A Bit of Luxury at Koh Samui

 

This is the FREE week we won in Surfers on a scratchy!  Scam? or not?

By now you would have read the trials and tribulations we had getting here. It was certainly touch and go for a minute. However we made it late at night and settled into our resort accommodation. Purchased a ‘special deal’ on arrival which gave us 7 cooked breakfasts, two evening meals,  and 2 massages each for about half price. As we weren’t paying for accom we splashed out as we had to eat anyway. We had hardly eaten anything all day on the 17 hour journey, so they caught us when we were really hungry. The massages were a bonus although we found out later they were only $7.00 on the beach.

Woke to a cloudy day and explored the resort after a huge breakfast. It was Sunday and we spent the day catching up with washing, eating, and computer stuff. The Qsignature Resort was probably pretty flash in its hey day, but it is tired now and some maintenance is lacking. Still the staff are very nice and friendly, the food is great and the room is comfortable with a balcony to have our evening drinks on. This’ll do. Have to keep remembering it is FREE. Gotta be saving on the budget here…. Yeah right!

Monday we caught the shuttle into Chaweng township and beach. I was here in 2000 and it hasn’t changed much. The power wires look like macramé strung between the posts, the tourist shops all sell the same things and the beach was packed with tanned bodies of all shapes and sizes. Some were eye-catching, while most were gross. There are a lot of Russian tourists here still ( they have discovered the benefits of capitalism ) so you can imagine the size of some of those bikinis! Cathie even figured she would buy 2 pair herself as she is nowhere near their size. Photos to come. J

Did buy a portable Bluetooth speaker/microphone about the size of a marmite jar though, $32 and very powerful. Connects to phone or computer via Bluetooth and has rechargeable batteries via usb, plays mp3 via memstick and acts as a speaker when on calls or Viber or just for music. It will be very useful in Molly.

This place is not our style really as we both prefer the quieter beaches ( like Langkawi ) not a beach with rows of deck chairs and umbrellas and nick-knack sellers and crowds of people. We did buy a feed from a girl cooking chicken on skewers on a small charcoal bbq on the beach to take home as an evening meal. Cathie got talking to a Thai lady who turned out to be visiting from UK where she now lives with her daughter and husband. We couldn’t believe it when we found out she lives in Cathies old home town of Aveley in Essex! Knew the streets Cathie lived in from age 9 to 16 and the schools. Unbelievable! Small world.

 

We came back on the shuttle by 3.00 as we had had enough of that environment with all the people smoking everywhere. It is really noticeable here with smoking in restaurants and bars still. Fat sheilas walking down the street smoking look so gross. Smoking instead of eating so they don’t get fatter! Also riding motorcycles with a fag in the face is so not cool. Yuk, fugly, stinky and senseless habit. The sooner the price trebles the better.

Weather not that crash hot so just been hanging about the resort and had to do the mandatory 90 minutes with the promotions team to see if we wanted to buy into their holiday programme. To be honest it does sound like something we would like to do, but we are too old to get full benefits. No pressure and not like the old timeshare system. We went to discuss it by the other pool, (which we have only just discovered ) and surprise, surprise….it had a cocktail bar and it was ‘happy hour’! 1.00pm till 3.00pm. Just got the first drink and the heavens opened. The rain came in and was dripping on the bar and our stools, it was wild with thunder and lightning so we just had to wait it out. We did some sums on the Holiday Club proposal and while it is interesting, it is not for us at our stage of things. So we have said no.  Ah well, we are happy to have Molly. She will be our ‘luxury resort’. The English rep accepted our decision and after a free breakfast from him we said goodbye. But he did come back with another cheaper option, everyone loves a trier. J That afternoon we had one of our free massages.  In a private room on a massage table , with soft music and being pampered from toe to head for an hour was just so good. Still not as good as Eleni’s one though.

Next day we walked down to the resort beach but it was not that nice so toddled off around the corner and lo and behold, another world! Resorts, beach restaurants, deck chairs and umbrellas in rows and plenty of massage places!  Cathie wanted her toe nails done so after rejecting a few places she settled on one she felt comfortable with for 150bht. What a hoot. We had so much fun with the three ladies, the jokes were coming thick and fast and after 15 mins I decided to get a back and head massage for 150bht. Well I got more than that, I had my feet massaged as well because she liked my feet.  Cathie was doing ok as well. They massaged her feet and gave her a foot scrub, as well as an arm and back massage. Cunning blighters charged her 300bht for the foot scrub. But it was worth it for the entertainment. However the toenail polish came off in 5 minutes as we were walking in sand and it stuck to the not quite dry polish!

We were to visit this beach a few times over the next few days and even went to one of the restaurants in the pitch dark and had to wade through water and hop over rocks with just a wee torch to see.  Nice cheap meal sitting barefoot at a table on the sand with candlelight. Quite romantic. 

Hired a car for the day and spent the whole day circumnavigating the island.  Stopped at Lamai Beach and had a swim. We visited several places of interest including a waterfall which entailed getting a 4 wheel drive to the top and a 500m walk further up the valley on bamboo pole walk-ways. It was nice, but NZ has plenty of better ones.

We saw lots of elephants back at the base camp but were not too happy to see them tethered by the foot and swaying backwards and forwards. Seemed a bit stressed to me.

There were plenty of people having rides but we had to get back for our second free massage! As we were about half way round the island we decided it would be just about right to keep going round and get back by 5.00pm. With a bit of rally driving and being brave we made it just in time. This massage was a repeat of the last one and after we finished we flopped into the pool as we still had our togs on. A beer on the balcony before tea, and the end to another great day. ( not going to tell you about the clash of the mirrors incident )

Up by 6.30 to be picked up for an island cruise with snorkelling, swimming, kayaking and sightseeing. Damn alarm went off at 5.30 though! Thanks Gary. Mini-van took us to the boat jetty about 45 mins away and we joined hundreds of other tourists doing the same thing! Our boat had about 60 on and is not our ‘cup of tea’ but we made the most of it and actually had a really nice day. 90 minutes later we landed on an island in a marine park where we snorkelled while the fit ones climbed a mountain to see the view. We had to be transferred by longtail boat to shore 30 at a time. Back on board and off to another island to climb near vertical steps to view a crater lake. Coming down was frightful for some, who clung to the rail with both hands and stepped down slowly. It was really hot and got the heart rate going I can tell you. Another swim and snorkel before kayaking through caves and past beaches on a flat calm sea. We came third in our version of ‘the amazing race’ only because we deviated to look at another shoreline. Waited for the big boat to come and pick us up and then another 90mins back to the jetty. Good day all round .

 

Next day we packed and got the shuttle to the airport for our next journey to Pattaya, just south of Bangkok.

So now we know the trip was not a scam and even though we spent a lot on food and car hire and tours, I think we are still ahead on the budget for the week. Behind overall, but ahead this free week.