Ko Samui

2nd-3rd Nov

We left Chiang Mai first thing on Thursday morning. In order to cut down the time spent travelling we had booked an internal flight down to Ko Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. We landed there around 1pm, at what was possibly the smallest, most chilled-out airport in the world; it would have been easy to miss it, mistaking it for a beach hut. We then got a minibus to our hotel, a picturesque place right next to the beach, with pretty wooden bungalows arranged in a garden full of trees, so Tolkienesque that I half expected little men with hairy feet to be hiding in the bushes (although was relieved that this didn`t prove to be true, as that would have been creepy). Our first glimpse of southern Thailand was not a disppointment. After dumping our bags in our room we made our way down to the beachside bar, where we sat drinking fresh fruit shakes, staring at the miles of white sand and perfect blue sea...ahhh, welcome to Paradise. We spent the afternoon adjusting to the slower pace of beach life, lazing on sun loungers and swimming in the sea. Then in the evening we ate dinner by candelight, listening to the waves hit the shore (at this point it did occur to us that the romantic setting was a bit wasted on us, but there wasn`t much we could do about that). I kid you not, life really can be that good.