Old & Lost

Woke up this morning to cloudy skies. We have had other cloudy mornings but they clear up and it gets hot and humid. Today was the first time since we got here, 8 February, that we had rain.

And did it rain! Just before we needed to leave to walk to the pier for our ferry back to Koh Samui. Good thing we have rain covers for our backpacks. Out they came and on they went. Absolutely poured down for about 10 minutes, then cleared up and got hotter and more humid, if possible, just as we were about to head to the pier. It was great though that the rain stopped and we did not get wet. We could see the clouds rolling in over the island as we sped across the Gulf of Thailand.

Ferry ride was fast, rough and great. They sure pile the luggage. Doug and the guy beside him had to keep pushing the bags back with their feet as the rough waves were sliding some of the bags around.

We were lucky and got a taxi as soon as we disembarked the ferry. Taxi driver tried to unload us at the wrong hotel, Combo Hotel, but we knew where we were going as it was the same hotel we had been in a few days ago, COSI Samui Hotel. Maybe he didn’t understand our accent. Not that we have one! LOL.

Got all checked in but our room wasn’t ready so we stored our luggage and headed to our favourite Starbucks for an Iced Vanilla Latte. Looked around the mall a bit for new flip flops but no success, so headed back to the hotel to see if the room was ready. It was. Dropped our backpacks in our room and headed back out in search of flip flops. Doug decided to get a quick shave on the way at a place called Never Say Cutz. LOL He didn’t really.

No one seems to sell flip flops with arches in them. Really hope I can get mine fixed in Cambodia. Finally found a pair that had a slight arch and are a heck of a lot better than yesterday’s emergency purchase. New flip flops in hand we headed back, but decided we could use a break. It’s stressful shopping for flip flops. Doug started with a fruit smoothie but quickly moved to a Blue Hawaii.

You see lots of these trucks going up the street blaring music and advertising their venues. Just a few hydro lines here.

Tonight for dinner we were going to go the the night market for an assortment of foods. As we walked there you could see the temple in the distance from our uphill hike the other day.

We picked a couple varieties of chicken and we’re going to look for something else when the skies started to open up. We just dashed for cover at the mall which is next to our hotel. We had enough to eat as we had eaten spring rolls in the afternoon.

The mall still had some of their Christmas decorations up as did many places we have come across.

Finished my day off with a piece of coconut cake I had bought in the afternoon. It was a little different as the topping was shredded fresh young coconut. Not like anything I’ve ever had at home.

Had a great sleep and my bug bites did not wake me. That alone makes it’s a great night. Today we are going by ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan. This island is famous for the Full Moon parties. I would never come here around full moon. I’ve heard it’s insane.

We had a leisurely breakfast then went for a walk around town as we weren’t being picked up until noon, which was also check-out time. Taxi ride to the pier took about 15 minutes and we got to see a little more of the island. The ferry left from the Big Buddha pier and we were able to see the back of the Buddha.

Ferry ride took about 35 minutes and again we saw some breathtaking scenery. Lots of fishing boats.

Getting from the ferry dock to our hotel was a breeze as it was 260 meters from the pier according to maps.me. Nice and close, yet far from the noise.

Got all checked in and shown to our room. What a great room. Our room opened to a small patio that had 2 loungers beside the pool. Yes, our own pool loungers!

Thought everything was perfect. Went to set the combination on the in room safe….Error…..error…..error. Down to the front desk I went. They would send someone in 5 minutes. Hadn’t been back in the room 2 minutes when Doug comes out of the bathroom and says “you don’t want to look under the bathroom sink”. Of course I had to go look. It was a friggin’ BIG cockroach looking back at me. (Doug said I went hysterical, jumping up and down screaming, but I don’t remember that. However I did take a picture of it. Don’t remember that either!) Back to the front desk I went again. Had to laugh to myself. The guy working the front desk says “I’ll send housekeeping to take care of it”. I’m thinking to myself, are you kidding me? You’re sending a woman to take care of it while you sit here. A few minutes after I got back to the room the safe guy showed up to fix the safe. It was taking him awhile, which was good, as when the poor housekeeping lady showed with her broom and dustpan he helped her. I’m pretty sure she appreciated his help as there was a little screaming in the bathroom and a lot of crunching and banging. I was as far away as possible without being out of the room. I did try to get out before they started but the bathroom was right beside my exit route. When the lady was leaving I said to her “you’re sure you got it?” The man then gets her to turn around to show me the cockroach on her dustpan. I’m freaking out! “No No!” She then throws it out the hallway window. At least she closed the window afterwards. This guy was BIG!

It was definitely Chang time now! Good thing there was a bar at the end of the pool. Got ourselves a couple of cold Changs. I hopped in the pool to cool down and to enjoy my Chang while Doug sat in one of our loungers by the pool.

Soon we were really getting hungry as we had only had muffins for breakfast. We decided to head out to see what was around. There were lots of shops and restaurants but the town was dead. It was like we were the only people here. We usually like to pick a restaurant where there are already others eating. Took us a while to find one, but we did, Ladino Restaurant. I order something I’d never had before, Ziva with feta cheese and olives. It was a pretzel sesame type dough stuffed with mozzarella cheese, feta and green olives. Doug wanted the same but they only had one left so he order Pad Thai Chicken. He really enjoyed his meal, as did I mine. Would definitely be looking for this in the future.

After eating it was still only 4:30 so we walked around a little and found ourselves on the beach, Hadd Rin. Pretty sure this is the beach where the Full Moon parties are held.

Our son, Paden has been to a couple of them. Well actually only one. The second one he planned to attend got canceled as the King of Thailand died the week before. All parties and drinking in the open were cancelled for at least a month afterwards. They already had their reservations for the island so still came and partied quietly on the beach. Turns out there is a Half Moon party tomorrow night. Tickets are an insane price of 1500 baht. About $63 Cdn. Count us out! Apparently the Full Moon party is basically free. A small clean up fee is charged. The full moon organization even seems to have their own alcohol line. There were other beverages also.

Caught the sun setting and stopped in for a beverage, a margarita and a mojito. Both were pretty good by Thailand standards for cocktails.

Every day I seem to see something that amuses me. What would I do with a free toilet? LOL.

We made our way back to the hotel and in for an early night. We have an early pickup for a full day excursion booked for tomorrow.

We woke up this morning with great intentions of walking the 7km Chewang Beach.

I had been awake since about 2:00 am thanks to our afternoon nap yesterday and my newly acquired bug bites. I am really getting tired of these bugs feasting on me. Only positive thing is that I only got 2 bites yesterday. Either the bugs weren’t bad, the bugs didn’t like me yesterday or I’m building up an immunity to them. It was only 2 days ago that the last 5 bites stopped itching and I finally had a good night sleep. Wish I could find something to help with the itch. The day I got the 5 bites my son’s comment was “I wish I could say it will get better, but it won’t”. Thanks a lot Paden! Enough about my bug bites.

After breakfast we gathered our stuff, including our quick dry towels for the beach and headed out for our walk along the 7km beach. Should have known it wouldn’t be good when we somehow missed the cutoff to the beach. We walked for about 15 minutes before we both thought, this seems kind of far. The turn off should have been long before now. So we turned around and headed back towards the hotel. Found another beach access road and took it. Got to the beach and the tide was still pretty high. Took our flip flops off and headed off down the beach. I can’t say this is my favourite beach by a long shot. It doesn’t seem to be maintained by the hotels along it and there was ‘stuff’ along the beach. Not much garbage but seaweed, black wood like shavings and what looked like bricks. We were wondering if it was the breakwater wall falling apart. Also hundreds of tiny fish that I was afraid of stepping on and squishing. They looked like the fish that you see in the tanks that eat the dead skin off your feet. Something Doug wants to try before we leave. We walked until we came to the first corner and then decided to turn back.

It was only 10:00 am and so hot and humid. The weather forecast was calling for rain this morning, but they were wrong again. The humidity was a killer. Once we got past the breakwater wall, the ocean and beach cleared right up. Beautiful white, clean sand, but there was still no shade. All the loungers that were in the shade. Most belonged to hotels along the beach and were for hotel guests only. Below can’t imagine carrying these to sell all day long. The guy is to the right of them. He was taking a break. He’s usually under them.

We walked a little further and then packed it in. Just too sunny, hot and humid. And we’re too old to enjoy that now. Back to our hotel, but not before stopping for a vanilla Iced Cap at Starbucks. Doug, monkeying around with his friends.

We dropped off our quick dry towels and picked up my sarong and shawl. We could see a spiral from our hotel and it looks like the top of a temple. Doug really wanted to locate this as we knew it had to be close. Couldn’t find it on the maps anywhere. Today maps.me actually located a pagoda in that location. I wasn’t sure about this outing as the spiral was on the top of a hill which meant a walk up the hill to get to it.

However maps.me showed it as being 1.6 km away. Not far really…..unless it it a thousand degrees outside. Okay, I exaggerate a little. It was only a hundred and something. I know because at 6:00 pm it was still 44C (111F). So we get to the side street where the pagoda is.

This is one steep hill and almost in full sun. Doug kept coaxing me. Just walk from shade spot to shade spot and take a rest. That is what we did for the 1/2 km up, up, up. Thought I would die before getting to the top, but I made it! The view from up here was spectacular. You could see the sea, the islands and the airport was right there. Watched a few planes take off. Pictures once again don’t do it justice. So many butterflies up here. So beautiful. Happy he made me do it. LOL. The first picture is the airport runway.

The pagoda was under renovation and the whole interior was in the process of be repainting all the murals. There were so many artists working on it. When we were inside they were on their lunch break.

We took our time walking down the hill, but that was easy breezy compared to going up. Passed a few youngins walking up and they were finding it difficult in the heat.

Back at the hotel we spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry before heading out to the night market for dinner. It still amazes us how everything is gone from the market area during the day and at night it is so fill of stalls and people. We both choose chicken doners. That is what they call donairs here. They were pretty darn good.

Thought we might try some other street food but we were stuffed after our doners. We have got to be the first two back in the hotel every night. Just can’t stay out at night after being in the heat all day. It’s even hot at night. It is currently 9:52 pm and is still 41C.

Tomorrow is a travel day and we have to start packing.

Yesterday we booked with Happy Tours to get an island tour. There were 7 stops on this tour….makes for a busy day. We were picked up around 9:30 am, the last ones, and headed right to the first stop, a beautiful temple. Haven’t been to a temple in a while.

Wat Plai Leam is a Buddhist Temple compound. Each of the 3 main buildings were built in a different style. There is the Thai style, the Chinese style and maybe it was the Buddhist style. Neither of us remember exactly what was said. The sun fried our brains today, once again. This is still an active temple though.

18-arm image of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion

The large white laughing Buddha statue which the guide explained all about, but we also don’t remember what she said.

From here we headed to the famous Big Buddha. Just how many Big Buddhas can one country have? A LOT! You usually have to take your shoes off for this kind of thing, but since it was 10:30 am and the sun was frying the steps we were allowed to leave our shoes on. I’m guessing there were too many tourists getting burned feet so they took pity on us.

They really need someone to proofread their signs.

It was a quick drive to the beautiful Chewang View Point. They give us 15 minutes for a beautiful place like this with lots of steps or steep ramps for the less fit but 30 minutes or more where there are stalls trying to sell us stuff. Could have used more time here to get to the bottom.There was also a Spirit House.

Onto the next stop, Grandfather and Grandmother Rocks.

Had some delicious coconut ice cream here. Probably tasted even better as it was so hot and the ice cream so cold. Could have eaten 2 myself.

Next up was the Mummified Monk at Wat Khunaram. It is apparently an unusual sight. The monk Luong Pordaeng died in 1973 in a seated meditative position Since then, his body has been on display in an upright glass case at this temple. There has been very little decay to the body.

Last tourist stop was the Namuang Waterfalls 1

Some people chose to do elephant trekking but we didn’t.

Then it was time for lunch. Some had purchased a package that included lunch but we didn’t. However we were hot and hungry so decided to go eat and maybe have an ice cold Chang at the restaurant they recommended. Doug had a green curry chicken and I had ginger chicken. We were not disappointed.

On our drive back to the hotel we got to see lots of the island. We were the first ones dropped of. Loved that, last picked up and first dropped off. Plus I got to sit in the seat next to the driver and had a great view.

Back to our hotel room where we both crashed for a couple of hours.

We finally dragged ourselves out and headed over to Starbucks for a vanilla iced latte. I think we could become addicted to these in this climate, but they are so expensive. The small size runs about $12.75 Cdn for two. May have mentioned that before. Took the lattes with us and continued to tour the Festival Mall that is next door to our hotel. We saw part on our first night here but apparently missed a lot of it. WOW did we miss a lot! There is a whole night market and food court at the other end out in the open. We were still full from our lunch but will be trying some foods from here tomorrow night. Won’t be trying any of these though.

As we headed back in the direction of our hotel Doug grabbed a smoothie

We came across some street entertainment. They set up a whole bar and food area every night and have live entertainment. The group of dancers were really quite good. I was getting a major headache, probably from all the sun today and lack of water. I don’t like to drink a lot of water on excursions as you never know what the washroom situation will be, so we headed back for the night.

Today was a travel day. After breakfast we headed to the airport.

We flew from Krabi, Thailand to the island Koh Samui, Thailand.

The flight was less than an hour but since we flew with Bangkok Air we got a meal. Not to sure what it was but it was pretty good. Almost like a pesto. I tried the purple stuff. It was definitely mixed with coconut milk but I only had a taste. Didn’t want to push my luck.

Some beautiful views out the airplane window.

The airport in Koh Samui was like landing in the middle of Disney’s Polynesian Resort. It was so beautiful. Lush plants everywhere and totally open to the outside.

Got a taxi from the airport to our hotel, COSI Samui Resort. It only opened in December 2017 so should be in good condition. It’s a cool hotel from what we saw today. Technology integrated. So it says. Located right beside Central Festival Mall (and a Starbucks).

We went in search of food. And you thought this was water! Nope it’s gasoline for the scooters.

Did a bit of sight seeing.

Checked out a few restaurants and decided to eat at The Kitchen Restaurant and Bistro. Menu looked good and it was close to our hotel. Food was okay but a little pricey by our cheap standards. This is the first place that I have noticed tax and service fee being added to the bill. Doug had Tom Yam Khung and I think I had Khao Ob Sapparot.

After dinner we took a short walk to the beach just to see where it was. Found these two. This is the type of lizard that was under the stairs the other day.

The beach was very long with lots of hotel, bars and restaurants. A real tourist place. We would walk the beach some other day. The sun was starting to go down. Almost time for us to head back to our hotel.

Saw these pots drying. The looked cool.

Then ran into a couple of old friends on our way back.

Today was going to be another beach exploration day. This area is famous for a beach called Railay Beach. To get there we had to take a longboat from AoNang beach. Return tickets were 200 bht ($8 Cdn) each and it takes between 10 and 15 minutes to get there.

The boats leave as soon as they get 8 people, which only takes minutes in the morning as there are so many people going to Railay Beach.

The scenery on the trip over was just beautiful. Everywhere you look is like a postcard. This is the beach we were at yesterday.

I thought this beach was nice but not as nice as yesterday’s. Plus it was a lot more crowded and next to no shade to be found. The longtail boat trip takes between 10 – 15 minutes to get there.

When we got to the end we saw a couple of people heading into the trees area. Turned out there was a ‘path’ there. We followed and it took us to the edge of caves.

Saw this and got frightened. Didn’t know what we would find. Look closely at the picture.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught this. I am so glad that I DID NOT walk into its web. Don’t know if I would have survived it. The web was probably a couple of feet across. Just looking at the picture makes me skittish.

We explored a little more and then headed to the other end of the beach. There was also a path there but there was no way I would be able to maneuver it. This guy was guarding it too.

This is the path. Pretty much straight up.

Time to head back to our area. I have since found out that there is also a small village and shopping area at Railay Beach, but we did not see any indications of that. We are terrible tourists and miss so much. On our way back to our resort I needed to make a pit stop.

Yup Blue Hawaii adult beverages. With an order of spring rolls. So good!

This energized us and so we walked along the waterfront in the other direction. There was so much more to see that way. Our energy didn’t last long as it is still so hot and humid so back to our resort we went.

Thought their bus stops were cute. Everyone had a scene of monkeys.

Since tonight was our last night here I wanted to see the sunset. We decided to walk to my new favourite drink place to eat dinner and watch the sun set. May of had another Blue Hawaii!

The sunset did not disappoint.

We called it a night.

I’m still getting lots of bug bites and they are just horrible. Each one takes 7 – 10 days to go away. That’s after a few days of intense itching, tingling and stinging. Really disrupts my sleep, especially since I seem to get a new lot every couple of days. I now have two different creams from the pharmacist. One for itch, which does nothing and an antibiotic cream. Only good thing is they don’t swell up to the size of mandarins anymore. More the size of a twoonie.

Paden had told us about a beach that was beside the Ao Nang beach. Just follow the path through the jungle he said, so we thought we would do that today as well as checking out Ao Nang beach.

We headed down for breakfast where we found the eating area was built into the side of the mountain. It was really pretty sitting here. Mountains on one side and a small pool on the other. Food selection was not bad either. They had a latte machine which was a bonus as the coffee in Thailand is usually way too strong for me. Plus they had a pot of hot milk which I used to dilute my latte even further.

After breakfast we headed out to find the beach. Walked down the main road to Ao Nang beach and turned left. I have no idea if it was south, west, north or east. It was left for us.

No matter how many times I see these signs I never get used to them. There are numerous ones posted around our resort.

When we got close to the end of Ao Nang Beach we cut across a small wooden bridge and over to the path that would take us up the mountain side and through the jungle.

Look out Doug! Duck!

Paden failed to tell us that the path involved a hundred thousand steps. Steep steps! With only a bamboo railing in places. I’m afraid of heights and with my bad knees it was a nightmare. The number of steps may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it felt like that many to me. We were hoping to see some monkeys on our way, but we didn’t.

Paden’s 10 minute hike took us about 30 minutes. There were many spots with steep stairs. A few spots had sandbags for steps. Also a few spectacular views. I was pretty much too scared to let go to take any pictures though.

For every step we had climbed there was now a step to go down. Once again so steep. It took me a while to get down them, but I made it.

You had to sign in to get onto the beach. Now we had the name of the beach, Pai Plong Beach AoNang.

I think this was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. It was like being in a movie set. Perfect. Pictures don’t do the place justice. The water was warmer than our pool at home and so clear. We spent quite a bit of time in the water which is very unusual for us as we’re not really beach people anymore.

Then it was time to head back. The thought of all those steps was not appealing.

We made it back and as we were heading along the beach to our resort I saw this sign. I was so tired, hot and thirsty that I couldn’t resist getting a Blue Hawai. Boy was it good! This became my daily treat while here. It was great as you could do ‘take away’ and walk around with your drink.

Once back at the resort we hit up the pool for the afternoon. It was great as we were the only ones in it.

Headed out tonight and decided on pizza. Seems to be a our staple dinner. Another early night for us.