Located off the east coast of Thailand, Koh Samui is an island known for its many beautiful beaches and attractions. Samui is what almost EVERYONE would call a must-visit if you’re island-hopping or just visiting Thailand in general. Here’s what we did during our 6 days 5 nights stay in Koh Samui
Note: This is an excerpt from THIS post
Read to know more about our 16-days road trip and the other destinations we visited 🙂
Day 1 – Singapore car on a Thailand island?!
Stop number 3 of our road trip, the longest one so far, Koh Samui. So far, we’ve gone from Singapore to Hat Yai, definitely a feat in itself totalling 900km not including driving around the places we’ve been. However, now we’ve got a slight dilemma. The only trouble driving to mainland Thailand is the amount of time it takes. How are we going to bring a Singapore car, or a car in general, to an island?
As I mentioned in the master post, you can bring your car to Koh Samui via a car ferry. For your information, here’s an ARTICLE which should tell you how to do it. In summary, similar to the Malaysia-Thailand border, the driver of the car and the passenger go through totally different experiences, but at the end of the day, you’ll be on the same ferry.
Our ferry was 3.30pm if I remember correctly, and we arrived a tad bit early, so we decided to go elsewhere to have lunch and relax before going through the process which requires you to arrive 30 minutes earlier. Where specifically, off the coast to the right of the ferry, the Chef Beach Cafe
3pm rolls around, and we’re getting on the ferry. One half stored with cars the other half for passengers, with a nice view on the top and 711? Yep, 711, on a boat. I can now say I’ve eaten cup noodles bought on a boat.
Landing in Koh Samui, on to the hotel, Samui Natien! Google tells me its a 3-star hotel, I wholeheartedly disagree. This hotel was beautiful, probably the best hotel we’ve stayed in.
Balcony, swirl flush toilets, clean beach with beach chairs, nice breakfast and restaurant, beds were fantastic, connecting rooms, TV, good shower. I have no nitpicks other than the fact that there was construction on right next to us and the parking was minimal, but I dont blame em for that. What a hotel, definitely a good pick if you’re staying in Koh Samui
It was already getting pretty late by the time we got to Samui, so we decided to chill in the room for a bit before going out for dinner at Baan Ya Jai, had some Thai Basil and mixed vegetables and holy shit this place is more than deserving of its 4.7 star rating with 1k reviews, highly encourage you try it if you’re staying nearby.
Of course, what’s Thailand without it’s nightlife! We proceeded further up the road left of Samui Natien to have a look around. A lot of cannabis, football jersey shops and bars, funny thing I realised is how the pavement gradually gets more and more dishevelled the further you walk. Fun fact, theres supposedly a livestream which streams a part of this street.
Its a lie, we checked, I was not on Youtube, I am extremely disappointed by this.
Day 2 – Exploration Samui (pt 1)
Best sleep I’ve had this trip, in case you were wondering
The breakfast buffet doesn’t have many options, scrambled, fried or omelette with different ingredients, served us very well the 6 days we stayed. We took a beach walk around the same route we did yesterday just to, wake ourselves up before venturing out.
Destination 1 – Lamai Beach.
Expectations were a nice, sandy (what?) beach to look at, reality strikes us hard as there was a lotta seaweed and a relative amount of nothing. A lot of sand in our slippers and the car mat added to the list of souvenirs for the rest of the day
Call me Geoguessr
Destination 2 – Guan Yu Shrine.
Expectations? Big Guan Yu. Reality? Big Guan Yu.
Extremely fulfilling, not only for the sight of a huge Guan Yu statue but also because the reading served as some extra knowledge extended on to the 三国演义 (The Three Kingdoms) stuff we learned in school. Guan Yu is a respected deity due to his emblematic qualities of credibility and loyalty (Click on the link to learn more)
We didn’t go inside the shrine because there were some conditions that we wanted to respect instead of barging into the shrine. I’m sure Google Maps has some images for you to browse.
(Failed) Destination 3 – The Roof
Im starting to see a pattern in Thailand, everything starts with “The”. The Roof, The Bed…
“Failure? What do you mean failure? How do you fail?!!!!” You fail by having a car incapable of climbing a mountain. You see, The Roof is a restaurant on top of a mountain in Koh Samui, what many people declare a “must-visit” in Koh Samui.
Well, our hubris assumed… “Surely our 2016 Toyota Sienta would be able to go offroad and climb a mountain through a dirt path!”. Or at least Google Maps thought so.
Good news, the car is alive and well. Bad news, it was a resounding failure. On our way up we were already encountered with a puddle of water due to leakage nearby, of course, our hubris dictated us to drive through it… After much anticipation, our car DID NOT FLOOD WITH WATER! Bad news, the road gets narrower and narrower until it turns into a dirt path made for ATV’s. Looks like we’re backing out. Likely a must-visit, but don’t let your hubris take over, play it smart! (We went to Central Samui for lunch)
Fun fact I learned later on in Koh Lipe (believe it or not), Central is not only the name of the mall but also the name of THE BRAND of the mall. I didn’t even know malls could have brands. You’ll find Central Hatyai, Central Phuket, and so on.
After our failure, we chilled at the beach for a bit. The hotel provides beach chairs so you can relax while watching the children play in the water, we did this until dinnertime rolled around
Night Market count (Samui): 1
One of the many night markets we visited in Samui, let alone the entire road trip. Our goal here was to go in, buy everything we wanted and then return back to the room. This dinner included potato balls, meat skewers, pad thai, mango sticky rice, instant noodle salad, pad thai etc. The food was world-class, night market food is always unbelievable truly, its so consistently good
Day 3 – Exploration Samui (pt 2) (finale)
Finishing our Koh Samui exploration with 4 different destinations today!
Again, another (unmentionable) breakfast and beach walk to start the day before we take the car around Koh Samui
Destination 1 – Lad Koh Viewpoint
Home to the photo you see at the top of the blog and also relatively close to our hotel, a viewpoint in general is a MUST-VISIT in Koh Samui due to the views you get of the ocean and of the land. Its quite beautiful staring out into an endless sea + the rocks were kinda cool. Reminds me of Labrador Broadwalk with the oreo rocks
Destination 2 – Khao Hua Jook Pagoda
A pagoda perched on top of a mountain, this pagoda/temple is one you can see from the airport and from the viewpoint mentioned before, albeit a golden bell perched atop a mountain isn’t hard to miss. It costs 20 baht but is a nice place to visit, beautiful temple and view where you can plane watch, there are also some cool statues along the way
You may have heard of the Three Wise Monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, through pop culture. You see these statues on the way up to the pagoda and no joke, I gasped, immediately thinking of that one GTA V scene. There are many other references in pop culture too, but I vividly remember watching a “GTA V Easter Eggs” video on it. Just wanted to mention my revelation on the monkeys
Funny how we humans learn about things nowadays
Destination 3 – Big Buddha Temple
What most people would declare a MUST-VISIT in Koh Samui, the Big Buddha Temple is found on an island linked to mainland Koh Samui via a road. It’s not only the temple but also an island with statues scattered around too, there’s great food and views on the island too, plus the entry is free!
Destination 4 – Wat Plai Laem (Buddhist Temple)
We’re still going?
A temple complex located in the middle of a lake, dotted with statues and temples. What I would consider a MUST-VISIT, the lake, temples and statues are really beautiful. There are a lot of buildings and temples to visit, definitely fit for photographers or tourists in general. There are a lot of statues and temples in Koh Samui, but this is one I would recommend you visit.
Night Market count (Samui) – 2
Another one, this time I know the location of. Right outside Central Samui, cross the road. The plan was to actually eat here this time, dinner consisting of potato balls (again), fried rice, skewers, omelette rice etc. Eating here turned out to be a good decision because on the stage there was some Muay Thai demonstration going on
Day 4 and 5 – Beach days
No, I am not getting lazy, quite the opposite. The thing about beach days, is there’s nothing to talk about, nada. You’re laying there, occasionally entering the water if not sitting down and enjoying the breeze, that’s all there is to it. Now it might not seem like I’m the biggest fan of beach days (I’m not) but I still don’t mind em, they’re tolerable. All there really is to talk about on days like these are food, and football
Some notable things to mention include
- Going to MK on Day 4 for dinner, a very popular suki/steamboat/hotpot chain in Thailand, where the food was actually pretty good (incomparable to Cameron Highlands)
- Going to sleep on the 5th day when Manchester United was losing 0-1 to Bournemouth at Old Trafford and waking up to see a 0-3 result
- Watching the Liverpool V Crystal Palace game
Conclusion – Off to Pak Bara/ Koh Lipe
We haven’t even properly scratched the surface of Koh Samui yet, it’s such a beautiful place with so many things to do and definitely a place you HAVE to visit in your lifetime, its very “Thailandy”
If you’re going to Koh Samui, here’s some things to take note of
- Samui Natien is a fantastic hotel, make sure to check it
- There are a lot of beaches, temples and night markets to visit, you’ll never run out
- I think the MUST-VISITS include: Wat Plai Laem and the Big Buddha Temple
- Take note of the required attire and etiquette when visiting religious sites. No shorts and no sleeveless tops.
Make sure to refer to the post linked HERE to have a look at the other places we visited during our 16-days road trip across Malaysia and Thailand. That’s all from me, make sure to drink your food and eat your water.