THAILAND PART TWO: KOH SAMUI

Day 4: We said our goodbyes to Chiang Mai and took a taxi to the airport around 5am, it was only a 10 minute drive and the airport was fairly small so we didn’t need too much extra time for check in! We flew from Chiang Mai to Surat Thani (the mainland near Koh Samui) because it was significantly cheaper. You can opt for the flight directly to Koh Samui, but expect to pay double or more. After our flight to Ko Samui, we were directed to a booth by an airport worker to buy our bus and ferry ticket together. Pro tip: don’t go to the first booth you are directed to. We got put on the high speed ferry for a heftier price than the regular ferry would have been, costing us 600 THB apiece for bus and ferry ride one way. We noticed other booths after purchasing our tickets that were only 400 THB for the same thing, only on the slower ferry (which would have been fine as well). The bus ride was about an hour and a half and the ferry ride took about two hours. When you arrive there are taxis everywhere willing to take you where you need to go. You can’t barter with them on the islands considering they go by a set fee based on where you want to go to on the island, so we hopped in a cab and headed for the hotel. It was very hot this day so we decided to hangout at our resort by the pool and eat on site. We stayed at an Ibis hotel (my favorite budget line of hotels for traveling around Europe if you’re ever going there) in the Bophut Beach area which felt like a great location to get just about anywhere on the island easily.

Day 5: For our first full day on the island we decided to be brave and rent scooters. To be honest I was fairly nervous about this considering they drive like maniacs all over the city, but if you’re going to scooter around anywhere in Thailand- the islands are the place to do it. Our hotel offered scooter rental for around $9 USD! It was so fun learning to drive the scooters and the breeze felt amazing in the hot sun. We first scootered to Chaweng Beach, my personal favorite. The sand was soft and the water was so clear it was amazing. The salt in the ocean is at such a high potency that you literally float without trying- another cool thing to experience!

We ate at a nearby hotel bar before scootering to Crystal beach. This beach was extremely touristy and not as clean in my opinion. I loaded on sunscreen but by this point I was frying, literally bright red, so we headed back to the hotel to chill out for a bit. Later in the evening we went to Fisherman’s Market in Bophut, which was only a short scooter ride away. Here we walked along the shops and checked out the different souvenirs, also opting for some real Thai rolled ice cream which was of course, just as amazing as it sounds. After this we went to see the infamous Big Buddha statue on the island which had a great view at the top of the steps. Pro tip: any time you visit a temple you need to have your knees and shoulders covered out of respect. We didn’t think of that for this temple, but luckily they had kimonos we could borrow for our quick walk through before they closed for the evening. To be honest, the sun and the time change took a toll on us. We were in bed by 8 just about every night but we woke up early every day to make up for it!

Day 6: For our final day on the island we decided to take a snorkeling tour to Koh Tao and Koh Nagn Yuan Island. We paid for this the night before online, also costing us about $50 USD but again- so worth it! It included hotel pickup and drop off, a light breakfast, boat tour to the islands, lunch, and as much free water as your heart desires. (This is an awesome perk considering you will realize how unbearably hot it is once you are over there). This tour was great but definitely not the tour for a high maintenance guest. You’re crammed side by side into a medium sized boat for a loud, lengthy boat ride. The ride took an hour and a half to our first stop, a snorkeling cove on Koh Tao island. I had never snorkeled before, but I had so much fun! We swam for about an hour looking at the unique fish around the corals of the small beach. I loved the fact that it was private so we weren’t surrounded by a million tourists, just the ones who came along with us on the boat. After this we boarded the boat again for a short ten minute ride to the other side of the island for lunch. We had a Thai-buffet style meal which was very delicious!

After this we again boarded the boat to head about 10 minutes away to Koh Nagn Yuan Island, famous for its amazing viewpoint at the top. We hiked for about 20 minutes until finally, dripping (and I mean actually DRIPPING) in sweat, we had reached the top. The view was totally worth the mini heat stroke. We had two hours on this island to explore, swim and snorkel before heading back to the boat for our boat ride back to Koh Samui. Overall I had a great experience, the staff was so friendly and knowledgeable about the area! We ended the island trip with one last dip in the ocean before bed.