Day 8

After a day long flight from Osaka with stopovers in both Taipei and Hong Kong, I arrived late in Bangkok so I headed straight to Khao San Rd to find a cheap place to overnight before heading to Koh Samui. On the airport shuttle, I met a guy, Mike, from Toronto working teaching English in Osaka. He was actually working at the same school as Stasha's roomate, Trevor. We both checked into some budget rooms 500B/$18CAD for the night and made a stroll down Khao San. Khao San was a zoo... the street was closed to traffic but it was filled with street vendors selling tshirts, packs, CDs and food (10B/$0.40CAD for street Pad Thai), blind people singing, backpackers, bars and guesthouses. The street is about 3 blocks long but it was like a fair like atmosphere. We went for a beer (100B/$3.70CAD for a 700 ml bottle... 60B/$2.22 across the street) and headed for bed.

Day 9

The next day I booked an overnight train to Surat Thani (550B/$20CAD) but had the day to explore Bangkok a bit. I walked through Chinatown (narrow alleys, barely room for two people to walk side by side and motorcycles trying to get through as well) and over to the Grand Palace and the Reclining Buddha. On the way out, I was actually taken in on an elaborate scam trying to sell me jewellery but I'll tell this long story another time.  Just remember to not take tourist advice from anyone especially someone wanting to take you to an Export Centre). After that incident, I was pretty jaded and wanted to get out of the city pretty quick. My overall impression was it was noisy, smelly and polluted. Not the most favourite city I've visited.

Day 10

The train arrived early at Surat Thani and there were touts waiting at the station selling bus and boat transport (150B/$5.50) to Ko Samui and Ko Phangnan. The majority of backpackers appeared to be heading to Ko Phangnan. At Koh Samui, I boarded a sawngthaew (converted pickup/bus) to Chaweng beach (50B/$2CAD). Samui is a pretty big island and the main drag at Chaweng was crowded with travel agencies with internet access, restaurants, pirate CD shops and t-shirt shops. I was hard to imagine the beach was close by since the stores lined both sides of the street and there was typically just a small sign for the resort. Only the major/expensive resorts had direct frontage on the strip. I found a place for 700B/$26CAD per night and realized it was cheaper since it didn't have direct beach access, no mosquito netting, and was directly across from the bars. I visited some sites around dusk including the Big Buddha and the penis stone (got there when it was dark). I walked through the bar area around 9-10pm but all the bars were just crawling with hostesses/prostitutes so I just had a drink at a pub and went for bed.

Day 11

Checked out of resort and headed to a quieter beach, Bophut on the North side. Checked into a concrete bungalow at Gecko village (500B) and hung around with some Brits that were drinking and still partying from a big party there the night before. There were thunderstorms so we chilled there most of the afternoon. Checked out Bophut village and headed back to Chaweng to make sure my kayak trip was on for tomorrow and to book my flights out of Samui. Went to bed early for an early start the next day.  I wanted to take some pictures of the beach but it was raining in the morning.  The beach is fairly narrow and the water is supposed to be crystal clear but it had been stormy recently causing the water to be more murky.  It was still monsoon season in this region. Day 12 Took a Blue Stars kayak trip to Ao Thang Marine park (inspiration for the novel The Beach).  Luckily the weather was good.  I didn't think we got enough paddling for the 2000B/$74CAD we paid but there were only 7 of us and they hadn't gone out for over a week due to bad weather. We paddled under overhangs in the limestone islands and into some caves and lagoons.... pretty cool. We also visited a hong (lake in the middle of an island completed surrounded by cliffs) that was accessible by a ladder up and down from the beach. My flight to Phuket was early so I got a early sleep again.

Day 13

Flew to Phuket (2080B/$77CAD plus 400B/$15CAD departure tax at Samui airport). On arrival, I took a minibus that stopped at a travel agent to conveniently allow me to book a hotel in Phuket Town. They wanted 800B/$30CAD a night and said the cheaper rooms weren't available since it was high season. I didn't believe them and when I got dropped off in the city eventually, I found the hotel I wanted and paid 450B/$17CAD a night for a room.

After unloading my pack and cooling off with the air con, I decided to explore and book and paddle trip to the Phang Nga islands (where the Man with the Golden Gun was filmed). There were probably 10 different companies offering sea canoe trips for around 3000B/ $110CAD where a guide would paddle 2 people in an inflatable canoe to explore the sea caves. Since I wanted my own kayak and to do my own paddling, I eventually found one company (John Gray's) that would let me so I booked it. I took a sawngthaew to Patong beach (the main beach in Phuket) for 15B/$0.55CAD but had to make sure I got back before 5pm or else I would have to take an expensive tuk-tuk or taxi ride back. The tuk-tuks in Phuket were minitrucks and not the traditional, noisy motorcycles as in Bangkok. Patong beach was wide with a stretch of sand, deck chairs and umbrellas and a bit of park or trees before the main road. Stores and restaurants were lined on one side facing the beach. Only a couple of resorts had direct beach access. The weather was sunny and warm and was a great change from wet Koh Samui. I got back into town and had another early start for kayaking the next day. Thundershowers had rolled in for the evening anyway.
 

Day 14

The kayak trip to the Phang Nga islands was much better than the one from Blue Stars . Since I was the only person in our group with a kayak, I had my own guide and was on a different itinerary than the main group. We first paddled to a walk in cave were we walked into the hong that was dry because it was low tide. We then went to another cave called the Ice cream cave to explore the limestone formations inside. We paddled across the channel (40 min paddle) to explore another island that was invaded by the other kayaking groups. There were more islands here than in Ao Thang and the scenery much more spectacular because of this. I had hoped to see James Bond Island but they only did this on the longer trips. But we got more paddling in than at Ao Thong and lunch was much better (hot and cooked on board). .

Day 15

I wanted to splurge and relax at an expensive resort so I checked into the Club Med at Kata Beach. It was a 20B/$0.75CAD sawngthaew ride and 4700B/$174CAD a night including activities and all meals. I spent more for one night at Club Med than all my other nights and meals combined (excluding the kayak trips). Had a great room by the small golf course, ocean view and king size bed. Tried a bit of archery, relaxed at the beach and pool and took a sailing lesson (Hobie Cats and not a lot of wind). Kata beach was gorgeous and the Club Med dominated the area. I was going to take a golf lesson but ended up playing in a tournament instead and met these two American ladies who I went to dinner with along with the tennis and golf GO's. The nightclub was pretty dead, just GO's inside.

Day 16

Got an early start so I started the day with a hot tennis lesson. It was a really warm day so I relaxed at the beach and cooled off in the pool. I was going to take another sailing lesson but they cancelled it when it started raining so I headed over to the trapeze. I was observing for awhile contemplating whether or not to do it but was pressured by a 7 year old girl and her mom since they did it. The cute instructor (Hi Daniela!) also helped my decision. Went up three times and it was pretty fun and had another GO take some pictures for me. Wanted to play some volleyball but it wasn't too popular. Had dinner and went to the bar which was a bit busier that night. 2000B/$74CAD in bar tickets in two days and my Club Med adventure was over.  Drinks were pretty expensive.

Day 17

Even though I had a late flight out of Bangkok, my flight to Bangkok was early in the afternoon 2600B/$96CAD so I said my goodbyes in the morning and had my four hour layover at Bangkok airport.  When I checked in, I didn't realize I needed a visa for Australia.  Luckily, Cathay got an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) for me in about an hour saving me the inconvenience of applying for a visa.

Final Notes

Tuk tuk drivers constantly harassed me which became very annoying - it was tough to blend in as a tourist..  They were either going to overcharge you or take you to somewhere you didn't want to go or get you involved in the jewellery scam.  I didn't really trust anyone offering tourist information or wearing a tourist information badge.

Koh Samui is a bit overated. If you just want to lie on a beach, it's probably ok but it's expensive to get around and limited in activities. In hindsight, I should've rented a jeep to explore the island or skipped the island completely.  You could only negotiate a good rate with a saengthaew driver only if he had other passengers.  Otherwise, he'd be making a trip with one passenger so you would be paying a taxi rate.... around 100B/$3.70CAD for a longer trip.

I could've done some elephant trekking or went to the crocodile farm but it's probably not too politically correct to support these activities. I don't believe in taunting and exploiting animals when you can eat them instead.

There were stray dogs everywhere. They appear well fed and friendly...probably taken care of because Buddhists believe animals are reincarnated from people.

Neil's Cost of Living Index

Short taxi ride 50B/$2
Bus ride 10B/$0.40
McDonalds meal 120B/$4.50
Beer 60-100B/$2-$4
Bottle of  Coke 20B/$0.75
Meal in restaurant 120B/$4.50

Part 3: Austrailan Adventure