Koh Samui Thailand August 2006

This was my second visit to Thailand and my first to Koh Samui though Mike lived there for a while many moons agoit was just lovely, the Samui people are for the most part very friendly.  Our guest house was quiet and beautiful until the construction work started but they did give us a discount for that so it was made up for a bit.  We really had a good time and met some wonderful people.

on the plane from Bangkok to Koh Samuilooking down as bands of rain sweep the coast of Thailand

it's sunny above the cloudssun peeps through the clouds and shines on the Gulf of Thailand

my first view of Koh Samui!the airport is a cluster of hutsthe immigration cat!

our first room at Rocky's Resort, we wanted the ocean villa but had to wait two days for it to be available

incense first, it makes the room ours

Hat Lamai and Chillin Beach Bar, they had landed a five star chef for the summer who was unbelievable,  he also cooked half naked...good man

a local artist makes sculptures from scrap

Sunday night we stayed at Rocky's for a nice meal and the cabaret show which was all lady boys!

Big Mama does his comedic drag performance

We decide to take Mr. Ung's best all day tour, and what a wild ride that was, it poured down buckets as we neared the end of the tour so we did not see the Big Buddha at Big Buddha Beach but we saw it from the plane as we left

first interesting thing...elephant trekking...our elephant was very nicethe view from up top

the fenced enclosure is some crocodile place we are passing

baby!they let us watch monkeys picking coconuts, not sure I liked that much as they are chained

that's our guide ahead, pictures of grandmother and grandfather rock should go here but were blurry

Mike jokes with a really nice Dutch family that we befriended

the waterfall which was a steep climb and very small, but....refreshing

anyone who rode on top of these jeeps was crazy, the jeeps were half falling apart and the roads were insane

Magic Garden, built about sixty years ago for workers on the Durian plantation and became an attraction about ten years ago and is kept up as such, the small dwellings were for workers on the plantation to take cover in during rains, it's high in the mountains.  It looks like some kind of Buddhist hobbit village with many thatch covered dwellings, winding pathways through scenes from Buddhist history carved in stone and masonry, mythical animals, bridges...it's pretty wonderful.

some views from high up

Sanne and sister and Judith in the front hanging on for dear life

what a gorgeous snake, and so soft, seemed to be no scales really

Joe handles a spider of which there were many hanging around our mountaintop luncheon spot, I avoided them, this was a SMALL one

various photos around our resort

frangipani

Our second room which we moved into on Monday - ten yards from the ocean, a little private beach just in front next to the sala for massages etc

we were just on the point between two private beaches

the bath had a skylight over the shower and lots of greenery

our verandah and the view

The Liz pic, my friend Liz stayed here in May and took her photo lying in one of these beach chairs reading, so here is a picture of me reading in the beach chair though I'm pretty certain I got the wrong chair, the idea works though.....cheers Lizzie

It is monsoon season in Thailand which I love, usually nice sun most of the day and then a black wall of rain sweeps off the mainland and over the gulf, it's so beautiful to watch, here is a storm coming in late in the afternoon

after the storm the sea takes on peculiar colors

the view from my belly button...hahah

The Saturday before we left was the Resort's third birthday in it's current state, it's been around for a while but as Rocky's, three years.  Anyway, the monks from Lamai Monastery came to do a blessing ceremony and the owner asked if I wished to stand with them and welcome the monks and give the offerings of food and water out to the monks.  It was really beautiful and we felt honored to take part.

the owner, his family and staff and myself stand behind the tables of offerings waiting for the monks to arrive, the altar on the hill has been made especially attractive for the ceremony

the monks arrive and do some chanting and we hand out the gifts, never directly into the monk's hands but into his carryall and it must be given with both hands, we place bundles of candles, incense and food and water into their baskets

then we head upstairs for the chants and blessings and the monks are given lunch

this monk was the lead in the chanting, no wonder he was thirsty

a sunrise and look at the beautiful colors that are just thrown onto the sand by the sea each day

our last day, a rianbow around the sun, Mike gets a couple of lime sodas at the bar and I tan my flab some more