Koh Samui, Thailand – 22nd March

Koh Samui is Thailand’s third largest island and billed as one of its premier beach resorts.  It was a self-sufficient community with no roads and remained undeveloped until 1967 when they started blasting rock and clearing jungle – once they had built a ring road in 1973 the tourists started to arrive.  We took the tender in to the port, Na Thon, which is unremarkable and, as seems to be the case with a lot of the ports we go in to, quite a way from all the recommended beaches. 

Our own Songtaew

We thought we would beat all the taxi drivers and tour touts at the landing and take one of the songtaews (converted pick-up trucks with bench seats in the back) which provide a bus service around the island.  Unfortunately it seemed that all the songtaew drivers thought they could make  more money by offering a taxi service to cruise passengers, so we gave in and hired one to take us to the beach – cost us 24 pounds but he did wait for us to bring us back – obviously didn’t need to earn any more for the day.

Beach at Bo Phut

We started the 13km journey on a bit of a bad note, and we were not very excited by the view of a fairly busy road lined with lots of fairly tacky-looking bars, guest houses and shops.  However by the time we reached our resort of Bo Phut the road was some way from the beach and we turned down a small lane into a much more agreeable place – still bars and shops but looking much more well-kept and quite attractive.  We stopped to have a drink at a small guest house/bar which was right on the beach and they invited us to use their sun loungers for as long as we wanted which we did.  We had a swim in the very warm sea and I was persuaded to have a massage at the establishment next door.  It was certainly thorough – lasted an hour and the woman was crawling all over me digging knees into me and stretching everything.  I actually felt quite good at the end but now, a few hours later, feel like I have been in a crash – maybe tomorrow I will be re-juvenated!

So, after a dodgy start we did end up being quite fond of this little resort and even had a look at some accommodation we could rent by the month – maybe for next winter.  We ended up by buying even more clothes in Na Thon before returning to the ship – it is difficult to resist the hugely attractive prices!  Of course we only saw one part of the island which has a circumference of 60km, the biggest resort with hotels is called Chaweng and there are lots of other beaches around the island as well as a national park in the centre – I see you can even go elephant trecking.

A Bo Phut Cricket

We now have a day at sea before a set of four ports in four days