Thailand - The Land of Smiles

Koh Samui - Lamai Beach

We left Bangkok early in the morning. It was raining. The flight is an hour from Bangkok to Surat Thani, which is in the middle of the country. We were headed to Koh Samui, which is Thailand's second largest island.

I hope this picture is self explanatory!

Bye bye Bangkok!

After arriving in Surat Thani we had to take a bus from the airport to the ferry - this took about an hour and a half (it was included in our ferry ticket). We boarded the ferry, which another hour and a half to get to the island. We had decided on the airplane that we'd go to Lamai Beach on Samui. It is the second largest beach on the island - the first is Chaweng. We didn't go to the biggest one because Lamai was described as being quieter and more relaxing but still a really nice beach.

A songathaew full of locals...

Me on the first of many songtaew rides.

When we got off the ferry we caught a songathaew (pr songtaw) to Lamai. We weren't sure where to get off so we asked the driver to tell us when we got there. He probably could have taken us a lot further, but misunderstood our inquiry - "is this Lamai?" it was, but it was only the beginning... anyway. We walked up and down the road for a while trying to figure out where a) the beach was and b) where the bungalows on said beach were. We finally found a dirt road heading in the direction of the beach and just walked down it.

Lamai is known as a beautiful beach that has less development, fewer "resorts" (i use the term lightly they are hotels but with single bungalows instead of floors of rooms), and is known to have cheaper accommodation than other beaches on Samui. It also has a decent nightlife (in the high season).

Bungalow hunting... man, this "backpacking" thing is hard work... maybe we over packed?!

We asked a "resort" (not on the beach) to see one of their bungalows... the price was right, but it wasn't on the beach, so we decided to keep searching. We walked up the beach for a while, but the bungalows were getting more expensive, or grungier, so we went back to the second place we'd asked - Amity Bungalow - and finally took off our heavy packs.

Amity Bungalow from the beach

Home Sweet Home

It is a nice "resort" and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Lamai beach. The price was excellent - 350 baht a night - for a double bed, with a fan, and cold shower in our very own little bungalow. The gardens all over the grounds are beautiful. The restaurant was pretty good and not too expensive compared to other places in the area. The owners were very nice to us, and the other people staying there were nice too. The only downside was the resort next door which played music too loud and too late... and the beach.

A pretty flower at Amity

As soon as we unloaded ourselves, we headed for the beach. It was late in the day already. We'd spent too much of the day traveling, it was really hot, and we just wanted to go for a swim. It would have been nice if we'd known about all the rocks in the water. Some girls told us to watch out, but we didn't realize just how many, how big, and how sharp they were. The surf was strong as the tide was coming in (and as we later learned, it's just always got pretty big waves). Thankfully we didn't cut ourselves the first time we went swimming.

Lamai Beach from the south end... it goes on all the way around to the end of the hill on the far end...

Our beach bar... we went back a couple of times.

That evening we went for a 30 minute massage up the street and then found our way to a beach bar down the beach for dinner and drinks. We had mojitos and mai-tai's and they were delicious. We headed back to the bungalow early-ish since we were tired. It was a great first day on the islands though.