Sawasdee! Koh Samui was our last stop in Thailand, and let’s just say that our time here was relaxed. Relax with us for a few minutes, and read about what life on this Thai island is like– or at least, what it was like for us for our four days there.
Day 106: Travel to Koh Samui from Krabi
Koh Samui is an island so our travel from Krabi was by bus, then ferry, then taxi to reach our Koh Samui AirBNB.
The ferry travel reminded me a lot of our time hopping between islands in Croatia, which seems like three years ago and was actually just in July!
Our Koh Samui AirBNB
Our AirBNB in Koh Samui was this adorable glass house. We took lots of video– you can see it in our Thailand Insta stories— but weren’t smart enough to take photos of the house.
Our favorite part of the AirBNB was not the gorgeous styling or the big porch or the $40/night affordable price tag. Nope. It was that the generous host provided snacks on snacks on snacks on snacks. We are talking cereal, chips, instant noodles, cokes, coffee, cookies, crackers– do we sound like budget backpackers yet? Ha! We were in heaven!
Italian for Lunch + A Private Pool
Once we checked in, we ate lunch at the most amazing Italian restaurant. Yes, you read that right. Italian. In Thailand.
A gentleman from Rome owns and runs The Food Lab , and he made us delicious roast pork sandwiches. As a Philadelphia native with an Italian grandmother, Rich has a serious love of roast pork, and this hit the spot. Watch out DiNic’s— you have some competition!
Because everyone obviously wants to put on a swimsuit immediately after eating a roast pork sandwich, we headed to the pool for a few hours after lunch. Our AirBNB was about 100 yards from a cute little hotel. For a charge of about $3/person, we were able to pay to use the pool. No one else was there so $6 bought us our own private oasis!
Day 107: Work, The Grandpa Rock, and Rich Receives Cheers
We decided to use a quiet island to get as caught up as possible on blogging and planning.
The biggest pro of working from our sweet AirBNB: An American drip coffee pot! I do not want to attempt to calculate the number of Nescafe coffee packets we have consumed in the last 100+ days. I carry them in my backpack, in my purse, they fall out as we go through security. Don’t get me wrong– we need them to get an inexpensive caffeine fix. Still, having actual coffee while we worked greatly enhanced productivity.
The biggest con of working from our AirBNB: We had to pay for electricity separately, which included aircon. We didn’t want to accidentally run up a huge bill by running aircon all day so we tried to get by during the day with just fans and ocean breezes. It was sweaty. This was a mistake.
Visiting Hin Ta and Hin Yai Rocks
The Hin Ta and Hin Yai, which translates to Grandpa and Grandma, rocks are one of the most famous landmarks in Koh Samui, Thailand.
I like to keep the blog g-rated and family friendly, keeping in mind that my mom and stepdad are two of our most devoted readers, so I’m struggling a bit for the words to describe this unique rock formation.
I’ll include a few pictures below, share that the rocks are 100% naturally formed, and note that we were quite surprised, particularly by grandpa rock, when we arrived. Once you see Hin Ta, there is no unseeing him.
Oops
For dinner, we walked to Emporio, a different Italian restaurant, also owned and run by a Roman chef, across the street from the Food Lab. We ate unbelievably well-prepared carbonara, enjoying a wonderful meal together.
A quick explanation: when we were in Cambodia, we transitioned from using our American wallets to using a small coin purse to keep up with our money as we hardly ever are able to use credit cards and we often have a lot of bills and coins to keep track of at any given moment. Elephant patterns are ubiquitous across southeast Asia, so clearly our coin purse is decorated with an elephant design. As a result, we just call this coin purse “the elephant.” We almost always leave our other wallets in the safe at home.
It came time to pay at Emporio, we opened the elephant, and we didn’t have as much Thai currency as we thought we did with us. We also didn’t have an ATM card, just a credit card. And of course, Emporio didn’t take credit cards.
We didn’t have money to pay our bill.
For those of you that know us outside of our lives as travelers, you know that this is one of the least Team Mitchell things we have ever done. We are super conscientious, super organized, super type-A. I guess in Koh Samui, we were just super relaxed!
So the only course of action was to go home, get a debit card to tap the ATM, and get more Thai bahts.
My Koh Samui Hero
Home, of course, was a mile and a half away. Rich did not love the idea of leaving me sitting by myself in a not-very-crowded restaurant in Thailand for long and the place was going to close soon so he decided that this predicament required that he run home while I stayed behind.
What I should also mention about Koh Samui Thailand is that, umm, it’s a little less conservative than other parts of Thailand we visited (see: pictures of the most popular landmark above). There are many older ex-pats with younger Thai women, you see much more revealing clothing, and there are bars with names like “The Sexy Sex Bar.” Seriously.
So my handsome husband started running down the main street through this relaxed beach town, and the women working at the Sexy Sex Bar started cheering. And then the women at the massage parlors started clapping and shouting encouragement too. Then the ex-pats a few beers in started urging on their mate too. To hear Rich tell it, running the mile to our apartment was like running the last mile of a marathon. A very spirited marathon. With no other runners.
My handsome, sweaty American husband returned with the money a bit sheepishly about 25 minutes later. Rich received considerably less attention and fewer cheers (read: no cheers) walking back home with me!
Day 108: Crystal Bay at Silver Beach in Koh Samui, Thailand
About Koh Samui
More context: Koh Samui is a beautiful island, full of glamorous world class resorts: the Ritz, the W, etc. There is a plethora of restaurants, boutiques, and spas, which clearly have the economy to support them during busy season.
We were not there during the busy season, and Koh Samui felt like a luxurious ghost town. Beautiful, but a bit creepy. Rich made a comment that it felt like everyone there was running away from something instead of running to something. We liked Koh Samui, but that description felt right to me too.
Crystal Bay
Still, Thai beaches live up to every wonderful description they receive. We walked about 45 minutes to get to the Crystal Bay at Silver Beach and found clear water, mountains, tall rocks, and soft sand. We had a great afternoon reading, sleeping, taking pictures, and being together.
Day 108: Football, Work, Pool
We enjoyed our last day in Koh Samui which looked like:
- Getting up at 1:00 AM to watch the defending world champion Philadelphia Eagles defeat the New York Giants 43-13. Go Birds!
- Going back to sleep, clearly.
- Waking up much later and working most of the day.
- Heading back to the hotel pool to lounge in the late afternoon.
Rich and I had had enough Italian (ha!) so we tried a vegan place nearby for dinner, and it was amazing.
Final Thoughts on Koh Samui
Spending twelve straight days at the Thai beaches of Phuket, Krabi, and Koh Samui was a true treat. We left with a complete understanding of why so many people move to Thailand for a slower, more relaxed life, full of beauty and rest.
Twenty total days in Thailand was just right for us. Koh Samui provided an incredible opportunity for us to rest and work, allowing us to get caught up on blogging and planning. At the same time, by the end, we were pretty ready to explore somewhere else and visit cities where tourism is not the main industry. We wanted to blend back in in a crowd.
On to Malaysia!