Romantic Bamboo, part 2

Thursday was our last full day in Koh Samui, so we decided to visit a third town on the island, a small fisherman's village called Bo Phut. We got a car there from our resort. We weren't sure what to expect but we heard there were plenty of nice places to shop and eat. However, once we got there we saw that the beaches were really rocky and there weren't any chairs to relax on the beach. So instead we decided to visit a nearby attraction, the temple of the Big Buddha. We had actually seen it from the air on our flight to Samui so we got a cab there. 

The entrance to the Big Buddha temple

Big Buddha! He is large and in charge.

Up close view of his large-ness

Me and Buddha

Cole walking down the stairs to the temple. You can see the serpent that runs along the stairway. This is a pretty common feature in the Buddhist temples here in Thailand and it's pretty awesome.

After we got our Buddha fix we decided to go to Chaweng since the beaches are a lot nicer there- softer sand, music always playing and a bunch of restaurants on the water. We spent a good portion of our day there just soaking up the sun. After a few hours we got some lunch at a Thai food place that had really good soup (tom yum and tom kha). I also had a drink called the Samui Breeze that was a delicious combo of coconut rum, pineapple juice and banana liqueur. It was actually my first and only mixed drink of the trip since the beer is so cheap here! After our late lunch we finished up our souvenir shopping and headed back to the resort.

Earlier in the day we had planned to do a milk bath this evening. Our room had a private outdoor jacuzzi so they came by to set up a hot bath with bath milks, bath salts and essential oils in the water. As you can see from the pictures they also lit candles and decorated the tub with rose petals and flowers for our soak. 

Beautiful tub set up

There were a million rose petals and flowers floating on top of the bubbles. Very relaxing and romantical.

Up-close of the flowers and candles

After relaxing for a while it was time to choose where to eat our final dinner in Samui. We debated going to a restaurant caled The Cliff which supposedly has a good mix of Thai dishes and tapas, and has a wonderful view overlooking the ocean. But we ended up deciding to visit our friends at the Romantic Bamboo because we were craving it and we knew it wouldn't disappoint! This time we tried a glass noodle salad with seafood, vegetable fried rice, curry fried red snapper, and their homemade cheese and spinach raviolis. It was all amazing! We also got a bottle of white wine to celebrate our honeymoon, and we finished off the meal with some of their homemade ice cream. Really, between the delish food and the outstanding service, this place is one of the most wonderful restaurants we have ever visited! We hung out at the restaurant pretty late talking with Michel, the Italian man that owns the place, and his wife who is Thai (didn't catch her name unfortunately). Michel serves the whole restaurant which only has 6 tables, while his wife cooks up amazing food. He told us that they have only been in the restaurant business for 7 months and we were so impressed. Before that they lived in Italy for 10 years and his wife cooked with his mother every Sunday, so that is how she learned to cook Italian food! He was a car salesman back there and he told us he wasn't happy so they packed up and moved to his wife's home country to start their own restaurant. When we make it back to Samui (we are hoping this happens eventually) we will have to eat here again and see how they are doing. Michel also took some pictures of us which we will have to post on TripAdvisor later so he can see them.

Honeymooners. I love how he did an artsy shot with the flower.

The owner wanted to get a picture of us in front of the fuzzy heart in the corner. So this is for him.

We are so sad to leave but it has been the best trip of our lives!

Day of the hangover

Wednesday, our third full day in Samui was marked by the horrible hangovers we were both feeling from last night's escapade in Lamai. We woke up and had a little breakfast, but instead of heading into one of the towns at 11 we decided to lounge by our pool instead. This resort is very private and secluded so it was nice just to hang out and read by the pool with nobody else around. Eventually around 2 pm we did decide to get the car into Lamai for some lunch. Once we got into town we checked out the lunch scene and decided we both wanted Italian fare. The restaurant we stopped at was called Tropicana and the owners were 2 Italian dudes. Cole opted for the spaghetti with garlic, oil, thai chilies and Parmesan. It is his new favorite dish and a really yummy mix of Italian and Thai flavors. We will definitely be whipping that up very soon when we return home! I ordered the spinach ravioli with a Gorgonzola sauce. It was awesome and it was a treat to eat something cheesy, since thai food doesn't really incorporate dairy at all (they do eat lots of eggs though).

After our extremely filling and carb-loaded meal it was already 3:30, so we decided to treat ourselves to hour-long foot massages before heading back to the resort. This time we stopped at Herbs massage which is the biggest chain of massage parlors on the island. A full hour foot massage is only 200 baht ($6) and was so incredibly relaxing. They really work your feet, lower legs and even do a mini head/shoulder massage at the end. 

All of that Italian food and foot massages made us pretty tired, so after we got back to the resort we decided to have a night in. Sandalwood is pretty awesome because it is a very small and personal resort, and one of the many perks is that they have a large selection of DVDs that you can take to watch in your room. We grabbed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and ordered a little room service. Not a bad day, it was very relaxing and exactly what wee needed to recover! 

(Sorry, there were no pictures from this day due to our hungover state)

Exploring Chaweng and Lamai

Tuesday, our 2nd full day in Koh Samui, began much like the other days with a little breakfast and an early morning swim in the infinity pool.

Jenny looking wistfully over the ocean.

Jenny's first and only time in our freezing cold pool. It took a while to convince her to get in.

To infinity and beyond! (heh heh)

Today was the day we thought we'd explore the biggest town on the island, Chaweng.  The resort offers a free drop off in Chaweng at 11 AM and a free pick up at 5 PM.  We took the shuttle into town and the driver was actually the owner of the Sandalwood resort.  He was a really nice guy and he parked the car and gave us a quick orientation of the town. He showed us the good beaches, shopping and the best massages for the money. It was really helpful so we knew our way around town.

We spent most of the day walking along the main street and going into little shops and haggling with the owners (and by we I mean Jenny).  Jenny must have leaned how to drive a hard bargain from Pattie Klein.  We scooped up a few things here and there and eventually went to D's spa (on recommendation from the Sandalwood owner and another couple staying at our resort) for another Thai massage.  It was much cheaper in town.  At the resort the massages were 900 baht, about $27 USD. In town an hour long massage is 210 baht, about $6.  Jenny and I both got the Thai Massage.  This time a skinny old man worked me over.  The massages were good but not as relaxing as our resort because you could hear the other customers and the traffic outside. I guess the atmosphere is what you pay extra for at the hotel!

One of Jenny's first purchases for 700 baht ($20)

After the massages we headed to the Ark Bar.  The Ark Bar is kind of a larger resort right on the beach that caters to mostly party-goers.  They have beach parties every Wednesday and Friday.  We stopped in and had a couple beers and lunch.  We weren't sure what to expect at such a touristy place but the food was really good, we had some yummy fresh vegetable spring rolls and noodles. We didn't get much sun that day because it rained during the day and Jenny was a little crispy from the day before.  Sadly on our first day she failed to apply sunscreen evenly and got pretty burned on the backs of her knees.

Fresh veggie spring rolls with herb dipping sauce 

Pad see ew noodles with veggies, and a Chang beer. Jenny's favorite lunch on this vacation! 

A comical sign at Ark Bar, because it's true. 

Pretty soon it was close to 5 PM and we walked to the McDonalds to meet the Sandalwood car for pick up. The McDonalds is the central location in Chaweng where a lot of people were waiting for their hotel shuttles. Once we got back to our hotel we rested for a bit and got ready for dinner. We weren't sure exactly where to go but we got a car to Lamai, the other main town on the island. Our resort is situated right in between Chaweng and Lamai so neither is very far. Lamai is a bit smaller than Chaweng but they had plenty of things to do and see. We strolled around for about 30 minutes just checking out all of the restaurants. They had not only Thai restaurants but also a lot of Indian food and several mediterranean and Italian places. We decided to stop at a restaurant that had tapas, both mediterranean and Thai as well, called Barrio Latino. It was a pretty nice combination of flavors. We ordered some cheap-ish sangria (from our experience in Thailand wine is usually super expensive here compared with the food prices), veggie spring rolls, crispy goat cheese over salad, and bruschetta for tapas/appetizers. We also got some fish tacos to share. Here they usually have red snapper which is pretty tasty, and it was topped with salsa and guacamole.

Barrio Latino, just a tiny tapas bar with outdoor seating

After dinner we wandered a bit more and found a bar with a pool table to have a few beers. A couple challenged us to play pool and it was on. While we were playing them a British couple showed up and asked to play the winner. Once we lost our first game (the guy we were playing seemed like he played a lot of pool, he lived on Samui so he probably frequented that bar) the winners played the British couple. Well, the British guy was even better at pool and I do believe he ran the table and won. Then I guess it was our turn to play the British couple. It was a closer game this time but we still lost. Oh well. We chatted with everyone for a while and then left to find another spot to hang out. We heard there was a fire show on the beach so we decided to check that out. However, on our walk towards the beach, we decided to just stay in town and find a bar. The road to the beach was kind of a sketchy alleyway and nobody seemed to be heading that way so it didn't seem worth it.

While we were strolling around town we found a tiny little bar that had some games like connect 4 and Jenga that we could see some people were playing. We ended up hanging out there for a while, and met 2 Australian guys and a Canadian couple that were hanging out there. Long story short we drank some Thai rum and stayed out much too late, and we payed for it the next day.

Day of the Massage

Our first full day in Koh Samui started out with the free breakfast at the resort.  You could have either western or Thai meals for breakfast.  Just like our other hotels they had a buffet and you could order freshly made items as well.  I went for the Thai omelet and Jenny went for the Pad Se Ew (her go to Thai noodle dish).  That was supplemented with a little fruit and salad and washed down with some tea.  I've really been getting into tea on this trip there are lots of varieties and it gets you going as well. 

After breakfast we mostly lounged around the pool again and decided to head down to the beach that the Sandalwood (our resort) has access to.  Our resort doesn't have a private beach as they are situated high on a hill overlooking the ocean. The beach we went to was owned by another resort.  A resort that I can only guess caters almost exclusively to Europeans.  This trip was my first experience being around and interacting with Europeans as a group. When traveling in Europe it is a little different as each country is a little different but here is a hot spot and many areas are well represented.  I saw two things that I thought were a bit ridiculous: 1. Europeans have a facination with taking "model" style pictures of themselves.  These photo shoots usually involve one female and a photographer, be it a significant other or friends.  Then the subject does her best magazine cover shoot poses (usually laying in the sand or posing against a large rock) and everyone in the group is cool with it and no one gets made fun of which I find fascinating.  2. I saw an old lady just letting it all hang out, she apparently thought she was at a topless beach in France.  To make it even better she donned a swimming cap and goggles, wearing what looked like the same speedo as her husband, and then they proceeded to backstoke out to sea. Which brings me to another point about the speedo in general.  Europeans just strut around in these things not as a joke but because they love to.  I don't get it but what ever floats your boat. 

View from the beach

Hanging out at the beach, we are still very pale as it was our first day.

We didn't end up staying too long as it wasn't very sunny and the beach wasn't very clean- lots of debris washed up from the ocean and the occasional piece of glass which really freaked Jenny out.  We did eat lunch at a shack on the beach which kicked out some fairly amazing thai food.  I have found that the thai food is awesome everywhere and you can basically get the same great taste from an old lady cooking on her scooter side car as you can at a restaurant.  Its really delish we had some curry, soup, and some noodles.

Singha by the beach

Pad Thai noodles for Cole and green curry soup for Jenny

After the beach we headed back to the pool area and did a little reading and writing, basically passing the time until our afternoon massages.  As part of our honeymoon package at our resort we each got a free hour massage. Before this trip I had never had a massage and so was really nervous mostly because I don't like people touching me.  I chose the traditional Thai massage and Jenny had an aromatherapy one (she already got a thai massage when we were in Chiang Mai).  The Thai massage is crazy, it lasts for an hour and it involves not only massaging muscles in the legs, arms, and back but they also stretch you out and contort your body to crack your back and other joints.  It sounds a little painful but it is actually really relaxing and you feel very refreshed afterwards.  Its a massage with some stretching.  After that I was hooked.  Jenny's massage was your regular oil massage but with a rose/orange aromatherapy oil that she chose. Even though we chose different types of massages they were in the same room and then they set up some green tea and cookies on the patio afterwards. All very relaxing.

Earlier in the day we had planned to have our honeymoon dinner in our room (part of the whole package).  So we went from massages right into a romantic dinner by the pool overlooking the ocean.  They had a candle set up and brought out a 3 course meal for us.  We broke out the wine that we also got for free with the honeymoon package and it was a great little dinner.

Our romantic dinner set up

Tasty meal and wine

Would you like some cheese with that wine?

All in all it was a great way to spend our first full day in Koh Samui.

Living on Island Time

Our flight out of Sukothai was scheduled for 8:30 so that meant we had to leave BLES at around 6:30.  The mahout giving us the ride showed up at around 6:45ish.  Then began the hour long ride in his Toyota pickup that bordered on crazy.  Apparently there are very few rules of the road in Thailand and even less enforcement. At one point we passed someone and were on the centerline as traffic was moving the other way.  They just kind of got out of the way.  It was very interesting and scary at the same time.  We eventually arrived safe and sound at the airport which was actually a privately owned airport.  This was weird because it was kind of like a resort, it was an open air terminal with a zoo next door and a fish pond/stream between the seating areas.  The zoo was very sad because the animals didn't have very much room to roam and there was hardly any grass at all.  The airport did however have complimentary sticky rice and banana treats which were awesome.  We were trucked out to the airplane in little shuttle buses because the runway was very small and so we met the plane at the end of the runway.  We were flying Bangkok airways "The Boutique Airline".  It was actually quite comfortable and we got a full meal on the plane even though it was only an hour to Bangkok.  

The strange little airport in Sukkhothai

Going through Bangkok airport was fairly relaxing, we weren't really in a rush and Jenny had a litle sushi snack.  We didn't have much of a layover and it was time to get on the plane to Samui.  This flight was also short (only 45 min) but we again had a full meal. The flight was uneventful until we went to land on the island (also a tiny airport).  As we were about to touch down the plane suddenly took off again and circled the island.  It was a weird feeling as we were literally almost touching the ground.  The pilot eventually told us that there were very strong gusts of wind on the airstrip and we had to circle back for another try.  When we finally landed it happened to the sound of applause from the passengers on board.

The resort sent a car to pick us up and we headed through the main town (Chaweng) on the island up the hill to our resort.  The road to the resort is ridiculously steep.  I really wonder how long the vehicles here last going up that road every day several times a day.  It would be almost impossible with a manual transmission.  But anyways everyone here is really nice and they speak great english.  They showed us to our rooms and this is basically the nicest place I've ever stayed at.  We don't have our own pool but we might as well have because the only other rooms in the area are across the pool (but facing out to the ocean) and above us, but I'm not sure anyone is even in that room.  The Sandalwood Resort has only 10 villas with differing levels of privacy and features.  They have a restaurant where breakfast is free, a spa, and a car service to the surrounding towns.  Very swank.

We got settled in and lounged by the pool for most of the afternoon.  I got in and paddled around a little bit.  Jenny didn't want to get her hair wet.  Jenny is more into "lounging near the water" but not necessarily "getting in the water".  After reading and catching up on some of our blogs we cleaned up and got ready for dinner.  We looked up the nearby town of Lamai on Trip Advisor and found a nice little place near the beach called Romantic Bamboo.  It was the highest rated place on the whole island but it was very reasonably priced as are many of the restaurants in Thailand.!It was owned by an Italian man and his Thai wife.  He did the serving and she did the cooking.  There were only 3 staff members including the owners.  They could only sit about 10 people at a time.  THE FOOD WAS AMAZING! They did a mix of italian and thai cooking.  We had Brushetta, Fried Red Snapper with thai chili glaze, Tom Yum soup with seafood, and spaghetti with garlic, chilis, and oil.  It was so delicious.  The fried fish was the best fish I have ever eaten (Jenny convinced me it would be good even though I was skeptical) and the spaghetti was very tasty even though the Thai lady came out from the kitchen to laugh at me and tell me that she only did 0.5 spiciness level instead of 1- they had levels 1-3 and I am very sensitive, haha.  We finished up with a little rum and a dessert of chocolate mousse on recommendation of the owner.  The Italian man was really cool he made lots of recommendations and was very talkative and you could tell him and his wife were very passionate about their food. We ate all that food including a beer each, for a total of 880 baht which is about $24, which would barely cover the booze back home.  Amazing.

Next door to the Romantic Bamboo was a little seafood shack with a bar and some seating where we had some drinks before and after dinner.  The guy that seemed to be in charge was an avid rock fan.  He showed us his collection of rock posters including Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, and Avril Lavigne to name a few.  Those were bands that he told us that he got to see in Bangkok.  He was a cool dude.  

Drinking some Chang (the other thai beer besides Singha) at the bar.

You can see some of the rock posters- most notably Iowa's very own, Slipknot. 

The car from Sandalwood picked us up from the restaurant and we went back and went right to bed.  We have kind of been going to bed early on this trip but we are getting a lot in stuff in.

Can't wait to see what Koh Samui has in store for us this week!

Lounging on our patio- looking out over our infinity pool

Since we got the honeymoon package they decorated our room with towel animals and lots of flower petals for our arrival 

The love swans (or geese)

What would our honeymoon be without a honeymoon cake? This resort is amazing. They really go out of their way to make the guests feel special.

Jenny lounging by the pool in her robe and slippers, with a Singha of course.

Day 3 at BLES

Day 3 at BLES started off much the same way as Day 2.  We got up early again and rounded up the bananas for the elephants' breakfast.  This time we seperated a few of the most ripe bananas to use for de-worming the elephants.  In order to give them the medicine you must open the banana and shove pills into them.  It is important to not put too many pills in the bananas or give them the medicated ones one after the other because they are smart and will figure out they are being medicated and spit them out.  On this particular morning Wassana and Lotus took their medicine without complaint but Pang Dow figured it out after a few bananas and spit them all back up.  They were just going to try again the next morning.  At BLES they medicate for worms approximately once per month.

Breakfast for the people got a little interesting because the hut where breakfast is served was also the place where we were hiding the bananas to use for medication.  While we were eating Lotus and Wassana figured this out and came to have a look and possibly snag a treat.  They were very cute and did their best begging for treats.  Jenny fed Lotus and got to touch the elephant tongue when she threw in a banana. It is amazingly soft considering all the rough food they eat- it almost feels like the inside of your cheek. I also got to experience the weight and strength of their trunks when they were searching for food.  Lotus threw her trunk on my shoulder and it had to have weighed as much as a person.  It was crazy to actually feel the power that these animals have and the complexity of the movements that they can perform with this awesome appendage.  I actually want one I don't care what it looks like.

Breakfast with the ellies 

Hiding the deworming medicine in the bananas 

They know the bananas are being kept in the hut!

Uh oh. Lotus sniffed out the banana stash!

After breakfast and de-worming we went out on our morning walk with the elephants.  This time we headed for the river but the mahouts figured it was too hot to make it all the way (not for the ellies but for the tourists apparently).  Instead we found a nice mud puddle and baby stream for the elephants to stomp through.  We were traveling with the Gossip Girls again.  Wassana took the opportunity to give herself a nice mud bath.  She then proceeded to greet Jenny and Lucy and shake all the mud off in their faces while I was safely far away taking pictures of course.  The elephants settled into grazing and we set up our stools to watch again.  It was a peaceful morning and all the dogs took the opportunity to take a nap.  We were quite the group: 3 elephants, 5 people, and 8 dogs. After a couple hours we headed back to the sanctuary for a little bit of noodles and fruit for lunch.

Hanging out on the elephant walk

Ellies playing in the stream

Yummies

Why yes I am quite muddy and wet.

Watching the elephants graze

The dogs pretty much nap at every opportunity on the walk.

Sleepy pup 

Nomming

The whole group walking

During lunch the young elephants decided it would be nice to have a bath and jumped into the pond.  It was funny watching them because they acted like young kids and would dunk each other and hold each other under the water.  They looked like they were having a great time.  While they were playing in the water a Thai farming family actually stopped and got out of their car to watch the elephants.  They were really entertained by the silly ellies playing. It was probably the first time they saw elephants just hanging out without being controlled by a human.

Playing in the pond

After lunch we headed off in a makeshift truck (I wish I had a picture but it was basically an engine with wheels and a bed) to go fetch some banana trees.  Apparently elephants love to eat banana trees.  The trees we harvested were part of a banana farm of one of the mahouts and the trees were done producing bananas.  Three mahouts went with me, Jenny, and Lucy.  The mahouts cut down the trees and we brought them to the truck.  It was a good little workout and it gave us a chance to see the village as we drove through.

Carrying banana trees

Banana trees loaded up in the truck

When we got back from gathering banana trees it was time to vaccinate and de-worm some puppies that were living on the grounds.  The puppies were some offspring from one of the mahout's dogs and I believe they will be given homes in the village when they are old enough.  There were four of the little rascals so Jenny snagged two of them.  I gave them the de-worming medicine (which they actually seemed to enjoy) and Lucy injected them with the vaccine which they barely noticed.  Then, so we didn't mix them up (because all four of them were pretty much identical) I snagged the other two and Jenny put down the first two and we repeated the process.  So not only were we helping the elephants but we got to hang out with some puppies as well.

Puppies! They are about 7 weeks old and just insanely flopsy and adorable.

After taking care of the pups we freshened up and had another awesome dinner and another night of conversation with Katherine and Lucy.  I volunteered to use Bartlett and West resources to help them create some maps which could be very helpful to them.  We enjoyed a beer and some wine (courtesy of Katherine who had leftovers from when her parents visited, but she is pregnant now) and enjoyed some conversation and it was an all around good evening.  We even got to play some  "What time is it Mr. Wolf" with Katherine's two children- Hope is 6 and Noah is 4.  She also has Aaron who is almost 2 and she has one on the way. 

All in all it was a great experience and I'm really glad we made it part of our trip and we look forward to helping out in the future.  We packed up that night for an early departure to phase 3 of our trip which is BEACH and RESORT TIME in Koh Samui!