Bangkok & Koh Samui, Thailand

Instead of a long flight back straight back to London after Christmas in Melbourne, we had decided it would be far preferable to use our stopover in Thailand for a holiday. We arrived in Bangkok late on Friday night and were met at the airport by a car from our hotel, the very cool and very chic Siam@Siam. The following morning we got up early to try and see a bit of Bangkok before we had to go back to the airport for our flight to Koh Samui. Our first stop was the Jim Thompson House - more for the fact it was around the corner from our hotel than anything else, but an interesting blend of traditional Thai architecture and decor with other Asian styles and some western influence. One of the main buildings -



From there we took the boat along the Sansap Canal for the bargain price of 10 baht (17p or 38 cents). They move surprisingly quickly (beware if you are walking along side the canals) and barely stop to let passengers on. Another boat passing our boat -



The banks of the canal from our boat -



We got off first at Bo-Be Market for a quick look and then made our way to Loha Prasat, the 'metal palace', which was undergoing some renovation work but we were still able to get right to the top via the internal spiral staircase -



After a quick visit to the Golden Mountain temple, the humidity got to us and we took the boat back along the canal to a very nice air conditioned shopping mall. Then it was back to the hotel to meet our car to take us to the airport for our flight to Koh Samui.

We arrived at Koh Samui around 6pm on Saturday and were again met by a driver, this time from Anantara, our home for the next 6 nights. The resort is only 10 or 15 minutes from the airport so it wasn't long before we had arrived, checked in and settled into our room.

Nick blending in with the monkey icons of the resort -



From the infinity pool looking out to the ocean -



Nicky and the monkeys by the pool -



More monkeys - from the entrance looking into the reception area -



After a few days of eating, lounging by the pool and beach-side massages (for the bargain price of 250 baht - just over 4 pounds - about 10 times cheaper than the resort prices), we decided to take an tour of some sights on the island on Tuesday. First stop was the Elephant Trek. We started with a driver, but half way through he suddenly jumped off and told Nick it was his turn -



The elephant with Nick's thong/flip-flop -



From the elephants we went to the Tiger Zoo and Aquarium where we fed turtles then saw a bird and tiger show before feeding some monkeys -



After that we went to see more monkeys where they showed how Teppot monkeys are used to climb coconut trees to pick coconuts. The Teppot monkeys are actually quite vicious and only respond to their trainer so we stayed far away from the one they used for the demonstration. However, the monkey below was quite friendly and was trained to pose with tourists for photos -



After that we visited a shrine with a mummified monk who had died in the lotus position - legs crossed, meditating - and had been embalmed that way. He was wearing sunglasses to cover his eyes and the overall effect was just slightly creepy. Lastly, we went to the other waterfall (the first one we saw when we were with the elephants) for a quick swim before being taken back to our hotel.



On Thursday I decided to go water-skiing. Unlike my previous effort in Turkey, this time I struggled to get up and took 3 attempts! Giving the ok -



Finally up -



Thursday was our last night and we decided on a repeat visit to what had been our favourite restaurant, Blue Samui. Nick looking very tanned after getting some sun -



The food was absolutely delicious and super cheap. For Nick and I, two courses each and some beers came to just over 12 pounds. We could probably have found cheaper, but this was definitely worth it (and a steal compared to London prices!)

The next day, we got up early for our flight back to Bangkok and then on to London.