Thailand - The Land of Smiles

Elephants and a Waterfall

Our third day on Koh Samui we took a half day trip to go visit Namuang Waterfall (the second biggest on the island) and go for an elephant trek in the jungle.

We had organized the trip through a local travel agent and so, we were picked up at our hotel at around 9:30 AM. It took about half an hour to drive to the elephant trekking. There was a baby elephant - Tongkul - right at the entrance - he's so cute! We proceeded to the elephant station, which is an elevated platform where you climb onto the elephant.

The first thing that surprised me was that I actually had to step on it's back to get into the seat. Now, I should have expected that, I mean, how else do you get on an elephant? But it immediately made me ask the question I hadn't thought of before - is this humane? I still don't have an answer.

So we sat in our seat on top of this massive 45 year-old male elephant named Sankom, and his trainer sat on his shoulders. We were off. I hope that doesn't sound like we went running through the jungle, because it was quite the opposite. I think our elephant was tired as he was going pretty slow the whole way.

Atop the gassy Sankom.

About two minutes into the jungle he started farting! Which was hilarious - it sounded a bit like a machine gun firing! A couple of minutes later he stopped to relieve himself - number one thankfully! But that was also strange as his entire body sort of vibrated from it. Soon, we were off again, but he wasn't happy and kept trying to wander off the track. Eventually we got to an area where the trainer jumped off and took our picture for us.

Watch you don't fall off!

Ranya was brave enough to get onto Sankom's shoulders and ride him like that the rest of the way. I was too scared of falling off, and I think she soon regretted the idea as well. We stopped a little while later and switched places so I could get my photo taken while sitting on his shoulders.

Ranya on his shoulders.

A little scary, but I did all right!

Then it was over - thirty minutes is all you get.

We had about an hour to explore the area around the trekking, which is where Namuang Waterfall 1 is. You can hike for about a half hour to get to Namuang 2, but we didn't have time... so we made do.

Me at Namuang 1 Waterfall...

It was pretty cool to swim in the pool under the waterfall, but not as amazing as I thought it would be. I liked taking pictures better.

Here's what the sign at the falls says:

"Na Muang 1 Waterfall, Ko Samui District, Surat Thani is a famous falls of Ko Samui. It originates from the mountain in the heart of the island and falls from the cliff 30 - 40 meters high, 20 meters wide. Presently the Royal Forest Department has classified it to be reserved forest park with an area of 10 rai. King Rama V and His Majesty Kimg Bhumibhol Adulyadej used to visit the waterfall. One can enjoy swimming in the big water basin but with care about the rocks under the water since they may cause accidents."

Anyway, here are some pictures. It was nice, but I'm sure NaMuang 2 is much more impressive as it's about twice the height... oh well, something to do next time!

A close(r) up shot of the top of the Falls.

The "perfect" shot - I had to wait for everyone to get out of the way.

After the falls we returned to the parking area which is adjacent to where the elephants hang out when they're not trekking. It's also where the baby elephant gets fed lychee's by every tourist that walks by. For 20 baht you can buy a big bushel of them to feed the elephants.
If you raised your hand in the air, the baby elephant would lift his trunk and open his mouth so you could throw the fruit directly into his mouth! I got a hole in one once. Feeding them was the most fun of the whole experience.

Tongkul - the four-year-old baby elephant... what a cutie!

Ranya feeding Tongkul - he was a hungry/greedy little/big guy!

One of the older elephants eating palm fronds.

One guy was even feeding him water, which was awesome to see. He poured it down the elephants trunk and then the elephant would spray himself a bit and drink the rest. It was awesome. We fed the baby and then realized that the other elephants probably never got anything, so we started throwing lychee's to them too.

Tongkul spraying water.

Then it was back into the mini van and back to our beach for a day of relaxing in the sun. Coming up: Koh Tao and then back to Bangkok... so keep reading!

**

On another note, I have only 5 days left in Korea. I'm so excited I could IMPLODE! I have a ton of stuff to do this week, so I'm just trying not to stress about it all. I had a GREAT birthday/leaving party in Busan over the weekend and will write about that very soon.

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.