We moved out of the first place we were in due to some unwelcome ant visitors in our room. I even found 3 in the bed and they were big boyos! I took the initiative with these little fellas and got some bug spray from the huge Tesco nearby but it made matters much, much worse and I must have upset a nest. This place was miles from the beach anyhow so I was pleased when we took up residence in the reasonably priced Admiral Lord Nelson Pub and guesthouse across the road from Cheweng beach. This beach is the most popular (and pricey) and once we were able to find it hidden behind all the resorts, we came to see why; it really is beautiful. The waves break quite forcefully against the shore and the water temperature is just right.
(you can just make out Monty in the distance in this photo)
My favourite time of the day quickly became the evening, getting into the water and jumping up to meet the waves as the sun was setting over the high coconut tree covered hills.
We became homeless victims of the high season and had to move from our room on St Stephen's Day to a place across the road which wasn't as nice but cost twice as much. Koh Samui business people are well practiced in separating the cash from the tourist and it is painfully transparent. When bar girls aren't working the punters, the staff and bar owners from back home are doing it. We had a few very nice cocktails at Akwa which is a colourful bar full of pop-art but the staff are the most gentle rail roaders I have met so far - gently coaxing for business with their helpfulness and confining us to the 20 meter area around their bar with their kindness. There are way too many businesses in competition so it is a cut throat set up. I did get to taste a 'funky monkey' cocktail which made it all worth it. I am planning a birthday party when I get back in April and the chocolate ice cream, banana and coconut blend will be my piece de resistance.
Monty hired a quad bike for a day and we went for an off road adventure up through the forest in the middle of the island. It was pretty scary at times. Having exclusive, unsupervised use of one of these bikes is relatively new on Samui and we seemed to be the only people on the hills apart from a few people picking coconuts. I saw a massive spider - black and yellow, in a giant cobweb which made me acutely aware of the other 'nature' out there, specifically snakes.
My backside was starting to hurt anyway after a hour or so on the back of the bike with Monty giving it full throttle so I begged to be let off under the pretext that I wanted to have a go on an elephant, completely forgetting my fear of heights until I was in position. Just before I took my seat, I asked the chap in charge if I could just do 30 minutes instead of the planned hour but he wasn't having it and looked at me like I was mad. Anyhooo, there was nothing at all to be worried about and it was wonderful.
I got right into it and even rode the elephant bareback on my tod and got drenched when she went for a drink. I was reminded of Poldi's advice to bring a pillow as the ride can be a bit bumpy but my bum was still numb from my time on the quad bike so all in all it was quite a work-out for my glutes. Incidentally, the elephant that I was on was a female and the handler had a giggle when he was telling me that they have the biggest male elephant on the Island at their establishment but he is a lady-boy. I nearly fell off my perch on the elephant with laughter. These elephants are all well cared for and strong and would be unemployed (and therefor I deduce probably constipated and miserable) if it weren't for foreigners/farangs taking them for a stroll for money. While I was doing this, Monty had gone off on his own for some more manly quad bike action and crashed into the spiders web, becoming entangled in it and then reversing over the spider in his haste to get away. It was a great day for nature...
We arrived back in Bangkok yesterday looking forward to what we hoped would be spectacular New Years Eve celebrations at Central Plaza where 200,000 people were expected to congregate. Sadly (you will probably know more than me about this) there were coordinated explosions around the city, ruining the New Year for many people. As I write this, its hard to believe that lives have been ended so close by. We had no understanding of what was going on and were completely unaware of the warnings. The whole place was really calm and even when I asked some people who were taking a stage down about 15 minutes before midnight at Central Plaza, they were smiling as they told me why the celebrations were cancelled so I assumed it was all likely to be hoaxes. It must have been minutes after that, that an explosion happened just there but we had moved on.
We went to a bar which turned out to be seedier that I was happy with, so we spent the next hour or two listening to a young band on the street side who turned out to be very entertaining with a tuneful drummer (so I was happy - hehe - made me think of olde Pinfold Road days).
Had a gorgeous homemade ham and cheese sandwich yesterday and a nice cup of Earl Grey tea. Now I know I am starting to ramble so I will sign off...
Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh (for those of you who have forgotten how to say it LOL - AH vlee-ihn fwee WAH-shuh Heev)/ Prosperous New Years to all!!! Be Safe.
Cat
X
My favourite time of the day quickly became the evening, getting into the water and jumping up to meet the waves as the sun was setting over the high coconut tree covered hills.
We became homeless victims of the high season and had to move from our room on St Stephen's Day to a place across the road which wasn't as nice but cost twice as much. Koh Samui business people are well practiced in separating the cash from the tourist and it is painfully transparent. When bar girls aren't working the punters, the staff and bar owners from back home are doing it. We had a few very nice cocktails at Akwa which is a colourful bar full of pop-art but the staff are the most gentle rail roaders I have met so far - gently coaxing for business with their helpfulness and confining us to the 20 meter area around their bar with their kindness. There are way too many businesses in competition so it is a cut throat set up. I did get to taste a 'funky monkey' cocktail which made it all worth it. I am planning a birthday party when I get back in April and the chocolate ice cream, banana and coconut blend will be my piece de resistance.
Monty hired a quad bike for a day and we went for an off road adventure up through the forest in the middle of the island. It was pretty scary at times. Having exclusive, unsupervised use of one of these bikes is relatively new on Samui and we seemed to be the only people on the hills apart from a few people picking coconuts. I saw a massive spider - black and yellow, in a giant cobweb which made me acutely aware of the other 'nature' out there, specifically snakes.
My backside was starting to hurt anyway after a hour or so on the back of the bike with Monty giving it full throttle so I begged to be let off under the pretext that I wanted to have a go on an elephant, completely forgetting my fear of heights until I was in position. Just before I took my seat, I asked the chap in charge if I could just do 30 minutes instead of the planned hour but he wasn't having it and looked at me like I was mad. Anyhooo, there was nothing at all to be worried about and it was wonderful. 
I got right into it and even rode the elephant bareback on my tod and got drenched when she went for a drink. I was reminded of Poldi's advice to bring a pillow as the ride can be a bit bumpy but my bum was still numb from my time on the quad bike so all in all it was quite a work-out for my glutes. Incidentally, the elephant that I was on was a female and the handler had a giggle when he was telling me that they have the biggest male elephant on the Island at their establishment but he is a lady-boy. I nearly fell off my perch on the elephant with laughter. These elephants are all well cared for and strong and would be unemployed (and therefor I deduce probably constipated and miserable) if it weren't for foreigners/farangs taking them for a stroll for money. While I was doing this, Monty had gone off on his own for some more manly quad bike action and crashed into the spiders web, becoming entangled in it and then reversing over the spider in his haste to get away. It was a great day for nature...
We arrived back in Bangkok yesterday looking forward to what we hoped would be spectacular New Years Eve celebrations at Central Plaza where 200,000 people were expected to congregate. Sadly (you will probably know more than me about this) there were coordinated explosions around the city, ruining the New Year for many people. As I write this, its hard to believe that lives have been ended so close by. We had no understanding of what was going on and were completely unaware of the warnings. The whole place was really calm and even when I asked some people who were taking a stage down about 15 minutes before midnight at Central Plaza, they were smiling as they told me why the celebrations were cancelled so I assumed it was all likely to be hoaxes. It must have been minutes after that, that an explosion happened just there but we had moved on. 
We went to a bar which turned out to be seedier that I was happy with, so we spent the next hour or two listening to a young band on the street side who turned out to be very entertaining with a tuneful drummer (so I was happy - hehe - made me think of olde Pinfold Road days).
Had a gorgeous homemade ham and cheese sandwich yesterday and a nice cup of Earl Grey tea. Now I know I am starting to ramble so I will sign off...
Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh (for those of you who have forgotten how to say it LOL - AH vlee-ihn fwee WAH-shuh Heev)/ Prosperous New Years to all!!! Be Safe.
Cat
X
2 comments:
We saw a report about the explosions on the news: glad you're OK.
happy new year..all back to work here...doom and gloom!!..enjoy your freedom whilst it lasts
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