Nature Archives · Bon Voyage on a Big Adventure!

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!

Rich getting on Koh Samui ferry — Boarding the ferry for Koh Samui.

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!

Food Lab in Koh Samui — Rich with his roast pork sandwich at Food Lab

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!

private pool in Koh Samui — Private pool day!

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.

Sicily? Nope. Koh Samui. Totally authentic and delicious carbonara.

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!

Day Two: The Blue Lagoon and Thingvellir National Park

I don’t know if I mentioned that we went to bed at 6:45 PM on Tuesday night– remember, the Red Eye flight–but when we woke up in our tent in Reykjavik, Iceland on Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM, Rich looked at me and said, “You slept like an animal.” I think he meant some sort of bear or other hibernating creature, because we were both out. For fourteen hours. Apparently, being without a home and sleeping in a tent suits us. Sorry, mom.

After breakfast at the campsite, a quick walk down by the water in Reykjavik, and some campsite freshening up, we headed to the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon

So what exactly is the Blue Lagoon? It isn’t natural– they have coined themselves a “geothermal spa,” probably because that sounds better than hot silica and sulfur runoff from the local geothermal power station. The minerals are supposed to do wonders for your skin, and the milky blue water makes for a banging Instagram picture so we booked our pricey $99/person entrance tickets as soon as we knew Iceland was stop #1.

And it was 100% worth it. Here’s why:

Iceland is cold. The Blue Lagoon is warm. I get it. We booked a trip to a country named Iceland– of course, it’s cold. Still the shock of leaving balmy DC in June and landing in a place where you have to wear two long sleeved shirts, a scarf, a hat, and a jacket was a little jarring. BUT the water in the Blue Lagoon is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Spending HOURS in a huge jacuzzi was exactly what I needed to start to warm up (ha!) to Iceland a bit more.
As advertised, it makes your skin feel amazing. Your entrance fee includes a silicon mask that took years off of our faces. Maybe. They definitely felt smooth and tight when we rinsed the clay off.
We got to shower. We’re camping. The hot shower was glorious. There was a hair dryer. The end.

ThingvellIr National Park

Not our favorite. Our first campground in Rejkjavik had a large kitchen and indoor eating area, free wifi, and super clean bathrooms. The campground at Thingvellir had bugs. Like really a lot of them- gnats that flew right at your face and swarmed around your head like Linus on Peanuts. I know things could be much worse than trying to set up a tent with twenty five bugs trying to fly in my mouth, but I would like to spare my dear readers this experience. If you ever camp in Iceland, camp at the campgrounds with indoor kitchens and no bugs.

On the upside, Wednesday was our third wedding anniversary, and once we finished cooking outdoors being attacked by gnats, we enjoyed an incredibly romantic hot dog dinner in our SUV.

Day Three: Haukadalur Geysers, Gullfoss Waterfall, Kerio Crater Lake, and Lots of Icelandic Horses and Anti-Social Sheep

Haukadalur Geysers

The earth spontaneously spewing gas into the air is kind of crazy, right?

Gullfoss Waterfall

The first of many, many Icelandic waterfalls on the Golden Circle. This waterfall was mighty and awe-inspiring, but I think my favorite part was that all of the signs and literature were devoted to Sigríður Tómasdóttir, an Icelandic woman who led tours for years and then fought to keep the beautiful falls out of private hands. She was rather severe looking but determined. Love it.

Kerio Crater Lake

We almost skipped this one because there was a charge and Iceland is expensive, but we didn’t and it ended up being one of our favorite spots. It is a giant crater with a lake at the bottom, and we were able to hike in a big giant circle and then down to the bottom. Our pictures turned out great, in my humble opinion, and still don’t do the spot justice.

We should really ask someone else to take our picture.

Rich climbing on some volcanic leftovers.

Icelandic Horses and Anti-Social Sheep

So in Iceland, there are horses and sheep everywhere. Since Iceland is an island, the horses were isolated for many years and are a different breed from, umm, normal horses. They are really beautiful but to take a picture of them, you have to pull off the road and then approach animals on someone else’s land. We are not very good at that.

Evidence A: We were driving along, and we saw some sheep! These sheep were outside the fence. Maybe they are wild sheep! Here is our opportunity to Instagram some wild Icelandic sheep!

So Rich pulls a u-turn, we pull in a driveway, approach the sheep….and they run away. Who knew sheep were fast? Maybe they are tired of appearing on Instagram. I got a terrible shot of the sheep, but ended up with a great shot of my handsome husband. More soon!