Koh Samui

It had been a very long time since I had been to Thailand.  The last trip was probably to Krabi or Phuket with my family.  Time really does skip along faster than you'd expect.

For my first trip in many years, I found myself in Koh Samui.  This island has a reputation as a tropical paradise, so I was keep to see if this was all true.  I hadn't really thought about Koh Samui as a destination, but Renee was very keen.  She had heard amazing things about this place and she had her heart completely set on visiting.  I was eventually swayed and booked the tickets for us to go.  We had a quick stopover in Bangkok and then we were off to the island.  The car ride that took us to the resort was like many of the trips I've been on in the past, winding through small villages, through derelict areas and past lush, dense forests.  So far, there was nothing about this place that seemed particularly unique by the standards of South East Asia.

We arrived at the resort, after the circuitous car ride.  We had visited various other resorts where other vacationers were staying and we were lucky last.  We entered into the old colonial style building which had been renovated into this new resort.  It had that lovely combination of white walls and dark wooden features which seem to match up so well with this tropical climate.  I felt immediately more relaxed as I walked through the halls.  The girl behind the reception welcomed us as we checked in.  She smiled and said that it was very loud in the hotel because of some of the guests (she glanced towards what I assumed was a large tour group) and so she was giving us an upgrade!  We found ourselves in an enormous suite that was far larger than my apartment in Hong Kong.  The sitting room of the suite was probably bigger than my apartment.  We unpacked and then headed out to the beach.

I started to understand more why people loved it here.  It was a paradise.  The waters were clear and the beach was empty.  We had this lovely spot largely to ourselves as most people seemed to instead congregate next to the pool.  I couldn't completely understand this.  Why go to a generic resort pool when you could sit next to this natural wonder?