Koh Samui Take Two

Having had two weeks of relative tranquility we thought we might be ready to check out the busy side of Samui for a few days before leaving Thailand all together.  We left Koh Phanang and headed for Chaweng, the beach to which most Samui tourists flock for the famous stretch of white sand.  We were in for a bit of a culture shock that was nearly as severe as the culture shock experienced when we first landed in Asia.  Chaweng’s stretch of beach is in deed beautiful but the scene that awaited us was more than a little different from where we had been.  Every inch of sand seemed to be taken up by beach chairs and bars, restaurants, sea doo stands, hawkers and crowds.  We were certainly in the middle of the action.  The streets above the beach were as busy as Bangkok.   The place hummed night and day and although we were glad not to be staying there for long, it was pretty neat to watch the party on the beach once the sun went down and the lanterns were fired up and floating in the sky.

The return trip to Samui served its purpose as we got our last immunizations and figured out what our next step would be.  We were originally planning to travel north through Thailand and into Laos but with flood waters threatening many of the areas we were planning to visit, we decided to head to Malaysia and wait for the water situation to improve.

Not quite Serious Coffee but somehow we are getting used to this.  

Fearon and Eric were happy to see Ronald in Samui

Just one of the sites on the beach in the evening.

This was pretty early in the morning so the chairs weren't filled yet.  The white sand did in deed stretch as far as you could see.

There was quite a stir when Rob came across this guy after his morning swim.  The folks from the restaurant were quick to scoop it up and start to prepare it for the evening menu.