Discovering The Many Sides of Koh Samui

The Many Faces of Koh Samui

Koh Samui has many faces to her.  The largest Thailand Island it is large enough to  attract the budget travellers staying for a month or two in simple beachside bungalows, to the wealthiest holidaymakers dropping in for a weekend at one of the luxury resorts or villas on the many white sand beaches of Koh Samui.

We wondered if we could enjoy Koh Samui on a budget as it’s main target audience is the holiday makers and tourists.  Could travellers still get the most out of the island without breaking the budget?

Choose Your Accommodation Wisely

Depending on budget, time constrains and which category you fit into will depend on where is the best place for you to stay.  The prices will also reflect this.

We feel that we were ‘bang on’ for our choice of accommodation.  Based in Maenae we were about 1km from the beach and main drag where all the eateries were.  Samui Avani Hotel is quite new and run by a French couple.  The rooms were comfortable, A/C, wifi and pool.  Free pushbikes were supplied which came in handy for those trips to the shops and dinner.  Thank goodness we packed a couple of headlamps – perfect. 

With the usual bartering going on, we managed to score 5 nights for $28nz per night.  Bear in mind that this is still the quiet season so this helps with the bargaining process a bit.

With a bit of hunting, we soon sussed out the small family streetside stalls and feasted like a king and queen for around $2.50nz each.

Samui Avani Hotel

We Did Something We Always Said We Wouldn’t

We weighed up our options…..we did our homework……we considered the pro’s and con’s…..studied any other options.  Taking all of this into account – we lived life on the edge and we HIRED A SCOOTER FOR THE DAY!!!!

Providing we hold the appropriate licences (which Scotty does – including an International D/L) then our Travel Insurance covers us.  This however did nothing to elevate the fact that Koh Samui has one of the highest scooter fatalities in Thailand.

Putting all this aside, we had an absolute blast on Alice (I had to name her!!!).  In total we spent 8 hours touring around the entire island and this gave us such a good insight into what this island has to offer. (included a numb bum).

From a myriad of sandy beaches, to deserted temples, massive Buddha’s and waterfalls (with challenging climbs to get there). 

Thanks to Alice we managed to really get away from the main roads where we found authentic Samui family-run restaurants and tourist-free towns which still showed remnants of the descendants of the original Chinese merchant settlers.

Cost for hiring Alice for the day including fuel $11.50nz.

Easy Rider Koh Samui style

In Summary……

We have not regrets that we made the effort to visit this island.

We had hoped to make the trip by boat out to Angthong National park island as it looked amazing.  We did our homework and had booked a day out with Samui Boat Charters.  We read a lot of reviews on other boat companies and weighed up our options.  We could pay half the price to be jammed in with 45 other passengers or go with a small VIP customised group and pay double.

We decided that if we were going to blow the budget, lets make sure we really enjoy the day.  Alas, this was not to be.  Mother Nature stepped in and although we allowed for an extra day for bad weather we were not able to go out. Once again this showed the integrity of the company and it wasn’t all about dollars but safety and enjoyment of their customers.

Look them up if you are ever considering taking this trip.

If you are considering a holiday on Koh Samui, then we would recommend staying in the Chewang Beach area.  It is like a ‘watered down’ version of Patong in Phuket.  There is plenty to do to keep you occupied yet laid back enough to chill.  Remember though, stay away from the elephant trekking and monkey shows……make it a ‘no go zone’.

Enjoy our video…….