Ko Samui is located in the Gulf of Thailand, about 35 km northeast of Surat Thani town (9°N, 100°E). The island measures some 25 km at its widest point. It is surrounded by about sixty other islands, which compose the Ang Thong Marine National Park (Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park) and include other tourist destinations (Ko Phangan, Ko Tao and Ko Nang Yuan).
The central part of the island is an almost uninhabitable jungle mountain, Khao Pom, peaking at 635 m. The various lowland areas are connected together by a single 51 km road, running mostly along the coast to encircle the bulk of the island.
The old capital is Nathon, on the southwest coast of the island. It remains the major port for fishing and inter-island transportation. Nathon is the seat of the regional government, and the true commercial hub of the Samui locals. It has a charming pace, and is almost small enough to walk everywhere. The old Chinese shop houses along the middle street whisper of an exotic history.
Each of Samui's beaches is considered a small town, due to the number of hotels, restaurants and nightlife that have sprung up in recent years.
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Day 1
We flew off on the 23rd October by SilkAir. Silkair started flying to Koh Samui in September. They fly three times a week to Ko Samui; On Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays. Our flight time was 8.10am on a Sunday morning. The expected time to reach Koh Samui is 9.10am. Do take note that Ko Samui is 1 hour behind Singapore timing.
The flight was a bumpy ride but we managed to reach Ko Samui at about 9.15am. The first thing that amazed me was the airport. The Ko Samui airport is totally open concept and it is like a resort. To reach the immigration from the runway, a long buggy have to drive us from the runway to the immigration counter. Checking out was a breeze. The whole process from checking out to retrieving our luggage took us about the most 35 minutes.
The buggy that drove us
A view of the airport
Next we proceeded to the waiting area where our hotel representative will pick us up to the hotel resort. The place we have chosen to stay is the Beach Republic Residences Spa and Resort. It is about a 25 minutes drive from the airport.
Upon entering the car, we were greeted by the friendly driver with a cold drink and towel to refresh us. We reached the beach republic in about 20 minutes. At the reception area, they gave us a Mojito Welcome Drink (Lemon, Lime and Mint Leaves)
Checking in took about 15 minutes. The butler helped us with our heavy bags to our room. When we reached the room, we were amazed with the things there. They had an oven toaster, cooker hood, mini bar, rain shower. We were given a bottle of house sparkling wine to enjoy. However it didnt taste that good. We decided to rest a while before going to the reception to book the day tours.
Below are some pictures of the Beach Republic and our room
We booked the day tours for Monday -24th and Tuesday -25th. For the 24th, we decided to go for a Island Safari tour which consists of elephant trekking, monkey show, elephant show, thai boxing, ATV vehicle ride and fish spa. For the 25th, we decided on a water trip to the famous Ang Thong National Park which includes snorkelling, swimming, kayaking and island hopping. Once this was settled we headed down to the Ocean Republic restaurant which was part of the Beach Republic. It consists of the restaurant, bar, infinity swimming pool and jacuzzi as well as the famous Lamai Beach.
Below are some pictures of the Ocean Republic and the Lamai Beach
After hanging around on the beach, we decided to call a taxi to bring us to town centre.
Ko Samui is made up of a couple of towns, mainly Chaweng, Lamai (Where we are staying), Bophut, Nahom, Samrong Bay. Each town have their own shops and hotels. We decided to go to Tesco Lotus in Chaweng. Tesco Lotus is the only shopping mall in the whole of Ko Samui.
Taxi fees are very expensive in Ko Samui, a fifteen minutes trip can set you back about 500 Baht. It is advisable to rent a car in Ko Samui. Since it was our first time there and we are not so familiar with the roads, we decided to just pay the taxi fees.
Upon reaching Tesco Lotus which was a fifteen minutes drive from our resort, we were greeted with the familiar MK Restaurant sign. MK is a chain of steamboat restaurants in Thailand. What is so special about this place is the sauce. We decided to have our first proper meal here.
After our meal, we walked around the place. Basically there are a couple of restaurants and fast food places, a food court, a cinema which shows limited shows, a bowling alley and the Tesco Lotus supermart which looks like the Giant hypermart in Singapore. Even the uniform looks the same. I am wondering if it is managed by the same company managing Giant hypermart here in Singapore. We decide to walk around the shops along the main road before heading back to our hotel resort to have a good rest before the beginning of our day trips. In Ko Samui, by 630pm, the whole place is dark. It is equivalent to a 8.30pm in Singapore. The roads are poorly litted and not well maintained. It is not so advisable to walk alone after 645pm.
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Day 2
We woke up about 630am to prepare for our day trips. Went to have our buffet breakfast at the Ocean Republic before the Jeep picked us up from our hotel to send us to Island Safari
When we reached the island safari, we were greeted with the sounds of elephants. The whole schedule was as follow
1) Elephant Show
2) Half an hour Elephant trekking through the jungle
3) Monkey Show
4) Thai Boxing
5) ATV Vehicle roving
6) Fish Spa
Basically the most fun thing to do was the elephant trekking. You get to sit on the elephant and it will bring you round a jungle for about 30 mins. You can also purchase bananas for 60 Baht to feed them along the way.
Once we were done with all the activities, the jeep sent us back to our hotel. The moment we entered our hotel room, we were surprised as the hotel staff nicely decorated our room with flowers and the words Happy Wedding Anniversary.
We decided to take a short rest before we headed down south to explore the rest of the island. We walked down south and came across many beautiful resorts and restaurants. We decided to settle upon eating at this BBQ Steamboat place. It only cost 129 Baht per person. Drinks were an additional 30 Baht. Eating at the place reminds me of eating steamboat at Marina Bay when I was younger.
I noticed that the people who were eating at the BBQ place were mostly the locals. I guess is due to the price. The locals cannot afford the top notch restaurants in town. Most of them will head to the road side stalls or cook at home.
After eating we decided to head back to our hotel as it was already very dark. Along the way we stopped by a provision shop to get some tidbits for the night.
Below are pictures of the various activities as well as our nicely decorated room.
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Day 3
We woke up very early for our day water trip. The van picked us up at our hotel at about 7am. We headed to Nathom Pier in the northern part of the island. It took us about 35 mins to reach the pier. The weather was good to go out to sea. We had a quick breakfast of toast at the pier before we jumped into the speedboat which will bring us to Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park
Some background on the Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park
Mu Ko Ang Thong is a marine national park in the Gulf of Thailand, at the shore of the Surat Thani Province. It covers 42 islands in a total area of 102 km², of which only 18 km² are land. The park was established on November 12, 1980.The name Ang Thong (Thai: อ่างทอง) means bowl of gold, while Mu Ko (หมู่เกาะ) simply means group of islands.
The speedboat out to high seas took about 45 minutes. Our first stop was at a limestone reef. We snorkelled for about 20 minutes. The reef had many beautiful fish which we could see vividly. Too bad I did not have a underwater camera, if not I could have taken photos of the underwater life.
The next destination was another small island within the national park. while travelling to this island, the weather took a turn for the worst. It started to storm causing us to be drenched. When we reached the next island, we immediately ran out to a sheltered hut where a thai family started a fire to keep us warm. This was the island that was used in the film "Cast Away" We waited for a while for the rain to stop before we went out kayaking on open seas.
This was the most fun part of it because we got to see the many beautiful natural limestone formations that made up part of the national park. We were kayaking on open seas which means there were waves hitting us. This made it more exciting then just kayaking near the beach. After an hour of kayaking, we headed back to shore to have our lunch which was prepared by the Thai family living on the island.
After lunch we headed out to another island which hosted the Emerald Salt Lake. Why is it called the Emerald Salt Lake? It is because the water is so green that it looked like a shining emerald against the reflection of the sunlight. It was a tortureous climb up to the top to view the lake; the steps were very steep that you had to hold on to the wooden railings to make sure you do not tumble down.
Next we headed to the island whereby the National Park office is situated. By this time, the sun was beaming down on the island again We decided to sit down under a palm tree, sipping our coffee and watch people play beach volleyball. This was the last stop before we headed back to Ko Samui.
We departed this small island at about 2.45pm. Headed back to Ko Samui and then back to the hotel. We reached our hotel approximately 4.30pm. We had a bath and quick rest before we headed out for our wedding anniversary dinner.
The dinner location was at the Dining on the Rocks restaurant owned by Six Senses Resort (a Sala Property). It was a 35 minutes drive up north.
When we reached the restaurant, we were blown away by the panoramic view of the open area fine dining restaurant. Imagine, a 270 degrees view of gulf of Siam high up in the mountains with a personalized table, music system and personal chef cooking for you.
We ordered the famous 5 on the rocks set dinner with accompanying wine.
The 5 on the rocks set dinner consist of the following
Food
1) Scallop in apple-coriander water, almond powder, pumpkin and bacon
2) canned tuna fish sandwich, brioche, potato puree, olive oil powder
3) tomorrow's chicken burrito, mole, avocado and fresh cheese smooth bean and grilled tortilla sand
4) 24 hr lamb shoulder & 15 min lamb rack complimented with Mediterranean flavours
5) variations in dark chocolate, taste, texture, temperature
Wine
1) D'arenberg the dry ram from Australia
2) Enate from Spain
3) Allegrini Valpolicella from Italy
4) Hugo Casonova Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon from Spain
5) Dow's Fine Tawny Port from Portugal
The whole night was spent having quality time, chit chatting under the moonlight with the sound of the waves, rustling of the leaves and beautiful soft music playing in the background.
After the dinner, we toured around the resort and we were told that the Prince of Thailand books the presidential suite for his holiday at this resort. WOW!!!
Our transport picked us up about 9.40pm to send us back to the hotel. This was an amazing night with awesome food and ambience!
Guess how much this meal costs: SGD500 dollars nett. It was considered cheap as such a meal over here in singapore would probably cost you about SGD1000 plus.
Stay tuned for more updates!
