Lamai beach area of Koh Samui was where we we stayed the last time we were there. We liked the area previously as the beach was lovely and great for swimming, there were lots of tourist shops/ restaurants/ bars but also plenty of street food. We were not disappointed this time either, overall the place was a lot quieter than it was the last time we were here. Partly due to it being the low season, and part due to Covid with tourism just starting to pick up. And there are still plenty of tourists and backpackers about.
We had booked just one night in Private Residence in a room with a/c and a balcony, which happened to be right next door to the place we stayed last time. It was only 450B per night so right in our budget. The room was clean, the AC worked and the balcony had a lovely view so we decided to extend for a couple more nights. If you want to book it is worth booking a night and then extending incase the place is not as pictured! As it turns out as the days went on the bathroom wasn’t the best, the bed was very firm and there was a thai rock bar that played music until 1am so we were probably a bit hasty in extending it but the lady that ran it was really nice!
We were keen to get out and see Lamai again so despite it being very hot and early afternoon we headed down to Lamai beach. It was still as stunning and so quiet with only a couple of people swimming. The beach was golden, the sea turquoise blue and stretched on for a while. We walked the length of the beach to the cut in for the town/ main supermarket. We bought some bits we needed and then found lunch on a street corner restaurant near the food market. We were treated to a massaman curry and rice (40B) as our first meal in Thailand which we couldn’t complain about. We walked back via the main strip- a lot of which was very quiet, only stopping to pick up cold essentials from 7/11. Annoyingly where we were staying there was no cut through from the main street to our accommodation as there was a big rock in the way. Instead we had to walk around up a steep hill and down the main ring road where there was no shade! By the time we got back we were exhausted and boiling. We ended up chilling on the balcony enjoying the view before crashing for a few hours to catch up on some of the sleep we had missed over the last few days.
Once we were alive again, to wake ourselves up we went for an evening dip in the sea. The water was beautifully warm. For dinner we headed back down the main strip via the beach- there were not a lot of restaurants open and the night market that used to be by the ‘sexy girl’ bars was not open. We ended up wandering down a side street and did manage to find a restaurant ‘My Thai’ that looked like our type of place- cheap and local food. There were also a few people eating here which is always a good sign! We got big portions of Thai basil chicken and pork, rice and sprites to cool down (250B all together). It was absolutely delicious! Once back at our room we shared our first Chang on the balcony enjoying the breeze and watching the lightning that had been chasing us all evening.
The following day we were woken up by our alarm at 10am, apparently we had needed our sleep! We ate cereal on our balcony (something easy and cheap to balance out eating out for other meals) and generally enjoyed a slow morning. We met the lady from our accomodation at midday to officially check in and to pay for the other nights and at the same time the scooter (Honda Cick 125 CC 230 baht per 24 hours) we had ordered to explore the island got dropped off. We went with Koh Samui Tours scooter rental as we could book online, they drop off/pick up the bike and you can get it dropped off and picked up from different locations on samui. This meant we could now go out and explore Samui.
We went out to explore some local sights (we didn’t do grandfather rocks as we did this last time we weere here). Our first stop was the beautiful red Wat Ratchathammaram temple. The colour stood out against the bright blue sky. Both inside and outside were ornatly detailed in terms of 3D depictions of buddhist stories and were beautiful. Also at the sight is a gold chedi (buddhist stupa) and a great view out over the sea and local bay. From here we carried on around the main ring road to Wat Khunaram. Here we went to see the remains of a mummified monk whose body remained under composed and is now displayed in a glass case as per his written request. Very interesting and we managed to enjoy this place with basically no one there which helps you take it in a bit more.
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Our last stop for our first day mini tour was just down the road from here to Namueng waterfall. It was 20B to park and then easily signposted down a path from there. There were also elephants lined up for rides, it is disappointing to see that this practice is still happening here as there are so many elephant sanctuaries now in Thailand. The waterfall itself was cascading down a large rock face and there was one main swimming pool and a few smaller pools heading down the flow of the water. We scrambled our way to the otherside of the pool to find a place to put our stuff and then we were in! It was so refreshingly cool and nice to swim surrounded by nature and not too many people either! There is also a second Namueng waterfall off a different road but we were happy just chilling here cooling off. Once refreshed we headed back to the apartment. On the way we stopped at a local street food restaurant for a deliciously fresh papaya salad (50 baht each). The chef tempted us into trying a salted egg with it too which was ok but a bit too salty for me!
In the evening, now we had wheels, it meant we could go and find the night market at Chaweng. There tends to be a walking street/ night market every night in Samui, just in different areas on different nights of the week. As Chaweng is one of the main tourist/backpacker areas, their night market is on all weekend. We followed the coastline round from Lamai on some steep but new roads. There were a good number of stalls set up by the lake and we wandered around looking at all the different treats. In the end we ended up getting some very average curry puffs (10B each), some fried stick chicken (10B) and shared a cheap pad thai (40B). We also treated ourselves to a chocolate and peanut butter pancake/roti (60B) that we enjoyed sitting by the lake watching the sunset behind the hills. It is so nice to be back in Thailand surrounded by stunning nature, warmth, lovely people, interesting sights and fantastic food! Once back in Lamai we walked to get cheap ice creams to cool off on the balcony as it was so muggy.
Photos: chaweng night market and lake, food and pancake by lake
Neither of us had a great night's sleep and ended up dozing more in the morning until about 10am. This meant we didn’t get out again until midday, straight out into the heat! We headed out on the scooter and found Koh Lod viewpoint on the ring road towards Chaweng, giving lovely views over Chaweng beach. We clambered over the rocks, seeing little pools. From here we made our way to Silver/ Crystal beach. The beach was absolutely stunning, pure white sand with a few restaurants/ resorts. We found a spot in the shade to put our stuff and then headed out in the water. It was lovely to swim in but was a bit too shallow and cloudy to actually be able to snorkel in. We gave it a good go but then decided just to enjoy chilling in the water. For lunch we headed to the restaurant in Lamai fresh market which does cheap thai food, having another thai basil dish (70 B each with egg).
Whilst at our accomodation we checked out the viewpoint on the top of the rock which was nice for being right on our doorstep. In the evening we decided to walk the opposite direction for dinner. We tried to go to a hainese chicken shop near Guan Yu shrine but it wasn’t open. Instead we headed around the corner to a stall we had seen the day before. We got a delicious pad thai and a crispy pork and broccoli dish that were delicious(70B each)! We grabbed another cheap ice cream for the long muggy walk back before enjoying the balcony for one last evening.
Tomorrow we move to Bang rak area of Samui!
Thanks
Alex
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