Koh Samui

Ø livet, på Koh Samui 2023

Dag 13: 19.03.2023

Vi blev som nævnt, hentet kl.6 og kørt i Chiang Rai’s lufthavn. Det var tidligt vi skulle op, og da jeg sad på terassen og nød min morgensmøg kom den lille søde kat tilbage for at sige godmorgen – havde lidt lyst til at adoptere den og snige den med hjem. Den var simpelthen for cute!

Vi kom til lufthavnen på et kvarters tid og fik tjekket vores bagage ind, og så ventede vi bare på flyveren. Jeg fik min rejse-morgenmad, der bestod af en pose med choko-pops, mælk og en ske. Nemt. Da vi kom til Bangkok havde vi en layover på 5 timer, så vi fik lidt frokost i lufthavnen, og sad resten af tiden på en star bucks og sludrede.

Endelig fremme

Vi landede omkring kl.16-17 på Koh Samui og tog til hvert vores hotel.
Pigerne bor på det oprindelige Samui Beach Residence hotel hvor vi havde booket en lille lejlighed, og jeg på Cosi hotel ca.1 km der fra.
Så var der plads til at gøre lige det vi ville uden at føle os til besvær overfor hinanden. Hotellet jeg endte på var placeret midt i Koh Samui by, og tæt på et kæmpe shopping område, kaldet Central Festival.

Her er både de almindelige butikker som vi kender dem, restauranter og café’er. Udenfor centeret er der på den ene side hver aften, et night marked. Her finder man både mad, tøj, kunst og souvenirs. På den anden side er der underholdning, musik og flere restauranter. Det er et meget livligt og hyggeligt kvarter, uden det er for meget. Jeg hørte ingen larm fra musikken, på hotelværelset, hvilket jo bare var perfekt.
Værelserne på hotellet var simple, moderne og rene. Man kunne hører lidt til sine naboer, men ellers ikke et sted med meget støj. De havde en fin rooftop pool, i 1 ud af 3 bygninger som hotellet bestod af. Det eneste minus ved det, var at den ene bygning lugtede meget “våd” og muggen. Heldigvis var det ikke den bygning jeg boede i 😉

Night Cap on the Beach

Vi blev enige om at finde noget aftensmad når vi havde pakket ud på hvert vores hotel. Vi mødtes på stranden og fik en Night cap i form af en Mai thai, og gik så hvert til sit. En lang rejsedag kræver sin energi, så det blev ikke til meget andet, denne dag.
– Josie

Making plans

Dag 14: 20.03.2023

Vi startede med at finde noget morgenmad. Det blev denne morgen, på pigernes hotel og var super lækker. Herefter fandt vi en tourguide som kunne sælge os de udflugter vi gerne ville på. Vi havde hjemmefra, snakket om at planlægge en atv-udflugt i Chiang Mai, men udsatte det. På Koh Samui opstod muligheden igen, men da dagene var få ville pigerne hellere slappe af. Jeg bookede derfor turen selv. Dagen efter planlagde vi en tur til Pig Island, som er en ø med fritgående grise (heraf navnet) den ser jeg meget frem til.

Osetur i Central Festival

Vi fortsatte gåturen op mod mit hotel, som der som nævnt ligger tæt på Central Festival. Alt i byen virker dog til at åbne lidt senere end andre byer jeg har besøgt, men efter gåturen var butikkerne stille begyndt at åbne.
Vi fik kigget en masse, og nogle købte lidt, i de små butikker. Der er altid en masse gode tilbud. Generelt er alt meget billigere hernede, og det gælder både mad, tøj, sko osv. Kvaliteten afhænger selvfølgelig lidt af prisen. De har naturligvis også helt almindelige butikker så som H&M, og high end butikker som Chanel, D&G mm. I større butikker, er prisen måske 20-40% billigere end i Danmark, og i High end butikker kender jeg ikke besparelsen, da jeg ikke handler der. Efter shoppeturen fik derefter en velfortjent is-kaffe på Starbucks i skyggen.

Sol, blæst, sand og vand

Vi fortsatte dagen med at gå ned mod stranden, og fandt Elephant Beach bar. En bar jeg besøgte tilbage i 2019, jeg husker som værende ret god. De havde lækre ligge-stole til “leje” med tykke madrasser og håndklæder til låns. Det eneste man skulle, var at købe drinks for 400 baht (80 Kr) Vi købte en drinks hver og fik smurt os ind i en masser solcreme. Efter et par gode timer i solen, fik vi middagsmad på barens restaurant og gik så hvert til sit på hotellerne. På trods af rigtig meget solcreme endte jeg med at blive rød og solbrændt enkelte steder jeg ikke havde været grundig nok – T Y P I S K.

Efter et bad og en masse Aloevera mødtes vi om aftenen på The Ark bar, også et festligt sted jeg var, på min tur i 2019.
Her fik vi aftensmad, et par drinks og delte en vandpibe. Det var meget hyggeligt, maden var god og musikken også. Vi fik fat i en af de mange sælgere der gik rundt på stranden, og købte en matchende blomsterkrans med lys i, til det helt ømme fællesbillede. Vi tog “tidligt” hjem omkring kl.22.30, så vi kunne komme op til turen dagen efter.
– Josie

Dagens udflugt

Dag 15: 21.03.2023

Vi blev hentet omkring kl.08.30-9 og kørt til en lille mole hvor vi skulle videre med speedbåd. Det var som altid en ret bumpy tur, det synes jeg nu er meget sjovt, og dejligt med vind i ansigtet. Herfra gik turen til Koh Tan, hvor vi stoppede for at snorkle. Pigerne ville ikke i vandet og blev på båden, så den del var solo. Ved nedstigningen omkring båden, var sigtbarheden ikke så god men jo længere ind mod kysten jeg kom jo flottere blev det. Jeg fik set en masse smukke fisk og koraller! Der er noget vildt spændende ved den verden man ser under vand! Jeg vil umuligt kunne nævne alle de ting jeg så, men fik Bla. Øje på en enkelt honeycomb/hexagon grouper, forskellige butterfly fish, og selvfølglig massevis af Sergeant Major fisk (de altid så nysgerrige og svømmer tæt omkring en) 

Pigs Island

Efter snorkelturen var det kurs mod Koh MadSum også kaldet Pig Island. Her fik vi mulighed for at komme helt tæt på grisebasserne, komme ud i kajak, og for at se nogle viewpoints på øen. De er godt nok søde, de små grissevenner og man blev meget hurtigt betaget! Vi satte os og nød vejret, mig under en parasol (da jeg stadig var solskoldet fra dagen før). Lidt over middag var der frokost. Efterfølgende solede pigerne sig imens jeg rendte rundt og legede med grisene og fodrede dem med vand. 

Tilbage på fastlandet

Da vi kom retur gik vi hvert til sit for at få et bad og lidt ro efter turen. Jeg gik senere ud og fandt noget nemt og billigt aftensmad i form af Gyros (pita med kylling og tasziki) ved Koh Samui Night market. Pigerne fandt selv på noget og tog efterfølgende på Beach Club og festede. Efter en banan/nutella Roti, (pandekage) til dessert, gik jeg i seng. Aftensmaden, drikkevare og desserten, havde koster mig knap 37kr – det jo lige til at overkomme! Jeg elsker at leve hernede! Da jeg var godt træt og øm fra min solskoldning, gik jeg tidligt i seng. Næste dag skulle ud med ATV, og hentes fra hotellet kl.9.30.
-Josie

Her er en lille video fra ankomsten til Koh Samui, og vores udflugt til Pigs Island.

Første ATV/Quad-bike tur

Dag 16: 22.03.2023

ATV dagen startede med med en tidlig morgen gåtur langs stranden. Omkring kl.7. Der var høj sol så gåturen var lidt hed!
Kl.7.30 fandt jeg en fin restaurant ned til vandet hvor jeg i skyggen kunne nyde en ekstra go barista-latte og en eggs Benny (Benedict) så gik turen tilbage på hotellet for at vente på afhentning til turen.
Da jeg blev samlet op ved hotellet var der kun 2 andre deltagere på turen. De var et par, som var på deres 17 Thailand-tur. De kom fra Frankrig, og var super venlige. Jeg er ikke en haj til at huske navne, men kvinden var stewardesse og manden arbejdede som fotograf og lignende, for en tv station i Frankrig. De havde 3 døtre på 7, 11 og 16 år. Da vi ankom til campen ved Samui-X-Treme ATV adventure, var der to gutter fra et andet område som også skulle deltage, derfor var det en fin lille gruppe på 5 mennesker inkl 2 instruktører. 

Adrenalin Rush

Jeg havde aldrig kørt en ATV/quad bike før, så det var en spændende oplevelse. Man bruger mere af kroppen til at styre med, end jeg havde regnet med. Selve styret med bremserne og speederen, sad ret langt fra hinanden. Det var derfor lidt en udfordring med korte arme og små fingre. Vejene var vildt stejle, og med store revner og huller, så jeg fik da også lige drejet forkert en enkelt gang – ellers var jeg meget opmærksom på hvordan instruktøren kørte, foran mig.

Jeg havde som den eneste bestilt en 2-timers tur, men da jeg så skulle være solo, lavede jeg det om til 1 time, så jeg kunne følges med de andre. Det betød at vi tog en anden lidt federe rute end planlagt, og kom helt op på toppen af bjerget til Koh Samui Top View Pra Buddha Teepangkorn. Det anbefales ikke at man kører op og ser dette viewpoint på egen hånd, pga de dårlige veje. Man kan dog søge om at leje en erfaren guide. På toppen var en flot guld-Buddha og de forskellige dyre-statuer repræsentere hvilket år de er i. I år er det eksempelvis harens år, og sidste var det tigerens. Sådan ændres det fra år til år. 

Læs mere om det her! 

Nedstigning

Da vi skulle ned fra bjerget igen, var der heldigvis ikke så mange huller i vejen, selvom turen stadig var ekstremt stejl. På det meste af turen, rørte jeg slet ikke speederen, men havde begge bremser i bund.
Vi næsten “kurede” ned af vejene, og lod bare biken trille stille ned imellem bakkerne.
Det var en fed oplevelse, og helt sikkert noget jeg vil anbefale. Ens adrenalin pumper rundt i kroppen når man køre på de mere udfordrende strækninger, og man skal virkelig være i kontrol og opmærksom på vejen. Derfor var der ikke nær så meget sightseeing på sleve turen, da alt mit fokus var på at kører sikkert. Jeg kunne dog ikke undgå at ligge mærke til en masse smukke sommerfugle, på turen. Der var enormt mange, og nogle af dem var kæmpe store! Især hvis man sammenligner dem med de sommerfugle vi har her hjemme. 

Velfortjent lur og no aircon

Da jeg kom retur, gik jeg ned og afleverede vasketøj og fik noget frokost. Det var tiltrængt, efter at have brugt alt den energi.
Tilbage på hotellet trængte jeg til en lur. Åbenbart så meget at jeg først vågnede til aften, hvor jeg mødtes med pigerne til aftensmad og endnu et fireshow på stranden. Da jeg kom tilbage virkede min aircondition ikke, og jeg fik en til at kigge på den. Den kunne ikke fikses, så omkring 00-01 om natten, måtte jeg skifte hotelværelse.
Det var jeg selvfølgelig lidt træt af, men det var nu dejligt at de havde en hurtig og nem løsning på problemet.
Jeg faldt endelig i søvn i et normalt indeklima, men klokken endte med at blive mange.

– Josie 

ENGLISH

Island life, on Koh Samui 2023

Day 13: 19.03.2023

As mentioned, we were picked up at 6 and driven to Chiang Rai’s airport. It was early for us to get up, and when I was sitting on the terrace enjoying my morning smoke, the cute little cat came back to say good morning – I kind of wanted to adopt it and sneak it home. It was simply too cute! We got to the airport in fifteen minutes and got our luggage checked in, and then we just waited for the plane.
I got my travel breakfast which consisted of a bag of choco pops, milk and a spoon. Easy. When we got to Bangkok we had a layover of 5 hours, so we had some lunch at the airport, and sat the rest of the time at a star bucks and chatted.

Finally arrived

We landed around 4-5pm on Koh Samui and went to each of our hotels. The girls live at the original Samui Beach Residence hotel where we had booked a small apartment, and I at the Cosi hotel approx. 1 km from there.

Then there was room to do exactly what we wanted without feeling like an inconvenience to each other. The hotel I ended up at was located in the middle of Koh Samui town, and close to a huge shopping area, called Central Festival.

Here are both the regular shops as we know them, restaurants and cafés. Outside the center there is a night market on one side every evening. Here you will find food, clothes, art and souvenirs. On the other side, there is entertainment, music and several restaurants. It is a very lively and cozy neighborhood, without it being too much. I didn’t hear any noise from the music in the hotel room, which was just perfect.

The rooms in the hotel were simple, modern and clean. You could hear your neighbors a little, but otherwise not a place with a lot of noise. They had a nice rooftop pool, in 1 out of 3 buildings that the hotel consisted of. The only negative about it was that one building smelled very “wet” and musty. Luckily it wasn’t the building I lived in 😉

Night Cap on the Beach

We agreed to find some dinner once we had unpacked at each of our hotels. We met on the beach and had a night cap in the form of a Mai Thai, and then went our separate ways. A long day of travel takes its energy, so it didn’t turn out to be much else this day.

– Josie

Making Plans

Day 14: 20.03.2023

We started by finding some breakfast. It was this morning, at the girls’ hotel and was super delicious. After this we found a tour guide who could sell us the excursions we wanted to go on. From home, we had talked about planning an ATV excursion in Chiang Mai, but postponed it. On Koh Samui the opportunity arose again, but as the days were few the girls would rather relax. I therefore booked the trip myself. The next day we planned a trip to Pig Island, which is an island with free-range pigs (hence the name), I’m really looking forward to it.

A tour around Central Festival

We continued the walk up towards my hotel, which, as mentioned, is close to the Central Festival. However, everything in the city seems to open a little later than other cities I have visited, but after the walk the shops had quietly started to open.

We got to look a lot, and some bought a little, in the small shops. There are always a lot of good offers. In general, everything is much cheaper down here, and this applies to food, clothes, shoes, etc. The quality of course depends a little on the price. Of course, they also have ordinary stores such as H&M, and high-end stores such as Chanel, D&G etc. In larger stores, the price is perhaps 20-40% cheaper than in Denmark, and in high end stores I don’t know the savings, as I don’t shop there. After the shopping trip, then got a well-deserved iced coffee at Starbucks in the shade.

Sun, wind, sand and water

We continued the day by walking down towards the beach, and found the Elephant Beach bar. A bar I visited back in 2019 I remember as being pretty good. They had nice deckchairs for “rent” with thick mattresses and towels to borrow. The only thing you had to do was buy drinks for 400 baht (80 Kr) We bought a drink each and got ourselves smeared with lots of sunscreen. After a few good hours in the sun, we had dinner at the bar’s restaurant and then went to our respective hotels. Despite a lot of sunscreen, I ended up getting red and tanned in some places I hadn’t been thorough enough – T Y P I C A L.

After a bath and lots of Aloevera, we met in the evening at The Ark bar, also a festive place I was on my trip in 2019. Here we had dinner, a few drinks and shared a hookah. It was very cozy, the food was good and the music too. We got hold of one of the many sellers walking around the beach, and bought a matching flower wreath with lights in it, for the very tender joint picture. We went home “early” around 10.30pm, so we could get up for the trip the next day.

– Josie

Today’s excursion

Day 15: 21.03.2023

We were picked up around 08.30-09 and driven to a small pier where we had to continue by speedboat. It was, as always, quite a bumpy ride, I now think it’s a lot of fun, and nice with the wind in my face. From here we went to Koh Tan, where we stopped to snorkel. The girls didn’t want to go in the water and stayed on the boat, so that part was solo. On the descent around the boat, the visibility was not so good, but the further towards the coast I got the better it got. I got to see a lot of beautiful fish and corals! There is something wildly exciting about the world you see underwater! I can’t possibly list all the things I saw, but got Bla. Eye on a single honeycomb/hexagon grouper, various butterfly fish, and of course lots of Sergeant Major fish (they always look curious and swim close around one)

The Island of Pigs

After the snorkelling trip, we headed for Koh MadSum, also called Pig Island. Here we had the opportunity to get very close to the pig pens, get out in a kayak, and to see some viewpoints on the island. They are cute enough, the little pig friends, and you were captivated very quickly! We sat and enjoyed the weather, me under a parasol (as I was still sunburnt from the day before). A little after noon there was lunch. Afterwards, the girls sunbathed while I ran around playing with the pigs and feeding them water.

Back on the mainland

When we got back, we each went our separate ways to have a bath and some peace after the trip. I later went out and found some easy and cheap dinner in the form of Gyros (pita with chicken and tasziki) at the Koh Samui Night market. The girls came up with something themselves and then went to the Beach Club and partied. After a banana/nutella Roti, (pancake) for dessert, I went to bed. The dinner, drinks and dessert cost me just under NOK 37 – just enough to get by! I love living down here! Being very tired and sore from my sunburn, I went to bed early. The next day had to go out by ATV, and be picked up from the hotel at 9.30am.

-Josie

First ATV/Quad-bike trip

Day 16: 22.03.2023

The ATV day started with an early morning walk along the beach. Around 7 o’clock. The sun was high so the walk was a bit hot! At 7.30 I found a nice restaurant down to the water where I could enjoy an extra go barista latte and an Eggs Benny (Benedict) in the shade, then the trip went back to the hotel to wait for pickup for the trip.

When I was picked up at the hotel there were only 2 other participants on the trip. They were a couple who were on their 17th Thailand trip. They came from France and were super friendly. I’m not a shark at remembering names, but the woman was a stewardess and the man worked as a photographer and the like, for a TV station in France. They had 3 daughters aged 7, 11 and 16. When we arrived at the camp at Samui-X-Treme ATV adventure, there were two guys from another area who were also going to participate, so it was a nice small group of 5 people including 2 instructors.

Adrenaline Rush

I had never ridden an ATV/quad bike before, so it was an exciting experience. You use more of your body to steer than I had expected. The steering itself with the brakes and the accelerator sat quite far apart. It was therefore a bit of a challenge with short arms and small fingers. The roads were wildly steep, with large cracks and potholes, so I even took a wrong turn once – otherwise I was very aware of how the instructor was driving in front of me.

As the only one, I had booked a 2-hour tour, but when I had to be solo, I changed it to 1 hour so that I could be accompanied by the others. This meant that we took another slightly cooler route than planned, and got right up to the top of the mountain to Koh Samui Top View Pra Buddha Teepangkorn. It is not recommended that you drive up and see this viewpoint on your own, due to the bad roads. However, you can apply to hire an experienced guide. At the top was a beautiful gold Buddha and the various animal statues represent which year they are in. This year, for example, is the year of the hare, and last year it was the year of the tiger. It changes from year to year.

Descent

When we had to come back down from the mountain, luckily there weren’t that many potholes in the road, although the ride was still extremely steep. For most of the ride, I didn’t touch the accelerator at all, but had both brakes fully engaged. We almost “curled” down the roads, and just let the bike roll quietly down between the hills.

It was a cool experience, and definitely something I would recommend. Your adrenaline pumps around your body when you drive on the more challenging stretches, and you really have to be in control and pay attention to the road. Therefore, there was not nearly as much sightseeing on the leisurely trip, as all my focus was on driving safely. However, I could not avoid noticing a lot of beautiful butterflies on the trip. There were so many, and some of them were huge! Especially if you compare them to the butterflies we have here at home.

Well-deserved nap and no aircon

When I got back, I went downstairs and dropped off the laundry and had some lunch. It was needed after using all that energy. Back at the hotel I needed a nap. Obviously so much so that I didn’t wake up until evening when I met the girls for dinner and another fire show on the beach. When I got back my air conditioner wasn’t working and I had someone look at it. It couldn’t be fixed, so around 00-01 at night, I had to change hotel rooms.

Of course I was a bit tired of that, but it was great that they had a quick and easy solution to the problem. I finally fell asleep in a normal indoor climate, but it was very late before i did.

– Josie