Koh Samui

After Bangkok we traveled to a small town called Prachuap Khiri Khan, which was pleasant enough but not a big thing. A barbecue was held there by our lovely crew though, very nice overlooking the sea.

The big thing came after PKK, when all of us went off to some island or other for six nights of well earned rest. I went to Koh Samui with four others, mainly because I couldn't think of anything better to do. I wasn't holding up high hopes for Samui, I expected it to be little more than sitting on the beach for five days. But I can now understand why some people come here and never leave, it is a wonderful place to spend time.

Staying on Samui, everything seems to slow down, and blend into everything else, the whole experience of being there is more important than any individual event. If you are thinking that this is a cop out which really means that I did very little on Samui, you would be partly right. Frankly, after five months on a truck being constantly under the feet of twenty-odd people it was great to get some personal space and freedom back. To further my drive for freedom I hired a car on Samui, a large pickup truck with mirrored windows and chrome wheels which was perfect for the island. The woman in the hire place said that it was four wheel drive so I could take it anywhere.

So I took it up a mountain in the middle of the island. There was a sign saying something like, "Restaurant, best view", so I went to see the view. It was about seven km up a dirt track through the forest and anything less than a 4x4 wouldn't have made it. The view was amazing, but I got the impression that it was unusual for someone to actually make the journey up there by themselves. The restaurant lady said that they got 80 or so people there every day because another company took "jungle tours" up there, this must be the normal way to reach this place. On the way back down I took a different track assuming it would be of similar quality to the one on the ascent. Never make assumptions! The route down the other side was of similar quality to those used by off-road experience companies to terrify corporate team builders: it was unbelievable. What was even more unbelievable was just how good my pickup was off-road, it didn't ground or get stuck once. At times the track oscillated between being so steep I was worried the car would tip over, and so variable that you couldn't see where the road went and just had to guess and hope. All the above probably implies that there was a single clear track descending the mountain: this is not true. There were in fact several tracks forming a maze-like network leading who knows where, from which I had to guess which track led off the mountain. This sounds easy, but when you arrive at the third crossroads surrounded by forest where all the roads lead uphill, you begin to worry a bit. Anyway, I got the car back down, with only a scratch to remember its adventure. Well, a long scratch. Which cost me 4000 baht when the hire place saw it. Hmmm.

I liked Koh Samui so much I stayed for an extra week whilst the rest of the group carried on to Malaysia, this proved to be a good choice based upon the stories I heard from others. Good for me, anyway, as I had a chance to relax. Also I met up with three of our group who had left previously: I picked them up from the ferry port and drove them around a bit.

One week later I flew to Kuala Lumpur to stay with my friend V, who I hadn't seen in years. In the process I broke the overland tradition, so my overland trip is now officially from Aberdeen to Koh Samui. Still not a bad journey, right?

Pics are view from my balcony on Samui, view from the top of the mountain and Robin enjoying a foot reflexology massage.