Travel Diary: Koh Samui: Going West to East – buckets, snorkeling and hospital

We are leaving Koh Lanta today AKA paradise and heading to the east coast to Koh Samui.  This will be our third visit to the island and we are looking forward to going back to our old haunts and partying.

We are leaving this beautiful little paradise island today.  We checked out of Chaw Kacher and Da gave us a big hug and a gift of a handmade notepad.  She is so lovely!!  Da called us by name the entire time and really couldn’t do more for us.  If you ever go to Koh Lanta (which you must because it is paradise) you have to stay here!

We got picked up in a mini van and of course he drove like a manic picking people up then onto ferry 1, across the island, ferry 2  then for the 4 hour drive across the country.  The van was so hot and the guy drove to erratically it was one of the worst journeys yet!  But to be fair we arrived at the ferry port with only 10 minutes to spare so he had to drive that quickly.  Shaun had even asked him to slow down in which he responded “In England they drive slowly”, Shaun said “no they drive safely!”.  Instead of boarding the Lamprayer as we were told we were dropped to the Seatran.  Not as nice a boat.  It takes about an hour and a half to get from Surat Thani to Koh Samui.  Once in Samui we jumped into a mini van for 100b each and got them to drop us to FX where we stayed in 2010.  It has changed name to The Avenue but it is still exactly the same, in fact it’s been run down.  Even though they are pretty empty they would not budge on price.  They told us to book online for cheaper which makes no sense as the websites take commission.  We ended up paying 1200 with breakfast which is pretty expensive for what it is.

We took a walk along the strip and in the 3 years we have been gone there has been huge development.  Chaweng looks more like a luxury resort instead of the seedy backpacker destination is was before.  There is a huge shopping mall and lots of luxury hotels along the beach.

For dinner we headed to the Aussie bar and had the all you can eat BBQ, we are actually eating meat again!  Afterwards we had a couple of cocktails and sat people watching for a few hours.

Today we took a walk along the strip and were being quite nostalgic and found AKWA where we stayed the first time we went travelling in 2008, it hasn’t changed a bit!  We made it onto the beach for a swim which is buzzing with people, I don’t think there is a low season here.

In the evening we found a local market which is on the lake side of the strip and had some yummy street food whilst listening to a really good band.

 The atmosphere was so good which spurred us on to have our first bucket is Thailand!  Eeeeeekk.  We headed back to the square of bars where they were having a 2 for 1 deal so we had a bucket each … Sangsom, Thai redbull and coke.

 After a couple of buckets we went across the road for another bucket where we met an English guy from Eastbourne called Lewis and his Thai girlfriend and her friend.  Several buckets were consumed, some strange mum dancing, Shaun broke the punch bag record and attempted the splits and god knows what else.  It was a really random night but we had a good laugh.

Somehow is was suddenly 4am so we got a taxi back getting him to drop us to the end of lady boy street where our hotel is and walked down to see if it was still the same, at this time is was dead.  The Sangsom still doesn’t agree with me and I vomited as usual.  We must be grown up a little bit because Shaun didn’t take photos of me being sick!  However it was still a really good night (so Shaun tells me I have Sangsom memory loss).

After getting home at 4.30 this morning we missed our 7am alarm and bolted up at 8am with the worst hangover is history.  Once we had popped some paracetamol, we quickly rushed about getting our things together as last night before we got drunk we booked a half day snorkelling trip … now it is the last thing we want to be doing!!  We ran down to breakfast only being served up as the truck pulled in to pick us up.  We squashed into the pick up tuk tuk and drove about half an hour (trying not to be sick) to the pier.  We jumped onto the long tail which took us to the first snorkelling spot on Koh Tan.  Shaun and I practically jumped off the boat whilst it was mooring up.  The water was crystal clear and we saw a good amount of cool fish amongst the coral in the hour.  Next up we headed across to Koh Mudsum beach which is absolutely beautiful … the beautiful white sand, azure sea and jungle you imagine in Thailand.  We could just about take in the beauty whilst dunking our heads in the ocean trying to soba up.   We could have really done with the ‘take your breath away cold’ Guernsey sea but instead it’s a bath warm.  After an hour we stopped at another site near Koh Tan for another snorkel.  On route back I had to lie on the deck all the way back.  Who’s idea was it to drink all those buckets!!

We had a yummy Thai lunch at the pier and got a tuk tuk back, along the way getting some good tips for our impending Australia trip from an Aussie family.

For the rest of the day we lazed at the hotel and nipped out for some Thai food.

Day 2 of the hangover carries on.  We had a lie in, breakfast and then finally made it for check out at 12.  Last night we did a hotel hunt across the beach and booked into Al’s Resort which is in the dead centre of the strip and has little bungalows on the beach.  Because of its location the price is higher at 2000b a night (£40) with breakfast, the bungalow is a little worn down but the pool and beach are amazing.

We dragged our bags to the new hotel which is a good 20 minute walk in the exhausting heat.  Whilst the room was being cleaned we had our first KFC to cure the hangover.   Next we went for a foot massage (200b for an hour/£4), these women are so strong I literally have bruises up my legs!!

In the afternoon we took our books down to the beach, as expected we opened the books and it started raining!!  We were told that the monsoon is on the west side (where we have come from) but it seems to rain all the time here on the east!

For dinner we headed out and had some tiger prawns, calamari and veg in a packed restaurant.  We definitely prefer the local haunts.

 

I think Shaun is getting an ear infection as he didn’t really get a lot of sleep last night due to his ear hurting, hopefully it does not persist.  Therefore we had a lazy day having breakfast then a Starbucks then a massage and not much else!  Just as well as it has been raining all day.

We sorted out the plan for the next few weeks booking a flight from Samui to Bangkok on the 5th for an extortionate price of 5500b.  The alternatives were 3300 from Surat Thani on the main land (including transfer, boat, transfer and plane) or the train 2000 from Surat Thani (again including a long transfer and boat to the main land).  We opt for less time and stress over money!  We also moved our other round the world flight ticket from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to 7th October costing more money at £95 per person, we really should have got travel butler which gives free date changes.

This evening we went for a quick pizza and home for a movie.  We found a shop selling good copies for 70b each so we stocked up.

Today we are splitting up!  Shaun is off quad biking in the jungle and I am off to do a cookery class.  We just couldn’t agree on what to do for our last day in Koh Samui so we split up and each did our own thing.  Shaun was picked up first and went on a 2 hour quad bike tour through the jungle, through rivers but he never saw the waterfall they were supposed to get to.  The first three quarters were pretty boring then the instructor pulled Shaun and an Aussie guy off to do some proper off-roading at high speed.  Once they rejoined the group he saw one of the other quads flip over, the guy having to re-right his quad and pay 500b for the damage!

I went off on my cookery class in the mountains.  There was only one other couple there who were from Germany.  First we cut up all the ingredients and grounded some curry paste then cooked everything; a Penang curry, chicken with pepper and sweet and sour chicken.  Each dish taking 3-5 minutes to cook, very rapid!  He also gave me the recipe so hopefully I can cook just as well at home!

 

I met Shaun back at the hotel at midday where he was really starting to suffer from his ear infection after wearing a helmet all morning.

After writing some blog we headed to the beach to read for a while and what happened … it started raining, again!

This evening we were both feeling unwell, I have a really sore throat, we headed back and had a repeat of last night’s food and headed back to the hotel feeling miserable.

Shaun had a horrendous night last night in excruciating pain with his ear.  He was on Ibuprofen but we had to move him onto Co-codamol which still only last a max of 2 hours before he is in tears.  It’s time to go to hospital.

First off I headed to the travel agent who booked our Samui to Bangkok flight which is booked for tomorrow and moved it to the 7th at no extra cost (this way we can still make our Bangkok to KL flight but will be losing a £20 hotel booking in Khao San).

I tried to book an extra night at Al’s Resort but they were full so I went out hotel hunting.  I settled on Behind the Scenes which is right in front of Al’s Resort which had brand new rooms but no extra frills for 1000b room only (£20) (that’s half the price the Als).  Shaun managed to make it out of bed and move hotels then we got a taxi to Thai International hotel (400b round trip).  First we signed in showing Shaun’s passport and then was interviewed by a nurse to establish his symptoms and take his blood pressure, weight and temperature (which was high).  She took us into the emergency room where a doctor examined him, poking a cotton bud right in his ear so Shaun nearly punched him!  He said it was really bad and would need a drip of antibiotics and clean it out to clear the bacteria/water that is causing the infection.  The nurse tried to clean it with water but it’s so swollen the water doesn’t pass.  He gave Shaun a prescription of more antibiotics to take orally and ear drops as well as more Co-codamol and gave us a bill of 6500b (£130).

 

We headed back to the hotel where Shaun was probably in a worse state and stayed in for the rest of the day.

We agreed we would try and move our Bangkok to KL flight as he can’t equalise his ears yet so it will be painful to fly and could make it worse.  I called the out of hours Travel Butler to be given a quote of £150 pp!  I have just paid £95 to change it 2 days ago!  So instead she told me to email travel butler and they might be able to get it cheaper when they get into work on Monday.

Shaun had a better nights sleep lasting the whole night although on waking the pain comes back and his ear is still swollen shut.  After coaxing him into the shower we headed back to the hospital for his second drip.  For some reason they took the needle out of his hand yesterday and punctured the vein so the blood had pooled in his hand.  He had to have another needle in the other hand this time but they couldn’t quite find a vein so poked it around a few times!  This drip was a lot faster only taking about 15 minutes.  In the ER room there was a poor Thai toddler with road burn all over her head –  why do they do it!! The doctor came back in and still couldn’t look in Shaun’s ear as it is swollen shut.  We asked him about flying and he said yes it is ok but it would be very painful, that doesn’t sound great.  Another £30 and we were on our way.

We got back to the hotel and tried to get a late checkout as our pick up for our flight is at 6pm but they wanted 500b (half the room price) so we checked out.

We found somewhere to eat some food now that Shaun can open his mouth to chew.  We were sat there and witnessed our third moped crash, this time two foreigners (wearing helmets), funnily enough they got up went into the pharmacy across the road then came into the restaurant to eat.  It was like the perfect set up.  Whilst at lunch I had an email back from Travel Butler saying they could move our Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur flight to 10th October for £15 each, we snapped it up.  Therefore we headed back down to the travel agent who booked our Samui to Bangkok flight and begged her to move it.  First she said we couldn’t, then she checked and wanted 100b then she did it for free anyway.  We are on the smaller plane which take an extra half an hour but the fact that it will fly lower is probably better for Shaun’s ear.

So back to the hotel to check back in for an extra two nights.  We stayed in and watched The Amazing Spider Man 2 on DVD for the afternoon (it was raining all day anyway) then Shaun needed some sleep in the evening so I went and got take out again.

Another day of resting in the hotel.  I’m starting to go stir crazy, I just wish it was sunny so I could go to the beach but it’s rainy and miserable.  Hopefully we can catch our flight to Bangkok tomorrow.

A la perchoine

Jodie and Shaun

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