Koh Samui - First Thoughts, Humble Beginnings

Phew - now that's a ride.

Traveling over 700 km through Thailand from Bangkok to Donsak (the pier for Koh Samui ferry) took all night. Slow bus ride was spiced up with some great action movie (featuring parkour) dubbed in Thai and played loud (two times in a row..) and with an exciting midnight dinner  at an in-the-middle-of-nowhere-catering-station.

It also seemed like the bus driver himself got lost and ended up in the middle of a cows, in a forest, at a bit past midnight. Well, after a 5km of driving the bus backwards we were back on the track, this time caught up in a nightly traffic jam.

Due to the riots? Maybe.

 

 (Koh Samui ahead!)

When the morning turned to day when we finally arrived to the Donsak pier. Ferry took us to Koh Samui and we grabbed a taxi to our resort Calm Beach bungalows. This turned out to be something worthy of the name, located in Boput, next a white lovely beach.

Perhaps to be expected - the pictures that the agency lady had shown about a tranquil beach paradise didn't tell the whole truth - Calm Beach turned out to be shadier than we thought. We were the only guests for the time of our five night stay, and the family who run the place were living in the office next to our room and hanging around all day.

On the other hand, the place delivered on the essentials at a very reasonable price: as a place to get some sleep and to keep our backpacks relatively safe for a while. After we asked for sheets to be included in the price, the bungalow also turned a bit more of a luxury. (Keep this in mind - ask and you're usually helped out or they at least name a price for a service).

 

 (Local sims were a bit tricky)

Friday was all about getting known to the hoods of Boput. As a night-time special, we ran into a busy evening market spread all around the small streets of the "Fishermans village". Loads of clothing and usual frou frou stands - several kilometres worth all in all. Best part of the evening was a local hidden street food place, where the chili was hot and food good. And yes - we grabbed a fresh coconut - yum. *Note to self : always eat where the locals eat to get the best deal and atmosphere as well

  
After a lengthy stroll, the noisy market was left behind as we took a walk down the beach back to the bungalow. See all the last lights on the shore in the below picture? But what about that shadowy place? That's the Calm Beach - a bit dark, yes. Calm, but not really the place to go to if you want the amenities.

It's kinda like all the mufasa stuff again.