Koh Samui, Thailand II: 6 things to do in Koh Samui

1) Visit Hin Yai and Hin Ta

Translated to grandmother and grandfather rocks.The story was that grandfather was a fisherman and one day he went out to fish but never returned, so grandmother sat on the rocks and waited for him. With such a touching story behind, I thought the rocks were going to be shaped like an old couple or something. But... it was a lot more erm graphic.

 

I didn't take photos of the grandmother rock so I will leave that to your imagination hahaha. Or you can see it for yourself when you're there! The view on the other side was really nice though. The water was really clear and I could even see fishes swimming in the water. It's a pity the sky was a bit overcast so the photos didn't turn out as pretty.

2) Visit Na Muang Waterfall

Or ‘Purple Waterfalls’ which are so named because of the striking purple shade of their rock faces. There are other waterfalls to visit on Koh Samui, but these are considered to be among the most scenic. You can swim in the pool underneath the waterfall and there's an elephant safari nearby where you can get a ride through the jungle.

3) Grab lunch at THINK retro cafe

THINK retro cafe is made up of metal containers, old tires and other recycled materials. I LOVE the concept and it just makes all the sense in the world to locate it next to the beach somehow. The food there is fantastic too! Everything was fresh and delectable. You can go for a swim while waiting for your food to arrive. If I ever opens a restaurant, I want to set up one like this!

4) Visit a coconut farm

Koh Samui is synonymous with coconut trees - there are literally plantations all over the island. Locals have trained monkeys to climb up coconut trees to pick the coconuts. These monkeys are like their pets so just like you train your dog to fetch the newspaper, they train monkeys to pick coconuts. This baby monkey in the picture below is super naughty! It leapt up and kicked my friend's butt! The owner demonstrated how they train the youngsters, they hold on to a coconut and the monkeys will climb up and twist and turn the coconut until it falls to the ground. I gave it a try holding the coconut! First time having a dangling monkey on my arm haha.

5) Go shopping at Fisherman's Village

The Fisherman’s Village is located near a tranquil beach with cosy restaurants and quaint little shops. It's like a beautiful little town in a Disney movie, very adorable. We enjoyed its quietness in the late afternoon and then settled for a drink at an Irish Pub while looking out into the sea.

6) Get a gorgeous tan or enjoy a massage or do both!

Since the sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds, we treated ourselves to a massage at Renaissance Koh Samui which we desperately needed. It felt really good to feel the tension in your body leave you. I can do this everyday!

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The above itinerary was decided for us by the Renaissance Navigator which is a customizable service by Renaissance for its guests. They have itineraries for families, couples, you name it, they plan it! You get a private van (up to 5 people) and WiFi on the go. It's extremely convenient and flexible since you can stop anywhere you wish to and it's cheaper than if you book with outside tours.

And if you're all itching to go but want to monitor the prices first, the best way to do this is to sign up for the Price Alert on skyscanner. That's what I do for trips I plan a few months ahead. You'll get an email notification telling you if the price went up or down so you can decide when to purchase your ticket. Little tricks like this help you to save money for well, more trips! ;)

This trip was made possible by the lovely people of skyscanner, Koh Samui Renaissance and Bangkok Airways.  

Koh Samui, Thailand I: Weekends should all be like this

I rarely do short weekend trips but I had an amazing one recently thanks to skyscanner, Koh Samui Renaissance and Bangkok Airways. Rushed to the airport one Friday evening to catch my 8.10 p.m. flight. I fell asleep almost immediately after we took off. I remember hearing the air steward going "Chicken or fish?" while I was in a deep slumber. It helped that I had the whole row to myself. :p The air stewardess covered me with a blanket halfway through my sleep and I woke up long enough to smile and say thank you. When I arrived at Koh Samui airport, I was pleasantly surprised by how adorable the airport looked! We took a tram to the arrival gate that was shaped like a hut. I felt as if I've landed directly in a resort! After clearing the customs, I panicked when I couldn't find my pickup. There are TWO pickup points at the airport. One nearer to the gate with the hotel counters and another which is further away, follow the "limousine" sign to get there. After a 20 minutes drive, I arrived at Koh Samui Renaissance.

We were warmly received by the staff and shown to our rooms. My fatigue was immediately blown away by the splendour of my room.

Yes the room came with a balcony and a jacuzzi. ;D

We had breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel and the food was amazing. We were so well fed that our tummies did not have a chance to rest. There was fresh juice available upon request and we tried this mix of carrot and ginger that the chef recommended.

We had lunch at Banana Leaf restaurant again where we had breakfast. We shared a seared tuna salad which was wonderfully done. My mushroom soup was delicious as well, I love a good soup. I had salmon for my main course, I was torn between this and Ravioli. Jaclynn got the latter and I took a bite, it was super good too. Highly recommended. Renewed love for Italian food!

We had lobster with cheese for dinner at TawaNN restaurant and it was so fresh and juicy! We were so happily stuffed. The calamari and crab cakes were fantastic too, in fact we had two servings of calamari. :p I must say the food at Renaissance was absolutely perfect, there was nothing I could pick on.

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Don't you wish your weekend was relaxing like mine? Well, you can do the same! Koh Samui is less than 2 hours away by direct flight and with Bangkok Airways' frequent direct flights there, you have lots of chance to escape to this beautiful island. You don't even have to apply for leave. The departure on Friday night (8.10 p.m.) and return on Sunday afternoon (4.10 p.m.) is perfect for a weekend getaway.

With so many (long) weekends to choose from, how do you decide which weekend is the best to jet off? You can use skyscanner to help you. Enter Koh Samui in the search bar and instead of entering specific dates, select 'whole month' or 'in a week' or even 'in a year'. Skyscanner will help you scan through all the available flights and you can see which days are cheaper for flying. What's best is that you don't have to pay anything for this awesome service! Skyscanner is entirely free. It finds you all the options based on your search at no extra cost, you are directly linked to the airline or travel agent so you get the cheapest flights on offer. This is yet another reason why I always use skyscanner to help me save bucks while travelling.

All ready for a weekend in Koh Samui? Look out for the next post on what to do on this beautiful island. :)

This trip was made possible by the lovely people of skyscanner, Koh Samui Renaissance and Bangkok Airways. 

Thailand: Bangkok

Sawadeeka Bangkok! Or rather Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

Day 1:

We took SCOOT for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised by how big the aircraft was! 3-4-3 seats in a row with ample leg room. And I really like the yellow airplane, such a cheerful colour! The flight met with quite a bit of turbulence at the start and we felt as if we were on a roller coaster ride, everyone going WOOOOH when the plane dipped. It was pretty hilarious though thank god we landed safely to laugh about it.










We stayed at On8 Sukhumvit hotel and it was FANTASTIC. All the hotel surfing and review browsing paid off! I think they upgraded us to a bigger corner room because one of our rooms was bigger than the other. And all their staff were beyond friendly, they were full of smiles and so willing to help!!! Plus it is located right next to Nana BTS, two stops from Central World/Platinum fashion mall. They provide you with the WiFi username and password when you check in, and their Wifi is pretty fast! :D I highly recommend this hotel! The only bad thing is that the door to the toilet doesn't close tightly.














After we dumped our luggage in our rooms, we went searching for dinner around our neighbourhood. There are a lot of pubs lining Sukhumvit lanes and of course they are mostly catered to Caucasians. I think during this trip, I've heard the most number of different European languages spoken around me. French, Spanish, German... and some of which I do not recognize. Our dinner was at Chilli Culture, Thai food to get us started! I was introduced to Changmai noodles by B and it was delicious! :d We dropped by 7-11 to get some essentials (the hotel doesn't provide toothbrush and toothpaste by the way) and we were super excited at the cheap prices hehe.

Day 2:



Started the second day with breakfast at our hotel cafe. Besides this spread, the waitress gives you a form where you can choose one type of egg (scrambled, poached, fried, boiled, etc) and as many sides as you wish (bacon, ham, sausage, mushroom, potato, tomato). The selection is pretty good, though it's the same everyday... And the mushrooms are straw mushrooms which was kind of strange to have for breakfast.










BTS became our daily transport. It is really convenient, fast and clean! I don't know why so many tourists take the cab in Bangkok when you have such efficient public transport. Though it's often pretty crowded at seemingly all timings of the day, it's better than being stuck in a jam (which happens quite often in Bangkok I believe).








First stop: Central World! We were absorbed into the world of pretty fabrics at NaRaYa. Exclamations of 'so cute!' were heard throughout the store in different languages while men sat at a corner, looking extremely bored hah! And ofcourse, we had to try the McPork burger.






Platinum fashion mall is like Far East x100. And surprise surprise, I met a friend there!






We headed to Big C to do some shopping and I saw my Korea guesthouse receptionist IN BANGKOK. LIKE WHUT? But he didn't recognize me aww. We had dinner in Big C and the food there was SO SPICY I could feel steam coming out from my ears..

Day 3:
Got up at the crack of dawn to take a van down to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. We spent 1 hour on the road picking up various passengers and another 1.5 hours to get there green in the face.












When we got there, I was quite disappointed that this wasn't the market I saw in movies and Running Man but ah well! And it's a very commercialized floating market, you don't see any Thais, you see lots and lots and lots of tourists. And the things they sell there are all targeted at tourists. I was very tempted to buy a ukelele/guitar but I had no idea how to choose one, like the quality of strings/wood/etc. I made the mistake of asking how much and the owner of the ukelele dragged our boat back to his shop where he tried to sell me the ukelele at 900baht. But it didn't take very long before the price plunged to 250baht haha. I didn't get it in the end but it was quite an interesting experience. XD


Coconut ice cream was pretty good, considering I don't like coconut.

We headed back to the hotel and wanted to go to the Grand Palace but it closes at 3.30pm and it was almost 2.30pm after we showered and got ready. So we decided to go MBK for more shopping. But first! A very belated lunch plus early dinner at Soonbom seafood which a friend recommended.
















The fried curry crab was REALLY GOOD. The sauce was heavenly with rice!! We practically polished the plate. And look at the mango sticky rice, have you ever seen so much mango accompanying the rice? Normally in Singapore it's rice > mango, but here it's the other way around! Very full and satisfying meal. :d

We got to MBK but before we stepped in, we were distracted by a sale and ended up spending about 3 hours in that section.So we didn't end up going MBK because it closed at 9pm. We were planning to go to a night market at Khao San road but we asked around and some said there's no night market there, some recommended us to go to another place and some said take a bus/taxi... To be safe, we decided to just call it a day and headed back to our hotel to have a cup noodle + Lays pajamas party while watching Olympics.

Day 4:
XL and I woke up earlier to go to the Grand Palace while the other two headed back to Big C to buy some stuff to bring back home. For me, travelling should include exploring the cultural aspect of a country/city. I don't want to just shop and shop and spend my days overseas in a shopping center. How's that different from shopping in Singapore except the difference in price and style? I want to see something unique to the country I'm in! I'm glad XL felt the same way so off we went~ :D




We reached Chao Phraya River by BTS to take a boat to Grand Palace. No, that's not the boat we took, I don't have a photo of it so I'm gonna steal one from the internet.


(Photo credit) This was the one we took and it was really crowded! It costs 15baht per person and this lady walks around to collect it from you. No tickets/receipt given and if she missed you, then your ride is free I guess!

The Grand Palace is magnificent! Each building was so exquisitely built. Sadly, the Emerald Buddha chapel was closed :( X said maybe it's changing clothes because the Buddha has three sets of clothing for summer, rainy season and winter. We paid 400baht to enter and we didn't see the Emerald Buddha asfjkhsajkf but I didn't regret going at all! :) After that we walked to Wat Pho which is a Buddhist temple where the reclining Buddha lies (pun intended). I didn't take any photos here because I've heard that you are not supposed to take photos of the Buddha. The reclining Buddha is 30meters long and it was really grand.


(Photo credit) Oh and we exchanged 20baht for 1cent coins to drop into these bronze bowls inside the temple. We actually have no idea what it symbolizes but it felt pretty significant because almost everyone was doing it so we did it too haha. According to Wiki, the 108 bronze bowls indicates 108 auspicious characters of Buddha. So I guess it's for good luck?




Went back to the hotel to meet the rest and headed to MBK to have lunch and buy some snacks and then Platinum mall again to speed walk through the second mall. SO MANY STORES AND SO MANY CLOTHES. 眼花缭乱 @__@


We didn't manage to finish the second mall cos we had to rush off for our massage appointment. Healthland Spa was SO luxurious! :O And it was not expensive either, they had a promotion so our Thai massage was only 450baht for 2 hours! But you are expected to give the masseurs a tip. The clothes they gave us to change into were SO COMFORTABLE I wanted to steal them home haha! Anyway, Thai massage hurts like mad! But I enjoyed it when they twisted my body and cracked the joints/spine. BUT my masseur didn't massage my feet at all so I went to a foot massage parlor near our hotel and got a foot massage. It wasn't that fantastic because she didn't use enough strength but I fell asleep within 10 minutes hahaha.

Day 5:



Went to Chatuchak in the morning! This place is just never ending... It's like Bugis Street x1000? I finished all my money here :p




We had lunch at Mos Burger at Terminal 21 before going back to Healthland Spa for foot massage because we couldn't get enough..? Haha. This one was so much better but I still fell asleep despite telling myself not to but I'm satisfied at last XD


Oh and Terminal 21 has like the prettiest toilet ever!!! I felt like I walked into a garden. :)


Last BTS ride back to our hotel and off we went to the airport. Oh yes, whenever the train announcer said Na Na, XL and I would giggle to ourselves haha because it sounded really cute! And we recorded her saying Na Na on the last day teehee. There was hardly any traffic so we had a smooth ride and reached the airport within half an hour.






Our last meal in Bangkok aww. The green curry had too much basil taste but the Changmai noodles were really good! I'm getting pretty addicted to this dish hehe.

And then it was Goodbye Bangkok and Hello Singapore! I really enjoyed my trip and the company I had was funtastic! We laughed a lot, ate a lot and shopped a lot (okay, mostly me. I went there with the lightest luggage and came back with the heaviest...).

I tried learning a few Thai phrases like asking for price and whether we can have it cheaper but I can't remember any of those now. The only ones I can remember are 'Where's the toilet?' and 'Toilet first' which we said to the masseur before starting our massage HAHA.