Koh Samui

Thailand is a country that I’ve visited many times over the last thirty years! As you would imagine I’ve seen countless changes from sleepy beaches dotted with small basic huts to ridiculously large resorts with five star hotels. Although Bangkok has never really changed that much, always busy 24 hours, just three days is plenty there! Thailand is a country where you can have almost any type of holiday, hiking, biking, swimming, diving, shopping, drinking, relaxing and of course eating the most delicious food. I can’t say I’ve done everything but the options are there! It’s such a welcoming country and I look forward to many more visits.

This post is just about two of the places I’ve loved the best, Koh Samui and Khao Lak.

Koh Samui is the second largest island in Thailand, Phuket being the largest. It lies off the East coast of Kra Isthmus. Before Koh Samui had an airport it was a fairly difficult place to travel to. I remember when I first visited in 1989 we travelled on a bus from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then a ferry. It was around 11 to 12 hours! I’m not sure I would ever do that again.

My daughter and I went a few years ago for her 25th and we stayed at a fabulous “adults only” resort near Fisherman’s Village, Bophut. We spent our days shopping, drinking and relaxing on the beach on beanbags instead of sunbeds.

We loved this resort with it’s swim up bar, so easy to walk from the pool to the beach in just a few steps.

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Hubby and I have also been to Koh Samui and stayed at Mae Nam beach, at the very top of the island. It wasn’t a fancy place but just right for us. The larger resorts tend to be set quite far back from the beach and it’s the less expensive ones that actually have the best location.

The small individual villas were perfect

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Khao Lak

We first visited Khao Lak in 2000 and when we mentioned it hardly anyone had heard of it. It was recommended by a travel agent when we lived in Hong Kong. Back in the days before internet travel and online booking so we were really taking a chance. Flying into Phuket and then driving back onto the mainland with a driver sent by the hotel, the journey was around 2 to 3 hours. Nowadays it it much quicker with a new bridge and highways being built over the last decade or so. We stayed in one of the only resorts on this very long stretch of the coast and loved every minute.
Sadly as everyone knows the 2004 Tsunami swept many of the small resorts away along with thousands of tourists and locals alike.

We ventured back quite a few years later with some trepidation but just took the chance like many others. I’m so glad we did as this is still one of the most amazing stretches of coastline in the world.

One thing you can be sure of in Khao Lak is turquoise seas and stunning sunsets.