We flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok to the island of Koh Samui, and then took a ferry to Koh Tao. It’s a small tropical island, population 5,000. We checked into our nice air conditioned room at Ban’s Diving Resort. Steps from our room as a very narrow path paved with bricks that runs along the coast. It’s lined with dive shops, cafes, and bungalows. The pathway is only wide enough for pedestrians and motorbikes.
Diving is probably the top reason most people go to Koh Tao. The first order of business was to get our dives booked. I (Jeff) decided it was time to do my advanced scuba course so that I could do the deep dives with Andrew. Diving is relatively inexpensive here, and with the popularity of diving here, there are continual classes. It was a 4 day course with some classroom time as well as diving. Some of the required dives were underwater navigation, underwater naturalist, a deep dive (to 30 meters), and a night dive. I’m glad I did the night dive, but probably not something I’d do again. :-) Now I have a cool dive card that says Koh Tao.
Koh Tao is a beautiful little island: mountainous and lush and green. We rented scooters one day to explore. We drove up the hills to a fancy resort (called Koh Tao Resort) for the view. We had lunch there too, outside near the pool, on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was amazing, and Thai food is always phenomenal as well.
The next part of our island tour was back in Koh Samui. Samui is bigger, a bit busier, more tourists, more restaurants, nightlife, etc. It has a population of about 50,000, but I’m sure is much more than that with all the tourists. We checked in to our bungalow at Montien House. For the price, you can’t beat this place. It’s right in the middle of the town of Chaweng, but is secluded from the main street. It’s right on the beach, has a pool, beach-front restaurant, the bungalows are clean and it’s quiet.
Our days on Samui were filled with pool time, good food, drinks, and shopping. Chaweng is lined with shops and markets, all of the locals trying to get you in their shop to spend your Baht. Fake name brands are everywhere, whether it’s a Diesel shirt or a Channel bag. There is also some cool local art to be found. Haggling, though, is a requirement. We probably bought 10 T-shirts. One day we took a taxi (benches built into the back of a pickup truck) to check out another area of the island called Lamai. It was a bit sleepier than Chaweng, and not quite as interesting. So, we had lunch at McDonalds there (yes, we’re the Americans that eat at McD’s in other countries) and hopped in another taxi back to Chaweng. We did have 2 really nice dinners in Chaweng. One was at an upscale Italian place called Prego, and the other was at a fancy resort called Poppies. Poppies probably had the best Thai food we have ever had.
One day we took a ferry to another nearby island called Koh Pha Ngan. It’s smaller than Samui, but bigger than Koh Tao. It has a huge, beautiful beach. White sand and clear, calm, turquoise water that’s as warm as a bathtub. It’s on the east side of Laem Hat Rin, a little peninsula that juts out into the water. It’s called Hat Rin Nok, or Sunrise Beach. The other side of the peninsula is called Hat Rin Nai, or Sunset Beach. Koh Pha Ngan is popular with the backpackers, so it has a young, hip, carefree feel to it, which adds to the atmosphere of the place. Andrew had been here years prior and couldn’t believe how much it has changed. These hidden-gem-kind-of-places don’t stay that way forever. We baked in the sun, swam in the ocean, had lunch at Mama Schinitzel’s (yummy sandwiches), stopped in an air conditioned internet café to cool off, and baked in the sun and swam some more before heading back on the ferry to Samui and to our Montien House bungalow.
Our SE Asia trip was nearing its end, but we did still have one stopover ahead of us. From Samui we were headed to Hong Kong for just a day and a ½ on our way home…
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