We arrived in Koh Samui on Friday on our short flight from Bangkok. It was hard not to immediately start comparing it to Bora Bora. The airport is tiny and very island-style with everything outside (though baggage claim does include a motorized belt).
We were completely spoiled again and spent two more of our free hotel nights to stay at the Conrad on the far side of the island. It’s spectacular and once more the closest we have to compare it to is Bora Bora (the fact that we can even compare it to anything is ridiculous). We were perched along the side of the island with not another building or person in sight. Apparently we also chose to stay during one of their low months, and lowest occupancy days of the week so I’d be surprised if there were more than 50 guests total making for a very quiet and relaxing stay all around.
The definite highlight by far was the private infinity pool, though the rest of the resort was gorgeous too and the restaurants all served some really delicious thai food.
May starts the rainy season here in Thailand and we had scattered showers throughout our stay. Besides never lasting for long, they helped to drop the humidity and on our last night we sat on the balcony and watched a thunderstorm light up the sky.
From there we went back towards the airport side of the island and stayed at a hotel that had just opened in between Bangrak and Chaweng beaches. Obviously anything was a drastic change from the Conrad, but this place was nice and everyone really went out of their way to try and impress us (they’re unabashedly trying to keep their top rating on Trip Advisor). It was set back from the beach a bit, but they had their own tuk tuk that ferried us to and from.
We arrived quite late on the first day so just hung out and had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant (also quite good, though despite Greg’s continual ordering of curries that are “thai spicy” I could still eat most of them and I don’t think my taste buds have been destroyed to that level yet). Anyway, even with the pouring rain the next day we went out to explore Bangrak beach. It was nice, and on a sunny day could definitely see the appeal of renting a lounge chair and just staying put. Alas, we trekked on, got completely soaked and mud covered from the passing cars, and found a great little restaurant with some really cheap (but tasty) dinner and drinks. Combined with a gorgeous sunset and a local dog named Moody (s?), that Greg became instant friends with, we had a fantastic evening.
On our last full day in Koh Samui we took the tuk tuk to the other beach nearby, Chawang. This is the considered the busiest beach on the island and definitely felt like it. We had a good time, but we could feel the difference that the boom in tourism over the last twenty years had made. Of course tough to reconcile that with some of the quieter places we’ve enjoyed while being tourists ourselves. Still another week in Thailand so looking forward to Phuket next.
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