Ko Samui

We had quite the adventure getting to the island of Ko Samui. At first we wanted to goto Khao Sok National parkk, which is located inland. Two days and many hours on local buses later we found that the road leading there had been damaged by the monsoon rains! Our little bus tour around the peninsula was pretty draining, although we did find a delicious and cheap lcoal restaurant in the one of the junction towns. The town later was flooded by the rains and we had to wade knee deep through flood water to get to the bus station.

Takua Pa Bus Station after a night of hard rain

So we cut our losses and headed over to the islands off the Guld Coast. Our first stop: Ko Samui. This is a very touristy island with many beaches and many high-end resorts. We struggled to find cheaper accomodation, and after a night in a grungy and roach infested bungalow we looked harder and found a comfortable room a little further from the beach of Lamai.

Thw town of Lamai is known for it's tawdry nightlife, and at night, various bars are filled with Thai women looking and dancing awkwardly. There were also a number of White male and Thai female couples, normally with a large age difference. Pretty disturbing.

We rented a motorbike to explore the local area and beaches and saw the sight seeing spots. Lamai itself is home to two famous rocks. They are named Grandfather and Grandmother rocks, and their peculiar formation leads to many giggling tourists.

Rash at the Grandfather rock

We also stopped by a temple famous for a monk who refused to decomposed. His mummified body sits enshrined at the temple as a symbol of perseverance. A bunch of children at the temple played with us and helped Rash ring the gong that had the strange question "Can you make me cry?"



We stopped by a Safari park with a waterfall view just before the monsoon rains poured down. There we saw some elephants and their caretakers, as well as yelping tourists flying through the treeline on zip-lines.