This is my first time in Thailand. Thailand is just few hours (approx 3hrs) from my hometown, but the closest I ever been to Thailand was the border town, Msia side - PadangBesar, Perlis.
So I was very thrilled :D
We went by a mini bus, I think in Msia we call it Van besaq lah. It was comfy and spacious... as there were 8 of us (the delegates) while the Van can fit up to 11 people (excluding driver).
We went into Thai through Changlun (another border town). Changlun is in Kedah, and the name of this Town is in Thai language which means the 'fallen elephant'. I was sleepy all the way, as I took motion sickness pill before the journey. Instead of enjoying the view, I was sleeping every now and then. But manage to peep through the window once a while. My impression.... "La, sama macam Kedah ja, mcm tak kuar Msia pun" Hahaha... yeah, felt like we are still in Msia, environment same with Kedah and Perlis :D but of course that make sense since they share same heritage back in those days.
There were few slightly flooded villages and that gave us chills... praying that the rain would stop and it would not reach hazardous level especially in surat thani, or on our way back.
We stopped in Hatyai for breakfast.. 10am thai time. It's a muslim restaurant, deco looks flashy... but with moderate price range... food not bad ;-)
Continue.....
Stopped in Nakkon Si Thammarat for lunch. A small restaurant by the road, that has one of the best Tomyam I ever tasted :P Kawwww
Ok... Go on....
Reached Surat Thani around 5pm Thai time = 6pm MY time. We left Penang around 8am... we travelled 10hours on road. We treated ourselves with seafood dinner blast! haha... the Udang sangat mengujakan :P
The next day, after the meeting was over, we took Seatran Ferry to Ko Samui.
Another good thing was.... it didnt rain. It did rain for a while while we were having meeting... then it stopped :D Alhamdulillah, our journey made easy.
The journey took about 1hour30mins... I think... I was not wearing a watch, my phone was switched off and I was not really aware of the time LOL... what a way to travel huh :P But then, since there were quite a number of us, and the trip was planned by the project manager, it felt relaxing n quite liberating to just follow along and forget about everything else. (One of my buddy was using temporary Thai number during the trip, which we shared.... so I just passed the number to my family if they were to contact me) What ever plans they had, we just followed along. But hehe.. i did have a request on one thing "I want to ride an elephant" and was keen and determined to do that during the trip :P The journey was smooth despite high tides and windy day. We almost went all wet when the ferry hit the high tide, splashing on us. For the record, we were standing on the 3rd floor of the ferry okayy... wow. haha
Ko Samui (ko means island / pulau), once we stepped foot on the island... i felt at peace. Maybe the atmosphere. It was clean, and fresh air. The environment, in my opinion, is kinda similar to Pulau Pangkor. But of course, in KoSamui you'll have a lil bit more entertainment to look out for. However, the types of entertainment doesnt really coincide with my preferences... so, ok... let's just do some sightseeing and relaxing only kay ;-) Full moon party? No, thank you lah, heheh... oh ya btw, this famous party takes place in another island next to Samui known as Ko Pangan.
The resort's room was mabeles. Each block (ours: 2 floors, with 5 rooms in each floor) has its own swimming pool. We got the room at ground floor, and our door opened out to the pool. So.... first agenda! a dip in the pool lah! haha...
Check out the resort: http://www.floristresort.com/
Night came, we walked around the street in Chaweng. Lots of gift shops, sorvenir stuff, tatoo shops, fast food chains, pubs, and Spas... yeahh Spa :) But we kept that for next day... walking along the street... and knowing me, looking for Fridge Magnets lor!
Up (left&right) : Chaweng streets at night
Below (left): Banana Pancake @ Roti canai pisang, prepared in many interesting ways
below (right): chaweng, daytime
Below (left): Banana Pancake @ Roti canai pisang, prepared in many interesting ways
below (right): chaweng, daytime
Morning... the tide was still high. Breakfast by the beach.... nice!
We went on Island-road tour and stopped by some temples to learn about the people and the island and get some nice pix shots.
We also stopped by some of the beaches. One of the place is famous for the "grandfather and grandmother rock". It's in the shape of somthing that will be rated 18sx if blogs have movie-rating system... huhu. Google if u want, coz im not posting the pixxies here, haha! Another famous thing in Ko-Samui is the coconut... the dodol... and this... Coconut Ice-cream. It's delicious... but I got tummy ache after eating it.. must be my bad diet management, dont blame the coconut :D
Ok.... the most exciting part - the elephant Farm :-)
It costed 700 baht (+- RM70) per person.
At first, after sitting on the elephanto.. I felt kinda guilty. I asked the guide whether he/she (the elephant) was okay with our weight combination and all that. The guide assured us it's ok for her.... ouh it's a female... and her name is Tetya. She would stop and raise her trunk... it means she's happy and wanted to say thank you (as was told by the guide)... and she did that quite a number of times, she must be happy that we kept on complimenting her :P Ouh, I really hope she was, as I enjoyed the ride so much. We went on jungle trek, and in middle of the trek, the guide went down and snapped pictures of us, with Tetya giving out so many different poses...haha, cute. Then the guide asked if we want to 'drive' the elephant, to which I quickly agreed and moved to the front... Kinda scary when the track went a lil bit downhill, scared I might just fall off like dat.. ayyaa... But whoa, it was great experience. Thanx Tetya :*
Left: at the back of the elephant. Right:Tetya carrying other tourists
After elephant farm, we stopped by a waterfall area... then proceeded to Chaweng area again. Its SPA time! I took the body massage for 1 hour package. Ouh wow..... interesting :)) Btw, the prices:
Then later, we just hang around the beach... and walked on the streets again. This part of the streets was further up than the area we were at last night.
I found a celebrity there! can u guess.... who .?
Found him lying on the Chewang beach.....wow... awak sunbathing ker???
Then went back to the resort.... rested for a while, had a dip again... (tried to swim... still not able to swim correctly :P)
Night.. walked around Chaweng again :-) last minute shopping and coffee... and back to the resort.
Next morning, the sea was calmer, no high tides... kinda miss the windy weather :P
We rushed to the jetty and got our ferry.... Hmm, it was a hot, humid day...yeahhh... the previous days' windy weather was better :P On the ferry, Felt like I was in a vacuum, like the air barely moved (ok, exaggerating a lil here ..) Hehe... I slept for half'n hour before going back to the railings, enjoying the view....
HOkayy.... back in SuratThani..... and back we go!
Journey back. Tried to read some papers.. before feeling dizzy and Zzzzzz... hahhahaha. But hey, no more motion sickness pill ok....
Stopped in Hatyai again. for lunch. Hmmm... nyamnesss lunchhhhh... me loikeee...
Stopped in Danok (Thai border), got some Longan and Mampalam :D
Back in Malaysia... Weee
Reached Penang at 9pm.... so tired :P
Phew..ouh wait..
I almost forgot....
the celebrity I found in Ko Samui....in Chaweng beach...
found him lying on the sand... but from my observation, he looked kinda... dead....
RIP Spongie.... sob sob sob
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Summary of Ko-Samui. Interesting , beautiful, clean place. But I prefer Langkawi ;-) But jetty langkawi and Jetty kuala kedah need to improve a bit la, in terms of cleanliness aar :D tanggungjawab bersama kan yg ini :P
Would love to see Krabi and Phuket. There's another trip to these 2 places next year January, the student society is organising it... but haih... due to time and budget constraint, I can't follow that one. maybe some other time in future la kan.
Kapun Ka .