johnsunter.com >> adventures - world >> south east asia >> koh samui
Trip to Koh Samui, off the coast of Thailand.
Thailand was a place I had heard rave reviews about.
It was the first time I was going to visit a non western country and I was looking forward to seeing the culture there.
As it was, the months previous to this had been extremely stressful and my x wife recommended going straight to an island and relaxing.
We found a nice beach resort, and had our own hut.
I spent much of the time relaxing on the chair outside the hut reading (I have never been a great fan of swimming, so didn't often venture to the pool)
Here in my sandals, T-shirt and shorts I sit reading enterprise .com by Jeffrey Papows, the designer/inventor of Lotus Notes.
When I arrived at the airport, there were a number of signs saying smile country. What I quickly realised, is that the Thai's are just about the happiest and friendliest people on the plant.
This chap ran the bar, with a girl called "A" (I am not joking she was literally called A)
In the 10 days I was there, I never saw either of them frowning !.
As mentioned elsewhere, I had always wanted to see real elephants in there natural habitat.
This elephant was helping a farmer move logs.
Another first for me, was to visit the Jungle.
It was on 300 metres from a road, but it felt like a jungle to me !
Nearby, another elephant was walking through my "jungle", which completed the scene.
We decided to go walking, and visit Koh Samui most famous landmark, The Big Buddha.
The map we were using was not to scale and instead of the mile and a half walk we thought it would be, it was about 8 miles in stifling heat !.
Me in the forecourt next to the Buddha.
The Big Buddha is 15 meters tall was built in 1972 and located near the northern shore of Koh Samui.
In the main village of Bo Phut, there were a number of nice restaurants and bars to relax in.
After having a 20oz Steak for only £2, I decided to walk along the docks next to the village.
We decided to go on a boat trip to the nearby Angthong National Marine Park.
We got of the boat, and walked up a hill, which gave a great view off the whole park.
Sitting on a boat, drinking bear is something I could get used to doing.
I could see how this area was featured in the film, The Beach, with Leonardo DeCaprio.
