Thailand!!!!!!

I've updated my last post in Kerala with new videos so check them out when you get a chance.

The following weekend, we headed off to Thailand on Christmas Eve.  This trip was amazing, the people were great, and I definitely loved the time we spent in Thailand.

Our first stop was Koh Samui.  This is a small island towards the south end of Thailand.  It was a beautiful island and surprisingly quiet for Christmas.  We stayed at Al's Laemson Resort which is just north of Chaweng beach which is the main beach on the island.

Our resort room

the infinity edge pool

We went kayaking to a nearby island and swimming in the water.  The beaches are not quite as clean here as they are in the US.  You'll often find empty bottles, straws, and some other trash around on the beaches and sometimes floating in the water.  It's such a shame too because this place was incredibly beautiful.

The nice thing about Chaweng beach is that you all the resorts and restaurants are right at the waters edge.  The beach is fairly small and there is not a lot of space from the resorts to the water.  Many places have tables and chairs that they put out on the beach for patrons and they are merely feet from the water.  We ate by the beach a lot!

Now apparently this place is usually packed with people but for Christmas, it was pretty quiet.  All these resorts put out these giant lavish buffet spreads, exotic table place settings, and lights everywhere.  It looked like each resort was preparing for 200 people and yet, there might have been 20 people max at each location.  It was kinda of eerie, and yet very peaceful, to see all this preparation for so many people and yet no one ever came.  Maybe this was a slow year or perhaps it's a slow time of year.  Either way, it was really nice and relaxing for us.  Plus, we were able to get a table anytime we wanted and very close to the beach.

Chaweng beach at night

one of many restaurants by the water

The next day we rented our own scooters and rode around the entire island.  We bought gasoline out of large one liter wine bottles.  All these little stands along the road where selling gasoline in these clear bottles.  It was really cool.  We also stopped at a fruit stand and got some fresh dragonfruit.  We drove through a few street markets selling live fish, eels, and fresh produce.  We rode into the center of the island, saw a waterfall and ate lunch under the trees.

me on a scooter

Tracy getting dragonfruit

one of the waterfalls towards the middle of the island

one of many street markets

After about 5 hours of riding and sight-seeing, we headed back to our resort and swam in the ocean and the swimming pool.  That night, we went on one last scooter ride through a smaller neighborhood to the north of our place.

The next day we got up and boarded a plane back to Bangkok and from there, headed to Pattaya by bus.

On a quick side note, the Koh Samui airport is beautiful!  A collection of large tropical huts, it has got to be the most pleasant airport experience I have ever had.

the airport

A video of our plane leaving Koh Samui

The next post will be about Pattaya and then Bangkok.