Ko Samui 3rd Day City Tour, Hin Yai and Hin Ta Rocks, Mummified Monk, Lamai Night Market.

Today is our 3rd day in Ko Samui and we had planned for a spa retreat in the morning and a city tour in the afternoon, using the same van person we had booked on the night of 2nd January while on the bus.  However, the spa package was too expensive and we had already done foot massage the night before so it was cancelled. 

So we walked out for breakfast, the three of us, Bee, Sau and me

 Sau had his favourite coconut santan soup (almost every meal he ordered this!), here he scooped some in smaller bowls for us to share

and of course Pad Thai!

We went back to Marina Villa and I saw the kids enjoying the pool 

 made the most of the resort and took lots of photos

 I took the kids for lunch at the hotel beachside restaurant while the parents went for morning spa at Lamai

limited choices so we had the usual Thai fare

right by the restaurant there was this shed with in house Thai massage

look at the intense session of Thai massage! at only 350 baht an hour, full body! of course there was mani and pedi too...

Carol came back from her spa and look at the lovely pool view! there are 2 pools, one facing the sea

 Then we are off four our city tour, and first stop is grandfather and grandmother roc (Hin Yai and Hin Ta) but first, we needed to have famous Thai coconut ice cream!!!

most delicious coconut ice cream!!!

hahaha.....grandfather rock!

and...teng teng teng......Grandmother rock!

 Ryan with his grandmother...hehehe

 kids on the rocks

 Na Muang Waterfall

 Wat Khunaram which houses the shrine of the Mummified Monk Luong Prodaeng

he died in 1973 in a seated meditative pose, and in case you are wondering, the sunglasses covers his empty eye sockets!

Short skirts and hot pants are still allowed in this temple.

 Next, the ride to the Wharf was so long, everyone fell asleep

 snooze...z.z.z.z.z.z.

 The Wharf Samui is a clean, trendy night market for tourists

 you can get all sorts of knick knacks

 and the girls got some bangles and chokers for themselves

 and as souvenirs for friends back home

such a pleasant stroll as it was already evening

 next we went to the Wat Phra Yai with a giant 12m tall golden statue of Buddha

 atop a small rocky island that can be seen after climbing 62 steps!!!

It is the first landmark visitors see when arriving in Koh Samui by air.

We did not climb the 62 steps, we gave the excuse that our dressing was inappropriate!

 Then we went back to Lamai, and tonight we had pasar malam food!!! We waited a long time for this seat!

 We had food off the streets and shared it amongst ourselves like the grilled fish above

 and satay with lots of salad

yummylicious!

 then walked around for more food and action! 

 This says "famous for steaks and ribs"

but there were live dancing with scantily clad girls gyrating round poles on table tops!!!

and Ryan got cornered by a ladyboy!!!

We regretted we did not get to see their cabaret show!!!

While Bee and Sau wondered off on their own, and Ryan had roadside pint with his parents, I took the girls for roadside shopping for more baggy elephant pants!

Yeeha! says Ely with the selfie stick as, at 16 she is the tallest and had the longest arms!! C ya tomorrow!

Ko Samui 2nd Day at Ang Thong Marine Park

The next day we had to get up at 7.15 for the Ang Thong Marine Park Tour. Carol had paid the deposit and today she paid up the rest which was 1300 baht per person.

 Breakfast was on the boat

 the ride was very very long!!! You can see legs of tourists sunning themselves on the roof!

 Scenic views as we passed....

 since the ride was long, we took photos on deck....

then we had to transfer to a small boat to get to the island!

 There's a camping site. a marine park for snorkelling, a trial for hiking to view a lagoon and kayaking after lunch.

 a secluded and shallow place for snorkelling and swimming.

These activities took us up to lunch, and it was on the boat.

 

After hiking you get this beautiful view of a blue lagoon

 kayaking, a first for me and quite safe and fun!

At night, dinner was on our own, and we hit Lamai street again!

 

We just ate whatever caught our eye!

Then all of us crammed into one shop for foot massage.

While all of us had tame foot massages..

 Ryan had an intense one..the girl actually got up on the bed to give him a thorough massage! 

 We were all so jealous!

You can see the whole shop attended to the 7 of us!!

Next day we are going on a city tour and I promise to be more detailed as I suffer a neckache and splitting headache due to severe exposure to sun maybe???

Ko Samui First Day: Bus Ride, Ferry Ride, Dinner, Banana Pancake!

On 2nd of January 2016 after much planning and booking of hotels and flights, we found ourselves at Surat Thani close to 5.30 pm Thai time because of the delay of almost an hour. I was so worried we could not get to Ko Samui that night as I had already booked rooms there starting on the 2nd.

Luckily Surat Thani airport is absolutely tiny compared to KLIA2 and as soon as Carol collected her luggage, she quickly booked round tickets to Ko Samui for all of us!!!

 So here we are, on the bus to the jetty.  Round tickets mean : 550 Baht for bus to jetty, ferry ride, and bus transfer to hotel. The bus ride was...quite long!!!!

This is the first time I have booked hotels and flights all by myself (without a package tour or tour guide) so I was relieved when the flight was completed and that the journey to the island will be completed soon. Carol booked the tours and she will be in charge of the itinerary for our entire trip, phew!!! burden lifted off me!

 On the bus this girl, Dao, came and sold us packages for all 3 days that we will be in Ko Samui, plus the round trip back to Surat Thani and airport!!! She is funny, patient, cheerful and entertained all of Carol's queries and questions and collected only the advance payment, the balance to be paid as we embark on each day's adventures.  So, it was to be: first day: marine park tour, second day spa and city tour, third day Koh Tao, and 4th day travel to Surat Thani. I couldn't believe that our trip was organised tonight itself, and that the next day at 7.15 we had to start our tour!!!

Now we are on the ferry, presumably the last, as it was quite late, and Dao assured us that this ferry will wait for us no matter how late we reach Donsak Jetty, as we had already paid the round trip tickets.  It was to be the longest, slowest ferry ride for us weary travellers,hahaha!!! (we were already at KLIA2 at 12 that morning)

 Bee and Sau (who were the ones who requested I help them book this trip) on the ferry.  The journey was so slow and long and "wavy" Sau nearly got sea sick!

 After the ferry, we had to take another bus to the hotel, and we were delighted that it was right smack in Lamai business district!  So after dumping our bags, we came out for dinner!

 We walked looking for a nice place for authentic Thai food...based on reccomendations by our hotel staff.

 Padthai and vegetable salad.  This was to be start of our love affair with Padthai!!!

 Yummy dinner with, of course, coconut drinks that the Aussie kids so love!

 What Thai meal will be complete without tom yam?

 sea food tom yam kung!

 Padthai and pineapple fried rice, the latter, too was going to be our staple for the next few days!

 For dessert, we found this banana pancake stall.

 This stall is everywhere on street corners, so we needed to have some, at 40 baht, it was a steal!

 Let me at them! food tastes best when shared.

 hmmm,,,,,crispy pancakes drizzled with condensed milk.

 and chocolate

 You can see on their faces that it is yummylicious!

 Ely must show me a nouthful as I snapped!

So, it was back to our hotel...Marina Villa...which I will show you more of, in the next few days......