Christmas on Koh Samui

After a quick fifty-minute flight from Bangkok, we arrived to Koh Samui, a popular getaway island in the Gulf of Thailand. We knew we were in for a good time when even the airport looked like a lavish tropical resort. We opted to stay initially on one of the island’s quieter northern beaches, Choeng Mon Beach. Now this is was our kind of place! Within hours of arriving, we had walked the crescent beach, swam in the warm gulf water and settled in for dinner and drinks at a table on the sand.

From there, the next several days were spent exploring the local area, reading by the ocean and trying some adventurous (and very inexpensive) Thai cuisine. Christmas day was a very untraditional this year. We rented a scooter and drove around part of the island’s 100-km ring road, stopping to check out some other beaches, fill the gas tank from a stand on the roadside and visit a gigantic golden Buddha overlooking the water. We had lunch outside about halfway down the eastern side of the island before treating ourselves to Thai massages and dinner on Choeng Mon beach.

We extended our stay in Koh Samui 3 times, eventually moving east just a bit to another beach for a change of scenery. As you might imagine, it was tough for us to board a plane departing the island when the time finally came, but we did. Our next stop would be across the thin middle of Thailand to Krabi, a jumping off point for the islands in the Andaman Sea.

Happy New Year, everyone. We miss you!