The nights sleep was brilliant even though the bed was a little firm (good for the back they say). Friends of ours watched the sunrise over the mountain from the beach.
Meghan and Kelly decided to do a beach run and some exercise to start the day, myself I decided on a walk as I didn't bring any running gear with me. The views on the beach were gorgeous.
The girls went for a swim but I decided I was too hungry so headed down to breakfast, here is the view over my first coffee which wasn't too bad considering.
A friend found a cool tour we are doing today.
We popped out for an early lunch before our tour, 365 baht, $12 for 3 people. I had a green chicken curry which was amazing! Here is the venue for said lunch.
First we visited the Grandmother and Grandfather (shown below, can you see it?) rock which we suspect was the marketing ploy to get us walking around a local market.
Next we visited a place where they train monkeys to help pick coconuts, pretty clever little beasties.
This stop's wares was fresh coconut milk, 20 baht.
Saw a sign advertising gasoline, 91 baht a litre, that is equivalent to roughly $3, no wonder they drive scooters everywhere.
Here is something random, I took a picture of a Ko Samui rego plate, it's such a curly language.
Next stop was a waterfall. This stops wares was a ticket to drive to the water fall (it was 1km away and hilly) so I assume the thought is convenience would out weigh and most would pay, we being fit people did not.
Now perhaps you think I am complaining about the hidden costs or stealthy marketing ploys, I am not as it is the culture here.
Having got that out of the way, here is another. :) A cost to get to the top of the waterfall.
The crew stopped at the bar just before getting back into the bus for a quick drink and a little snack.
Next on the list was a mummified monk, yes you heard correctly. This monk died and didn't decompose much so the family decided to put him on display to inspire new up and coming of his faith, not sure I would be inspired but that's just me, take a look. :)
Here is his story.
On the way to stop number 5 we saw this guys, now this is what I call taking out the rubbish!
Stop 5 was the town of Nathon ... you guessed it, shopping. Every second store was the same BUT I managed to find the two beautiful women in my life a little gift.
Here is a creepy manikin, they were everywhere, not sure they helped the sale of anything.
The friends we were with found an Irish pub near our bus pickup to cool off in the 38 degrees heat.
Was amazed at the number of white, fat, sun burnt males walking around in town with the tops off.
Note to them
1. Only flaunt it if you have it
2. Toplessness is mostly only ok at the beach
The tour guide said that there are 42 temples on Ko Samui, we saw 3 of them, wow.
Many of you may not know but today it is the first stage of Le Tour de France so on the way back to our hotel the discussion turned to trying to find somewhere to watch the first stage. It was the general consensus that a sports bar would be a good place to look as Thailand TV doesn't have much of that type of thing on it and we couldn't get SBS.
We happen to see a restaurant just across the road from our hotel had It on, the Steak House, this should have been our first warning it was not going to end well. Firstly, it had a massive floor space, no one in it and 4 people serving. The menu was largely in Russian and the food was very very average. I tried the tom yum and was thoroughly unimpressed, then some spring rolls and a red curry, again not great. A friend had Pad Thai and said it tasted like it was off. In short, our experience was underwhelming but we came up with the theory that the restaurant was a money laundering front run by the local Russian mob ... Well a little far fetched but made the bad food and service easier to take. :)
To cleanse the palette we decided to head back to our resort for cocktails and desert.
So ended another eventful day, tomorrow will be a relax day by the pool, might even read a book, we will see.
