Ko Samui, Thailand

Last night was our first formal night. We enjoy formal nights so we got all dressed up. I got to wear my new dress. At dinner there was still only the one other couple. It is the same couple from the first night. We were hoping the other couple would show up (we are at a table for six) but they did not. We enjoy meeting as many people as possible.


This morning we were tendered in the port of Ko Samui, Thailand. We took a cruise ship excursion featuring an elephant ride with a visit to Temple of the Big Buddha. We met the tour in the theater at 8am. They did not call our group until 8:30am. Then we walked down to get on the tender boat which would transport us to shore. Well the tender was full so the last four of us on the excursion could not make it. I was not too concerned since we booked through the cruise ship. I knew they would have to either wait for us or have us do it with our small group. We were hoping for the latter but thought that was unlikely.


Once we finally got to shore, we found out that the rest of the group had left without us. Our small group of 4 would go separately. This was much better than being on a bus of 30 people. Instead, the four of us were put in a private van. Yea! One person was Susan from California who is working on being a travel agent. Her job sounds cool. We initially met her in line getting on the ship. The other person was a Princess employee, Thomasz from Poland. He was so funny! It was perfect! The main reason we don’t like cruise tours is because they are usually so full and impersonal with 50+ people on them. Today we got really lucky and essentially ended up with a private tour.


First they drove us to the elephant park. We rode on an elephant for 30 minutes. It was sprinkling rain, but not enough to matter much. It was hot too. We gave Susan our camera so she could get pictures of us and we took her camera to do the same since we were on different elephants. It worked out great! It was fun riding an elephant. They had a seatbelt that was a rope. I am not sure the seatbelt would be helpful if needed but at least they tried.




After our elephant ride, we watched an elephant show. We got to feed them bananas. They took the bananas right out of my hand. It is really amazing the tricks they can do. They can walk on two feet, play basketball, and hulu hoop. So cute! Then we went to a monkey show. They played with coconuts. The locals have traditionally trained the monkeys to climb coconut trees and pick the coconuts for them. The monkeys performed other tricks too during the show. It was fun.


Next we watched a Thai food demonstration. They use wooden utensils to mix ingredients together. They like cooking with chilies, which means their food is hot. They made a mild dish first then and then a spicier version made to local tastes. Both were excellent. The latter was obviously very spicey. I love Thai food!


Then we drove to the Temple of the Big Buddha. It is amazing how beautiful their shrines are. The Buddha was near the water. Looking at the Buddha and the water was surreal. The water was a perfect blue color. The Buddha was bright gold. The sky was perfect too for the pictures. To go up by the Buddha, you must take off your shoes first. Then we climbed the steps to the Buddha and walked around barefoot. It was a fun experience.


Before we went back to the ship, we went shopping at stores near the Big Buddha. There was a hat I liked so we got it. I bargained with the storeowner and saved 100 baht. I was impressed with my skills.


After our ship tour, we shopped around the port. We found a North Face backpack that we wanted to buy before we left but thought it was too expensive at home ($120-$200). My friend Kathleen let me borrow hers and we really liked it. Thanks Kathleen. So we thought we would get one of our own. We got a good deal on it ($35).

Then we came back on the ship. Tomorrow we are in Bangkok. They changed our docking port to Lam Chebang, which is two hours away from Bangkok. We are on a 2-day tour with people from cruisecritic with a tour guide Tong. I have been looking forward to Bangkok. However I was pleasantly surprised with Ko Samui. I really love it here. It is beautiful and everyone we had met was nice. Thailand is on my top five places in the world to visit.