Koh Samui

Time to relax.

At this point in our adventures, we are spent. So an active decision to go to some Thai islands, and just chill out. Do some planning if we want. Read some books. Lie down. Goof off. We are ready.

The travel adventure down was fun. We last left off in Vang Vieng. That was a van to Vientiane, then an easy border crossing to Thailand. We had some really good roadside basil chicken with our friend Lou, and then the overnight train to Bangkok. Much smoother than a bus. They just don’t turn the lights off.

From Bangkok, it was a quick and easy flight to our tropical paradise.

We stayed at two places on Koh Samui. The first was New Hut Bungalows, a set of coloured bungalows on the ocean. It was great. We could hang at the restaurant and watch the world go by. Sit on the sand under the palms and read. Everything we needed was here.

We rarely ventured far from the bungalow’s. Once we went out a night market. It was okay. The band was fine. Missed a few cues. Lots of families were parsing through the street food, with many parents trying to convice their kids that Thai food is good. They just seemed to want fries thouhg.

Another adventure was to a swimming beach down the way. The ocean was really warm. So much so, that it didn’t cool you off. The sun was really hot. We got burnt bad. So much of the time after was spent in the shelter of the restaurant. New Hut was a great place to sit and read and do nothing at all.

The second accommodation was the Ritz. A long time ago, Cam did some volunteering in school, and as an honorarium, got a Ritz Carlton gift card for her efforts. So for her birthday, and the second half of Koh Samui, we were at the Ritz.

We had our own little cabin with a private pool, a couple loungers, and an outdoor shower. A nice couch was inside, with little complimentary birthday treats!

We had one full day at the resort, and started it off with a pilates class. We did it with Katie, a Chicago native in the middle of a burn out induced career change. She was on a short vacation to just relax. Same.

The midday found us at the public pool, doing our best to shelter form the sun, alternating between reading, swimming and napping. Then we had Muay Thai class.

Mick was our instructor, and for the next hour, we essentially beat ourselves up at his command. We learned our punches, elbows, knees and kicks. Then he would yell out which attack we were to perform on him and his gloves. We would go for 5 minutes or so at a time (or at least it felt like it), slowly getting slower and weaker as it went on. Turns out, I’m more of a punch guy, and Cam can do the kicks.

The birthday dinner was a Thai street food festivity at the resort. As recent experts in Thai street food, Thai street food was not served. the food was still goo, but it was too fancy. Give me the grungy massive street wok overloaded on propane searing some overoiled noodles. That’s where the beauty lies.

And so, Koh Samui. But we are not done. We have another island to regain our senses on. See you on the other side!