Koh Samui, nestled in the Gulf of Thailand, is a tropical island known for its natural beauty and diverse landscapes. With around 40,000 inhabitants, it offers a blend of palm-fringed shorelines, coconut groves, and a central granite mass covered in rainforest.
Samui, the second-largest island in Thailand, has a rich history dating back centuries when fishermen from the Malay Peninsula and southern China settled here. The island, mysterious in its name, is now a popular destination for exploration. While it can be circumnavigated in a few hours, it offers opportunities for adventurous exploration.
In the late 20th century, Samui was an isolated community with minimal connection to the mainland. Until the early 1970s, there were no roads, and the island remained self-sufficient. The influx of backpackers in the early 1970s marked the beginning of tourism, and since then, Samui has grown into the second-most popular island destination in Thailand.
Samui’s weather differs slightly from the rest of Thailand, with a dry season from April to September and a wetter season from October to December. The island’s popular and commercialized beaches include Chaweng and Lamai, while the northern and western coast beaches offer more peaceful options.
From Nathon on the west coast to Chaweng in the east, the beaches vary in character. Nathon serves as the island’s port and administrative center, while beaches like Mae Nam and Bophut offer quieter alternatives. Chaweng, the largest and most developed beach, boasts a mix of luxury hotels and backpacker guesthouses.
While Samui is renowned for its beaches, the island doesn’t have many historical or cultural attractions. Some notable spots include the rocks on Lamai, a Buddha statue in Bang Rak, and waterfalls like Na Muang 2.
For travelers seeking a laid-back tropical experience, Koh Samui provides a mix of relaxation and exploration amidst its natural beauty.
MY EXPERIENCE. A month of rest from life in China was supposed to take place in Philippines. But the Ukrainians needed a visa there, so we went to the Philippine Embassy in Guangzhou to obtain it. It was the month of January, and there were a lot of people interested in obtaining it, as the Chinese New Year was approaching! And Chinese people are given this holidays from 2 weeks to 1 month! I won’t go into details, but it was precisely because of the large number of Chinese tourists we did not have enough time to get our visas. That is why we had to look for other options.
The choice fell on Thailand. On Koh Samui and Ko Phangan. I wanted to go there because once at work in Guangzhou, a work colleague told me how he had been there and how great it was! We did not need a visa to Thailand. For Ukrainians, we could safely fly in for a month simply with a Ukrainian passport.
We bought round trip tickets from Shenzhen to Surat Thani via Bangkok. Because direct routes to Samui were much more expensive. At the Bangkok airport we bought ourselves Thai SIM cards for 1 month. Upon arrival in Surat Thani, we then bought tickets for a bus to the port. It took about 2 or 2.5 hours. Then the ferry takes about another hour or 1.5 hours to Samui. In general, the road is quite normal. Maybe because we were light. Each one had one backpack on his back. That is, on the planes we only had hand luggage. Very convenient: you arrive and go, without having to wait for your luggage to arrive.
In the port of Samui we exchanged some dollars/euros for baht. 1 dollar is about 30 baht, and 1 euro is about 35 baht. And then took a minibus-taxi, which transported all the selected tourists along the laid route, each to his hotel. We drove for a long time. About an hour. It so happened that out of all the tourists, we were the last ones to leave the minibus-taxi. Well, then everything was easy. We had booked the hotel through Booking.com in advance, and everything from there was easy and problem-free.
Our hotel on Samui for the first ten days was the four-star “Sasitara Thai Villas”. We had a hotel house with all the amenities. Breakfast was included in the price. And we must admit, we were pleased with the breakfasts there. We ate well. Basically, breakfast was in standard European style – eggs (the cook always asked in what form to cook), bacon, various sausages, vegetables, salads, fruits, croissants, jam, juices, tea, coffee. There was a swimming pool next to the breakfast area and a view of the sea. And you could always see a plane flying from Bangkok to Samui airport. In general, we were very pleased with the hotel!
Not far from the hotel, we rented bikes (motorcycles) and then rode around Samui on them. True, you have to leave your choice as collateral for the bikes – either a passport or some amount in euros. 500 euros, if I remember correctly. You can also refuel them there. They sell gasoline in transparent glass liter bottles. Although you can also stop by a gas station and refuel there. It’s around 40 baht per 1 litre.
I want to admit that I had a driver’s license for a long time, since 2011, but since that moment I have no longer driven a car or a motorcycle. Then they showed me what and how to do, I understood, and started racing with a friend right up to 100 km/h)) this is a lot of speed for such a bike! on the other hand, the quality of the roads allowed it! Although this is an island, the infrastructure here is quite developed and fits harmoniously into the nature of the island itself!
In general, we rode and raced, and decided to climb to the top from where we can see almost all of our Samui)) It was in the Bo Phut area. We managed to climb to the top off-road, but going down was already more difficult! When I was going down, I dropped my bike sideways into the ground and bushes, and it slightly scratched its body. But it doesn’t seem to be a big deal and we moved on! We decided to stop by the shopping center and see what products were on sale, and what for what price.
In general, avoiding the oncoming biker who was driving towards me and whom I did not see because of the car, I dodged, and jumped the road, and drove onto the asphalt lane, leading to the shopping center, and then I started thinking too much and scrolling through my mind what was just happened? and fell onto its side again. This time the bike crushed my leg, but I quickly got up on adrenaline and drove further to the parking lot.
My leg hurt, but I walked normally and didn’t even seem to be limping. We left the bikes in the parking lot just like that. And we went to the shopping center. There we washed and put ourselves in order, especially me after my “accidents”. After an hour of walking around the shopping center, we returned to the parking lot, and there our bikes stood with locks on the wheels. That is, it was done by the police who saw that the bikes were standing in the wrong place. We asked the security guard to call the police to free our bikes. They arrived about 15 minutes later. And they forgave us for our ignorance of parking rules the first time. Since we explained that we had just arrived and were not yet knowing all the rules.
In the evening at home, my bruised leg began to swell, and it was already very difficult to walk. My friend bought me some ointment and an elastic bandage. We also started watching videos on YouTube about how Thais who rent out bikes deceive tourists, and what to do to avoid getting caught and paying a large fine!
The next day we decided to return the bikes and take one large double. The Thai woman who rented our bikes immediately noticed that mine was scratched, took a calculator and calculated a fine of around 1500-2000 baht. I, trained by examples on YouTube, said that I could find a place myself and renovate it for 400 baht! She immediately said – ok, go and fix it! )) I, of course, was not going to do this, and no matter how much I bargained, I had to pay as much as she initially said! 😎
We took the two-seater bike from another place. Actually, my friend really wanted to continue racing on his own on his bike, but he had to take the burden of me and carry me, now on a two-seater bike! 😀
The troubles ended there, and we settled into this rhythm of life. And I limped with my leg swollen from a bruise almost until the end of the vacation!
We were on different beaches. In the Chaweng and Lamai areas, but most of all on Koh Samui we liked the small and compact beach – Coral Cove!
We stopped at different places for lunch. We always took Thai soup for the first course – “Tom Yum”, and for the second either grilled fish or grilled chicken.
While we were riding a bike, we always stopped near the road in different places to buy a coconut to drink. Inexpensive and very tasty and healthy! We also sometimes took pineapples. So, of all the liquids consumed per day, more than half were coconuts and pineapples, and that’s great! The price for a coconut was about 30 baht, that is, only $1!
There are also a lot of massage salons on Samui. Girls straight from the streets smile and invite you to come to them for a massage while you pass them on a bike on the road! Sometimes you just smile back and drive on, but when you exchange a few words with a friend and he agrees that “she was pretty,” you turn around and drive back))
When you get off the bike and walk towards them, they swoop in on you like bees on honey and start offering their services. They have a price list and everything is fair, everything is according to the law. Such places start working around 16:00. Sometimes we just talked and got a contact in the LINE messenger, which is the most popular messanger in Thailand. And then you could continue communicating with the girl you liked there in the chat. Arrange a meeting and so on.
In general, I can talk about Samui for a very long time. But there was already too much text! 😉
After the first ten days on Koh Samui, we then took a ferry to the next island, the island of party people – Koh Phangan…
