Day 24, Wednesday, 27th March - Maret, Koh Samui

Making the Most of it....... This is the last of three full days on Koh Samui, and we have to make the most of it. We have managed to travel around the island and even visited one of the smaller islands but today promises to be the most awkward. Arriving at Koh Samui by car has some great advantages in that we can go as we please without needing to order the transport that most visitors do. Sure, the second best option is to rent a motorbike but that doesn't help with luggage. However, all the advantages we have though are nullified in one particular area of the island where the airport is and today I must enter it to get a more complete picture of what Koh Samui has to offer.
We get the earlier start we need after checking out at Baan Lamai Resort. I have to agree that this is one of the cheaper places on the island at a not too realistic price and if we had planned ahead more effectively we would have had better options. Well, that's all history now so let's dive into the concrete jungle which we've avoided so far but first there is a temple we've missed.
Wat Lamai....... Wat Lamai is a Buddhist temple in the old part of Ban Lamai (usually known as Lamai Beach). Located adjacent to a main bend on Thai Route 4161, the island's ring road, it has a museum of Buddhist artifacts, relates the history of Ko Samui and has a cultural hall for public events and other gatherings such as weddings and funerals.
The vast majority of tourist activity on Koh Samui is centred in the Bo Put Sub-District which houses Koh Samui Airport, the popular Chaweng Beach and many of its attractions. It's only recently that a road has been cut through the coastal hills connecting it to the south of the island at Lamai. It's this road we use having been based in Lamai.
Chaweng Beach....... We take the first opportunity to head for Chaweng Beach then almost immediately enter narrow streets. The beach itself has no coastal road so access to it is down small alleys, a number of which are private. The main street runs parallel to the beach but is narrow, crowded and has been converted into a one way system. The beach is divided into two parts with an overall length of about 4 km. I manage to sqeeze myself down a couple of alleys and being a foreigner, I am not out of place here and have poetic licence to go anywhere even to private resorts.
Regarding my verdict on Chaweng Beach it's no secret that this is exactly the type of location I try to avoid. I'm fortunate in my travels that so many tourists occupy this area leaving other locations on the island quite peaceful. I imagine that if I focused only on the beach, it could be almost any tourist beach in the world but I do know of many more attractive ones much closer to home. Enough said but it's no different than I expected.
We now pass the Chaweng Lake and I try to get another perspective on this area but it's packed with traffic as expected. The street behind the beach is just full of restaurants, hotels, tour offices, pubs and clubs to the point I cannot see how anything else can be packed in. Humans can be strange species when they love to congregate in crowds.
Bo Put....... Bo Put occupies a peninsular some 2.5 km wide. We now head up its eastern side. Here there are resorts for the filthy rich starting with prices around the 10,000 baht mark. All I can do is take some photographs and smile.
Rock Beach....... Rock Beach is a couple kilometres north of Chaweng and couldn't be more different. This too is on private land but is curiously undeveloped. All I can see are salas but no accommodation. There seems to be some development work going on but only fixing the lighting. This is prime real estate for someone. Nobody stops me wandering down to Rock Beach which is completely deserted apart from some local lads. It's my type of beach.
Choengmon Beach....... The next beach I identify is Choengmon Beach and this is my type of beach too if they would lower the price to something near what I've been paying the last three weeks. I would probably have to stay alone though; there are no big city shopping malls around here.
Thongson Beach....... Thongson Beach is another private beach. I'm hoping to reach the end of the peninsular which looks out across to Koh Pha Ngan but this time can't get away with stopping just to take photographs. It's not midday yet but I can get away with buying a cool drink. Unfortunately it's three times the normal price but hey, let's just lay up a while and enjoy the view. As we've reached the furthest point we now head down the western shoreline.
Big Buddha Temple (Wat Phra Yai)....... My visit to Koh Samui isn't the first time but the last was so long ago, I can't remember the year but it was before the airport opened in 1989 and I'm thinking early 1980s. Chaweng was just a sleepy village then. I just about remember taking a trip along the coast which was almost deserted. That included a visit to Wat Phra Yai, the only landmark I can remember. Oh! I wish I'd kept photos from then.
Wat Phra Yai, known in English as the Big Buddha Temple, is a Buddhist temple on Ko Phan, a small island offshore from the northeastern area of Ko Samui, connected to that island by a short causeway 3 kilometres (1.86 mi miles) north of the Airport. As its name indicates it is home to a giant Buddha statue, 12-metre-high (39-foot) painted gold. Since being built in 1972, it has become one of Ko Samui's main tourist attractions and a major landmark.
Fisherman's Village....... The Fisherman's Village lies on the northern coast but is incomparable with fishing villages that I normally see. Probably there was a fishing village here originally but it's now part of the urban sprawl of Bo Put with restaurants, cafe's, resorts, tour offices, money changers and everything else that meets the needs of the many tourists who come here. This time of day you can drive close to the beach but in the evening's they close the road for the popular night market.
Bo Put Beach....... Starting from the Fisherman's Village, Bo Put Beach stretches west and here you can find lovely blue pillows at a price, to rest your weary body which cannot be any more weary than mine, it's so hot today.
Koh Samui has every level of catering from high class restaurants to street food. As we start out journey back to Lamai we locate Samui Market Food Court and that will do very nicely indeed for a most reasonable price. This is one of those times having a vehicle helps a lot.
Lad Koh View Point....... I mentioned that a new road now connects Bo Put with Maret. Lad Koh View Point lies on this road which snakes around the hills. Here, parking space permitting, you can gaze back at the Bo Put coastline. We are now close to our starting point today.
Naga Temple....... Racha Tammaram Temple (Snake Stone Pagoda) also known as the Naga Temple is located southwest of Lamai Beach in Maret sub-district. The Snake Stone Pagoda (Prathat Hin Ngoo) was built to enshrine Buddha relics brought from Sri Lanka. A relics ceremony was held on June 12, 1955 then on April 24, 1962 His Majesty King Rama IX and Queen Sirikit proceeded over the worship of the Buddha relics.
Grandfather and Grandmother Rocks (Hin Ta Hin Yai)....... These amazing rock formations of Hin Ta and Hin Yai are on Koh Samui’s south coast where, many years ago, a group of locals made their discovery. The rocks are well known for resembling male and female genitalia, thus they are known as Grandpa (Ta) and Grandma (Yai) respectively.
Guan-Yu Shrine....... The Guan-Yu Koh Samui Shrine is a notable historical attraction in Koh Samui. It is a symbol of Chinese influence on Thailand’s rich and colourful history. The shrine was completed in 2016 to honour Guan Yu, also known as Yu Chang, who was a well-loved general during the Three Kingdoms in China. Guan Yu (160 - 219 A.D.), due to his outstanding civil and military talents as well as virtues of loyalty and righteousness is revered as the God of War.
Mata at Sumui....... Today is really hot and not ideal for visiting these attractions. On top of that we are changing rooms. That means more effort and I can't get immediate relief. It will take some time for the room at Mata at Sumui to cool down. I'm wilting with the heat and cannot find the effort to congratulate myself on practically completing this epic tour. In addition, the reason I rejected this accommodation in the first place was lack of counter/table space. Now I find that the room is on the first floor and faces the setting sun. I don't even have the strength to haul my luggage up the stairs. My partner has no such issues having secured what she wanted all along. Instead of hauling my bags up the stairs I have another plan. I disappear into 7-Eleven just next door to cool down a bit picking up a cold beer that I can manage to haul up the stairs. The medicine seems to work as I'm soon fast asleep. I guess that is my reward for so much effort today.
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