Day One in Ko Samui
July 9 – sunshine makes everything better
We awoke rested and happy in our new home, Lamai beach. Our lovely hotel is right on the beach and we have a 2 room bungalow that is simple but clean and comfortable. Upon arrival the towels were arranged in the shape of an elephant which thrilled the kids.
Breakfast was excellent and the view from the restaurant sublime. It was 10am before anyone was ready to do anything other than sit and stare at the sea. The kids got on the suits and Sue applied 27 layers of sunscreen and the kids were ready to dive in the sea. The section directly in front of the hotel had a large netting to keep the rare but dangerous box jellyfish away. They loved diving under with their googles and snorkel masks to check out the sand and small fish.
Around noon, Sue joined them for a frolic in the sea, enjoying the clear, warm water. The salt concentrations is high, so everyone enjoyed floating in a star fish pose.
When the sun was high, we let the kids “iBernate” – new term we invented that means hibernating with your iPad. Around 2pm, we decided to take the bold step of leaving the hotel grounds to walk through “town” to a highly regard French restaurant on the beach. It was amazing how quickly the temperature grew just 100m off the beach. The sea breeze made all the difference and within minutes we were sweating and dashing from shady spot to shady spot. 15 minutes later we arrived back on the beach at the quaint restaurant Baobab.
Packed with French people, we grabbed a table on the deck and ordered Croque Monsouir, Penne Bolognaise, and Tuna Tartar. The fresh fruit drinks were divine and we had 2 each. As lunch was ending, the classic later afternoon rainstorm moved in and the waitstaff scurried around wrapping up the umbrellas and pulling in the lounger cushions. Full of food and energy, the kids dashed down the beach after reapplying their sunscreen.
Good thing too, as we had not brought swim gear, but the kids quickly realized that with the heat suits are optional. They stripped down to their undies and splashed in the sea, happy as the clams they were dancing around. They made friends with a group of German friends and snorkeled with the while Tom and Sue walked to the south end of the beach. Around 5pm, with the sun settling behind the mountain, we all walked back down the beach the 500m to our hotel.
The kids chose to iBernate some more and Sue and Tom went back out to stroll to the north end of the beach. The sand was white and soft and except for Tom violently stubbing his big toe on a coral rock the walk around sunset was lovely. Along the way, we noticed loads of people, locals and visitors alike, pouring out onto the beach near a night market.
We watched the 95% full moon rise, and returned to the room around 7:30. After some research, we discovered that every Sunday night Lamai hosts a night market, famous for its street food. The kids opted to stay on their screens while Sue and Tom continued exploring. It is amazing that the quiet of the gorgeous beach is backed by a ramshackle collection of bars, restaurants, tattoo parlors, massage joints, and shops. If you look carefully, you can see that some of the older gentlemen seem to have younger Thai companions but nothing abundantly seedy was visible.
We made it to the food street after looking at the various stalls selling the same t-shirts, wooden bowls, and plastic junk. Tom did manage to buy a new audio cord for 80baht ($2.40) roughly half the opening price of 150. We stocked up on pad Thai, pork BBQ, mango shakes, mango sticky rice, chicken satay and a blueberry cheesecake. Around 9:30 we returned to our room to share our bounty with the kids.
They enjoyed it all and by 10pm we were all ready to cozy into bed. This had been the perfect ‘do-nothing’ day we had all needed.