Koh Samui

Up early for a quick breakfast and then the bus to the ferry terminal to catch the ferry to Koh Samui. The journey took just under 2 hours and luckily it was a nice calm crossing!

Got a taxi to take us to our accommodation in Bophut. 100 baht each. Checked in. Room ok but very basic but what do you expect for £85 for the week! Unpacked then headed out to explore.

Made our way down to the beach at Bophut. Sat on the beach, went for a swim then walked down to a place called CocoTams where you

can sit outside on bean bags and watch the sun go down. Stayed there for a few hours, had some cocktails and beer and watched the fire show which was actually pretty amazing. Then we walked through the area called Fisherman's Village which had a street market and food market. Walked back to our apartment. First impressions of Koh Samui very good. A lot more touristy and feels more like a holiday. I think we will be spending more money here.

Tuesday got up and walked back up to the beach. Went in CocoTams and had breakfast. Both had a smoothie bowl each - delicious. Then we went and sat on the beach for most of the day as the weather was good. Later on that day I went and had a pedicure and my toenails painted all for the price of £6 and they were done perfectly.

Wednesday morning we waked up to the scooter hire shop where we hired a scooter for 5 days at a price of £15. Set off to a waterfall called Tan Rua Waterfall in Mae Nam. Bit of a trek there but we made it. Steve got in and had a swim but I just paddled and stood in the breeze from the waterfall. Lovely and refreshing. After that we made our way back to the coast to a lovely little place called Treehouse

Silent Beach. Had some lunch, both had a wrap each and a beautiful raspberry and mango smoothie - delicious. Really lovely little place right on the sea front. Then we drove round the coastline a bit and stopped at another little beach, went for a swim and sunbathed. That evening we had a proper Italian pizza and beer night in a little restaurant up the road from us. The chef was from Napoli and the pizzas tasted delicious.

On Thursday we headed out early and went to the Big Buddha at BoPhut. Very hot day with hardly any clouds. Then we drove to Central Festival, a shopping centre on the island and Steve managed to get two new books to read. Desparately in need of a swim so we then went on to Choeng Mon Beach where we got sunbeds at a place called Pure Beach Club. Stayed there for most of the afternoon, lovely beach.

Friday we got up early and headed up to the Immigration Office to get our 60 day visa extended for another 30 days. Once we had filled in the paperwork it only took about 40 mins altogether and we had another 30 days so dont have to leave Thailand until 25 July.... happy days!

Set off to the Pra Buddha viewpoint - the highest point on Koh Samui. Very steep on the way, too steep for our little scooter to cope with. We kept having to jump off and walk up and push the bike up! Not fun. Then Google maps wasn't very clear and we got chased by some dogs along a very bumpy road and I still have the bruises to prove it! In the end we gave up, it was too dangerous a road to drive on. Instead we found a lovely beach called Hat Mae Nam which we chilled out on with a lovely beach resturant next to it.

On Sunday we drove to Wat Na Phra Lan buddhist temple. A very

quiet temple right next to the beach. Then we went to the Maenam Viewpoint. You could see right across to Ko Phangan and the Ang Thong National Park. Then we went on to the Monk Cave where we walked across the rocks to find a little cave that the monks pray in. Steve went in and lit a candle.