Sunday, August 24, 2014

Thailand Holiday Day 7 – Chiang Mai to Koh Samui

Leaving Chiang Mai today but not until midday so bit of a lie-in this morning and down for breakfast at 9.30am before being picked up from the hotel at 10.50am. No problems with customs and onto the plane for a 2 hour journey down to our beach destination. Writing this on the plane whilst Jack and Lewis are asleep next to me, Charlotte also asleep and Mum & Tash reading. Food on its way so might have to stop typing briefly!

Amusing in the airport actually as Lewis & Jack disappeared and came back to meet us after visiting McDonalds!! They came back with chicken meals and Charlotte couldn’t resist and got one too. They sat there with such contented faces, Jack was closing his eyes with each mouthful savouring the taste!! He wasn’t showing off either and wasn’t aware I was watching him. Little pleasures!

The flight went really well and was over in about 90 minutes, even had food on it so that was a bonus!

The Koh Samui airport was so…quaint…exactly what I imagined a tropical/Caribbean Island to be like, so small and flowers and greenery everywhere – only one conveyor belt as well! A short minibus journey later and we were pulling up to the hotel. I say hotel but it’s a spa complex and to say it’s ‘plush’ is doing it a disservice…it is stunningly lovely.

Sat in the reception area we could see out across the different rooms that lead directly out of their ‘patios’ into steps into the pool area. So very, very nice! No chance of getting one of those we thought but it all looked lovely anyway, if anything, too nice if that’s possible!! Anyway, we got split up in that the two twins rooms were on one side and our double room was on the other and we followed the lady to our room and the whole time I had my fingers crossed and chanting under my breathe – ‘Ground floor, please let it be ground floor’. We crossed the bridge and walked towards the stairs and instead of going up the stairs we turned left and stayed on the ground floor! Result…Tash looked over her shoulder and was grinning ear to ear.

We walked into the room and it was stunning, and yes, it went out into the pool area, so pleased. Everything else about it was fine too, but this was what made it so good. When she left we looked out across the pool to see Jack in the complimentary bath robe and slippers, and Mum & Charlotte were on the bottom and same as the boys – happy all round!!

So straight into the pool and then a wander around to the beach, quite small and the sea is so very shallow, can’t see that I’ll be doing any snorkelling or scuba diving here, but it’s so picturesque – it’s an absolute picture postcard place. We all keep looking around and can’t quite believe we’re here! It’s very much where you’d expect honeymooners to come, but thankfully there are some families as well so we’re not the noisy, embarrassing family (especially with Jack in tow!!). Tash and I went for a walk along the beach to the next hotel but there wasn’t really one. There were a couple of massage stalls and a bar but not much else. Loads of litter but that was from the sea and not tourists, we both said it was a shame that the hotel doesn’t employ someone to go along and clear it as it would make the walk so much more pleasant (romantic) although I did notice that the width of the hotel’s beach front is litter free so perhaps they only concentrate on that area.

What was also cool were all the coconuts on the beach that have fallen out of the trees, just seemed so ‘Island Castaway’! Back to the hotel and we messed about in the pool, there is water polo set and also a bar so we had a couple of cocktails in the pool area…very nice indeed. As dusk came in they lit up the lanterns and torches and the place looked fantastic.

After a few hours we went back to our rooms and got ready before meeting up and having a look around a different part of the complex and pools and gym etc. Back to our area and we had a meal in the main restaurant and it was lovely. Very expensive, I have no idea how much all this food is going to cost when we get back home, will definitely be doing a bit of overtime!!! Ah well, can’t not do it.

The place was so quiet at around 9.45pm and there was nothing much else to do so we ended up back at our apartment and played cards for a bit before calling it a night.

Really delighted with where we have ended up, really couldn’t have chosen anywhere better, actually, for it to be better it would have been nice to be closer to a town for a livelier bar or something for food. But that’s just being picky because the place it gorgeous. We can use the kayaks, snorkelling and other facilities as well.

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