As we had a scooter in Lamai we had to transport us and our luggage to Bang rak area in the north. As both, our bags were slightly too big to wedge between Dave’s feet it meant we had to do 2 trips. I wore Dave’s bag up to our new accommodation- Green Garden bungalows, where we had managed to get a little AC bungalow with a desk for 480B per night. The place was set behind a private wall and the garden was very green and jungly. We were shown our room and then had to wait a while for the owner to come back to actually give us the key. We were in no rush though. Then we hopped on the bike, rode 20 mins back to our old accommodation and then back again before we were fully moved over.
By the time we were sorted, it was lunchtime and we headed down the road where we had seen some local restaurants open- choosing one with cheap food options called Baitong. Fried rice (60B) and Curry and rice (60B) later and we were very full and very hot. But we wanted to walk and explore the local area, so we headed to the main street. Opposite our road was the cut-through to Haad Bang Rak so we had a quick peek and then also checked boat times/ prices at various piers for heading to Phangan. After a very long walk down the main strip past lots of restaurants, shops and local markets we made it to Wat Plei Laem. This is a free-to-visit temple complex which has some impressive buildings and statues as well as some monster fish that everyone was feeding. We wandered around admiring the designs and height to these constructions. After grabbing a cold drink to cool off we made our way back and to the Big Buddha. This sits out on a peninsula- which itself offers great views across Bangrak and on the other side a local harbour. We got the grand gold buddha practically to ourselves and from the top there were more views to admire. Not far from being back at our bungalow and the rain finally hit! We hid in a 7/11 for a while and when it still was pouring down carried on hiding outside the 7/11. Eventually, when it slowed down we got back to our accommodation.
In the evening when it had dried out we had a refreshing evening dip in the sea before then driving the few minutes to the night market at Green Plaza in Bangrak. There were a few stalls there but nothing really took our fancy so instead we found a local restaurant (King of Noodle CHYSEE) by our place for BBQ pork and wonton noodle soup. It was delicious and comforting and only 50B each. In the evening now we had somewhere to work; We caught up on notes and started a blog and video editing.
On our last full day in Samui we wanted to go up into the hills and explore a bit. We went up some very steep hills to a viewpoint looking out over the jungle. From here the plan had been to go to some Buddha statues on the top of the island. However, the path the satnav wanted us to take was incredibly steep with giant potholes. We gave up and headed back down the steep roads to try to find a different way up. We made our way inland once again through palm trees and up steep hills towards Tan Rua waterfall. The plan had been to take the mountain road up past this. But when we got to it the road was incredibly steep with signs everywhere saying ‘low gear’ ‘danger’ ‘no automatic motorcycles. As the bike we were on was a 125CC automatic that was very shaky, didn’t have great brakes and had two of us on it we decided to just give the very top road a miss– sure the views would have been incredible but sometimes it isn’t worth it.
Instead, we headed just to Tan Rua waterfall. The road to this was steep enough. We pulled into the parking area and then continued down a very steep hill to find the signs for the waterfall. This took you over a rope bridge, up some old wooden stairs and across a boardwalk with incredible views. There at the top was also a tree cafe and a zipline. We skipped those and followed the sign down a jungle track to waterfall 1. This consisted of clambering downhill over tree roots in the jungle. The waterfall was gorgeous with water cascading down the rock face and pouring over vines into a small pool below. There were small shallow other pools but not really much for swimming. I managed to dunk myself enough to cool down though, whereas most people took a picture and then left. It did mean we had it to ourselves after a couple of minutes though and we took some time to admire the scenery and appreciate where we were. I was also putting off clambering back up through the jungle and up the massive hill to the parking area. We did manage it though and as a treat stopped at the top at a well-placed cafe/restaurant that had a lovely view over the sea. Here we hid in the shade, sipping refreshing coconuts for 40B, totally worth it. On the way back down we stopped for some lunch in Bophut at a street food restaurant called Osmin. Dave had a papaya salad and I had fried large flat noodles in gravy (thick stock) with lots of vegetables, very tasty (140B for both).
In the evening we headed out to Bophut beach to sit and watch the sunset and then went to the Fisherman's Village Night Market. The fisherman's village itself is an interesting area with a selection of very good-looking restaurants, and interesting and healthy cafes- definitely the place to come if you are on holiday and have money to spend but want chilled vibes. The night market had the usual selection of tourist goodies- bags, clothes, candles, anything you can think of that says Thailand and lots of other bits and pieces. It also had a food section and we managed to find a Khao Soi stand for 60B each. Very tasty and nice to find outside of northern Thailand. Not a bad way to end our time in Samui at all as the following morning we were travelling on the ferry to Koh Phangan. That will be in the next blog.
Thanks
Alex
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