Asia Travel Destination: Thailand (Koh Samui & Hua Hin)
Koh Samui
The first tourists on Koh Samui had free accommodation. The nameless backpackers (who weren’t even called that in those days) had to sleep at a temple because there was no hotel. That was almost 40 years ago. Today, this formerly hotel-free island in the Gulf of Thailand has ample beds for its 800,000 annual visitors. These masses are not excessively in evidence in the north coast village of Bophut. Unlike Samui’s popular beach strips of Chaweng and Lamb, Bophut – the island’s oldest village – has retained much of its Thai character. Foreign tourists certainly wander here but Bophut stays snoozy – think sundowners sipped on a wooden deck rather than happy hour beneath an air conditioner and neons. Koh Samui, just 25 km by 21 km, is shaped like a bonsai Tasmania. Beyond the pubs, stalls and malls of Chaweng and quieter Lamai, the island is mountainous, green and impeccably clean. There’s a good around-the-coast road to get you to any number of hideaway bays and resorts. The few “must-dos” on Samui are more like “might-dos”, the most popular being the Big Buddha at Wat Phra Yai, a 15-metre, golden statue that has sat here for 30 years. Samui’s more unusual sights include a mummified monk and a coral Buddha. More conventionally (and certainly more fund, the Island’s fiGt golf course recently opened Beyond these, the do-nothing beaches and offshore islands – with their famous full-moon and half-moon dance parties – remain among Samui’s top attractions.
Accommodation here ranges from backpacker lodges to five-star resort hotels, plus an ever growing number of expat villas Quality hotels are rapidly moving the focus away from the island’s earlier roots in budget tourism, while spas, health farms and all sorts of “wellness” Programs, too, are booming. Even humble ear cleaning is advertised, although the sign I saw for “Ear Toilet” perhaps needs some refining.
More info on Koh Samui is available at http://www.kohsamui.org
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