with it being 250B ($10ish AUD) for the day, compared to 500+/- from punters on the street. It may have been cheap for a reason though, as we tried to venture up a mountain to visit Tarnim Magic garden, but we couldn’t make it as our little 125cc chariot kept conking out one the steep parts. Needless to say we had to turn around and head home 😦
- Interestingly, we were under the impression that Thailand was fairly (no – very) strict on drug use/possession. This is obviously not the case, with our accommodation, along with scores of other shopfronts openly selling weed over the counter. Our accom/poolside chills often smelt like a music festival, but everyone was always very happy and relaxed which was nice 🙂
- I Love Elephants Samui. This is an elephant rescue retreat, where we spent the morning feeding and bathing a number of elephants. It was roughly $50AUD pp but it was a good experience and the animals are very well cared for. Finn absolutely frothed it. Whilst it was a bit tricky to find, once we eventually got there it was worth it!!
- Free* Outdoor gym in Lanai. This is a pretty cool setup where a heap of gym equipment occupies a tiny island off the mainland. Accessed by a wooden bridge, this place has everything you need – actually more machines than some 24hr gyms Ive been to in Aus – and is a great way to start the morning watching the sunrise. There is a ‘tip box’ where a small donation for your visit is appreciated
- Rossini Ice Cream – was only a 2 minute walk from our accommodation but their icecream was amazing. A little on the pricey side (relatively speaking) @ $4AUD a scoop, but Finns Salted Caramel, Chantals Coconut & my Lemon Meringue Pie were all fantastic. Slightly biased, but the latter was the tastiest.

Shit list

Arriving into Bangkok. After being called to the customs desk to show our passports, poor Finn had a massive chunder all over the floor. We reckon it was the rice from Jollibee (a VERY popular Filipino fast food joint where we had a feed in Manila airport)
Along the spew theme – on our way to Koh Ma Spewi…….I mean Koh Samui, Chantal was seasick. To be fair, the sea was choppy af and the fast boat didn’t slow down. To be honest it was pretty scary as the waves were pretty big and old mate had a schedule to keep to. For anyone reading this and considering catching a boat to Koh Samui, I would recommend looking into what boat Phantip book you on and opt for the car ferry or something a bit bigger as the fast boats only have 1 speed……..We learned not long after that 2 fast boats crashed and sunk over the Christmas break!!
Riding motorbikes in Thailand compared to Philippines – way more hectic!!! I put it down to juiced up bikes, more cars on the road, and heaps of young pups in a hurry to get to the next dest, likely after a few doobies and arvo changs.