@travellingwiththeateam

Well today marks the 9th and final day on the beautiful island of Samui and our wonderful stay at U Samui hotel. It’s been a very relaxing time and just what we all needed after the last few frantic months of travelling and college work & study for Amelia.

We are all going to miss our time here, the great breakfasts, followed by days of R&R and not having to be anywhere!

This morning we enjoyed a stroll along the deserted beach with our feet the only footmarks in the sand.

Over the last week or so we have watched day cruises come and go from the nearby pier, but this morning it’s all quiet and peaceful.

After the exertion of a beach walk we settled into another day by the pool and the bright sunshine that followed.

These last 2 weeks have been like holidays of old, where we have reconnected after being apart. Amelia has said how much she’s loved the time here, especially staying in a wonderful hotel and being together just the three of us. Happy times for us all. Playing in the pool or just chatting on the sun loungers it’s made memories we will always remember.

We spent much of the day doing what we’ve done for the last week or so, messing around the hotel grounds and just hanging out together.

We had planned to return to one of the restaurants we visited early in our stay, but sadly it was booked for a private party so we decided to mark our final night by dinning at the hotel garden bar. Fortunately for us it was also the night that they have a local singer who sang some incredible cover versions and had the most amazing voice. It felt like she was just performing for us and made the night even more memorable & special.

Our meal was lovely and struck the right note. Light and very tasty!

Amelia was keen to finish with a local Thai favourite, sticky rice with mango and cream. It looked and tasted delicious.

We finished the evening with a couple more card games in the hotel restaurant and agreed how much we’d all appreciated the laidback vibe over the last week. The hotel and the staff have been brilliant and we would hesitate staying in one of their other hotels elsewhere in Thailand as and when.

Tomorrow we have the morning and part of the afternoon to squeeze the last few hours out of our hotel stay, before we fly at 5.30pm back up to Bangkok for our last night before we go out separate ways.

Looking forward the plan is for Amelia to head out again in September before she starts back at University. Something for us all to look forward to.

After the last few days of cloudy skies, we woke to bright sunshine and all was good in the world of U Samui.

Nothing quite beats the positivity sun brings and how it lifts the soul!

We made the best of our time after breakfast, walking on the beach followed by getting comfortable with our latest books next to the pool.

Whilst it feels like we just keep pressing repeated, it’s what we all need and provides a sense of normality in an otherwise unfamiliar world of constantly being on the move.

It’s definitely felt good to just relax and do ‘normal’ stuff with Amelia, as this is what she was harbouring for, rather than touring around Samui looking at waterfalls and beaches. We have plenty of time to do this, Amelia has just 2 weeks and can do all that other stuff with her friends during her other summer vacations.

Before we knew it the day had almost past with little note, other than the enjoyment of a read, a coffee and a chat before it was time to change and get ready for dinner out at a local beach restaurant.

Each night we have tried to catch the sunset, as the hotel is blessed with being in such a wonderful spot to watch the end of the day.

Once Amelia was ready we grabbed a couple of photos on our last but one night in Samui and made out way to a local bistro, close to the Big Buddha and just a 10min walk away.

The walk took us past the evening market where fresh fish was being sold and the locals pick out produce for their next days meals. It’s such a simple existence and one that we are quite envious of!

We spent another memorable evening sitting at a table immediately next to the beach looking across the bay, reminding ourselves how lucky we are to have these special times.

The food we ordered was delicious, Amelia went for a burger with all the trimmings, Michelle a Thai salad and Andy a Thai fish and chips. Sometimes you just need something you recognise and wow was it really tasty.

We had talked about staying out late in one of the sports bars to catch the final England game against Estonia, but as this started at 1am we thought better of it and boy are we glad after waking up the next day to hear it was a boring goalless game.

Tomorrow is out last full day in Samui and the weather looks to be sunny and hot, so we plan to keep with our favoured routine and make the most of just being together and having a fun time.

A day of two halves.

Despite a cloudy start to the morning, we ‘battled’ on and lay out on the sun loungers with books in hands willing the sunshine weather to return. As it’s the wet season, we were always going to be fighting a losing battle, and by lunchtime a heavy rain storm hit and we retreated to the hotel room with our friendly cat doing its best to follow suit!

With the rain showing no sign of abating, the afternoon became Admin time and we organised the return of Amelia’s car to the road by and getting the Mini insured and booking it in for a MoT. We had hoped this would only take a hour or so, but how wrong we were. Thankfully after much googling and Comparing the Market.com we managed to find a policy that didn’t involve us taking a second mortgage and allows Amelia to take her car back to Loughborough University in the September. In the meantime she will now have a car to get around Oxford and be able to see her friends over the summer months.

After this achievement, we went out to ‘celebrate’ over coffees at a nearby cafe.

After the caffeine hit and a pleasant walk, we went in search of a restaurant for dinner. Being Monday night most places were pretty quiet and we opted for pizza over something Thai.

Amelia has been feeling a little off colour, so returned to the hotel with the intention of treating herself to a Seven Eleven later in the evening.

Dinner was just the two of us at a restaurant close to the hotel where we toasted sorting the car insurance over a beer!

A quiet day all in all, but one where books were read, we played more card games, we chatted and also got the damn (!) car insurance sorted, plus Amelia made plans for her return to the UK on Friday.

Another relaxing start to the day. Post breakfast we found ourselves some beanbags, and Amelia a hammock, and snoozed in the morning’s sunshine.

We were joined by our new ‘family pet’ a local cat who has befriended Amelia and comes each morning to sit on our outdoor patio chair.

As it’s been a little cloudy this morning, we’ve had the pool and the hotel bar to ourselves, and have been able to kick back like the place is our own!

After all this R&R, we eventually decided to leave the hotel and take bikes to explore the local temple and visit Samui’s famous big Buddha.

The hotel very kindly lent us the three bikes and after a little faffing trying to get helmets to fit, and saddles at the right height, we set off on our little adventure.

Fortunately the big Buddha was less than a mile away (!) and in no time we had made it to the base of the temple and could look up in awe at the sight of the golden statue.

Having visited our fair share of Buddhas over the last couple of months, it had been good to have a week off since we were last up close to one….

This Samui Buddha is impressive, sat on a raised platform gave it a greater presence, and the backdrop over the sea and nearby hills only serve to remind you how magnificent and eye catching it is.

The Samui Big Buddha is one of the sights on the island and there was a constant flow of people coming up the steep steps to look in awe at this spectacular structure.

Around the base of the statue are mini Buddhas representing the days of the week. In total there are eight, with Wednesday having two, one for the morning and one for the afternoon.

We witnessed a monk offering blessings to both locals and tourists alike. It’s so pleasing to see how open they are both with their religion and lives. We definitely have much to learn from the Buddhist way of life!

Around the temple there were a number of other monuments/statutes representing Buddhism and what it signifies to the community.

Around the temple site were a series of statues that at low tide sit in splendid isolation in the dry banks, but soon become swallowed up by the sea once the tide comes in.

After wandering around the temple and the surrounding markets we got back on the bikes for the return journey. Such good fun to get around by peddle power and to be able to stop and take in the surroundings.

We definitely appreciate how lucky we are to be here and as a family.

As ever all tours need a guide, so Andy took up the lead and showed us the way back, with a pit stop at a local store where the girls were keen to check out some dresses they’d seen in a restaurant the night before.

After surviving the cycle trip we returned to what we do best, sitting around the pool, reading, chatting and playing the occasional card game.

The best of the days sunshine came late on, so we took up residence on the sun loungers and watched the sunset.

We are incredibly fortunate to be staying at a fantastic hotel with great views from a roof terrace out over the beach and wider bay.

It therefore makes it hard not to want to just stay here each evening and marvel at the views we have immediately to hand.

Amelia was keen to get dressed up tonight and looked stunning in a white dress that she ‘inherited’ from Michelle a few years ago.

We decided to take the short walk up to the hotel terrace and enjoy mojitos whilst we played a game or two of Gin Rummy!

It’s been so good to have this time together doing the simple things. We all agree it’s what we needed and help’s to remind us of what’s important.

After another enjoyable evening, we took the short stroll back to our hotel room bringing to an end another day of contentment.

Tomorrow we are joined by Amelia’s old school friend Kitty who is staying nearby.

Sadly we only have three more days here in Samui before we return to Bangkok. Amelia then heads back to the UK and we pick up on our travels again and move on to Da Nang in Vietnam.

Going to miss our darling daughter.

A change of beach location today with a visit to nearby Chaweng, the busiest and biggest town in Samui.

It also benefits from 3km of white sandy beach which is the real draw.

In addition are the beachside institutions to cocktail bars, Chaweng’s nightlife is streets ahead of anywhere else on Samui in terms of choice. There is the famous Green Mango strip forming the axis around which the rest of the bars revolve and where later into the evening people descend.

The beach of Chaweng and the Wat Khao Hua Jook (a beautiful elevated Buddhist temple at Chaweng’s northern end), are the main attractions, so we decided to focus on the first and look around the temple tomorrow.

We spent most of the morning on the beach and Amelia and Andy caught up on some beauty sleep and built up their tans.

Sadly the weather started to turn around lunch and as we have experienced on prior days, the wind picks up and then the rain descends. When this happened it gave us an excuse to walk around the main strip and visit Central Samui the newly built shopping and leisure centre. It did feel a bit odd seeing the likes of H&M and Uniqlo, as well as Starbucks and Boots when the rest of the centre is awash with cheap local shops and massage places. I suppose it’s some form of modern day gentrification.

After returning to our hotel late afternoon, we changed and headed for an early evening dinner at a restaurant on the beach front called Nahm. It was only a 10min walk from where we are staying and was a great find. It’s all about the location perched above the beach and looking out across the bay and the array of boats all lit up in the nights sky. We met the Australian restaurant owner along with his wife, who were young and very friendly. They clearly have a real eye for detail making the place feel unique but still authentic. The food was good too.

When the food arrived it was a tale of two continents, Michelle staying true to South East Asia with her dumplings, whilst Andy went rogue with a spicy chicken burger and fries an American flavour.

So good to get out tonight and enjoy a meal in this beautiful setting. We ended up chatting for a couple of hours about a whole range of things and it made us realise how much we love having Amelia with us.

Tomorrow we plan to take bikes out from the hotel and head over to the nearby temple to see the raised Buddha.

This morning the girls headed to the Samui Elephant Sanctuary to witness the conservation of these beautiful creatures. The project promotes the conservation and coexistence of humans, wildlife and environment to be stable.

Andy opted for a more sedate morning (having previously visited an elephant sanctuary in Laos) and soaked up the sunshine and finished off his latest read.

The girls really loved their visit to the sanctuary and were impressed by the commitment and love that the organisers have put into looking after these now protected animals. It’s an incredible commitment and comes at some cost, with each elephant costing almost £200,000 to buy and then covering the daily feed. The average elephant can work its way through 350 kilos per day of grasses, fruit, bushes, small plants all grown on the farm all without any pesticides. In addition the elephant consumes 175 litres of water.

The care and love these animals receive is helping to elongate their lives with many now living to full maturity and into their 70yrs+.

The stories about the elephants former lives made sad listening with some from circuses where they were beaten, marked and generally abused daily until being rescued by the sanctuary.

Amelia so loved her time at the sanctuary and especially the opportunity to make and feed the elephants and see their total appreciation.

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Time to make the elephants feed which is specifically chosen to avoid any unwanted pesticides that have killed other elephants whose digestive system wasn’t able to function due to repeated infection.

The girls had a great half day at the sanctuary and were greatly touched by the connection they made with the lady owner but also the seven elephants they met and fed.

After lunch once the girls were back the intention was to spend a little more time at the pool before heading out for dinner at a beach club. Unfortunately the rain gods had other ideas and around 3pm the heavens opened and we had a torrential downpour for about 30mins.

Thankfully by early evening, and just before sunset the weather improved and we were able to get out for a walk along the beach front.

Michelle took full advantage of the sunset and dressed beautifully in her stunning white trousers purchased in Robe, South Australia a few months back.

With the return of the sun and a great view from the hotel grounds we decided to make the most of the evening. After purchasing cocktails we sat in the bar and watched the sunset playing cards with Amelia. Great memories that will stay with us when she returns to the Uk in a week’s time.

We know we are so lucky to be able to do what we are doing, and to be able to share the time with Amelia. It’s the simple things that make it enjoyable, like tonight’s card games followed by dinner in the hotel restaurant.

As Amelia was still feeling a little off colour we decided to eat at the hotel, rather than the planned restaurant further down the beach. The food and service was excellent and made for a lovely evening all together.

As the evening came to a close we had a wander around the hotel grounds on our way to our room and grabbed a few final photos to remember today.

Tomorrow we are heading to Chaweng for a look around and to check out the beach. Andy was last here in 1994, when he was backpacking but is hoping to be able to remember certain bits from his prior stay. Until then.

Another chilled day on the island of Samui.

The consensus between the three of us today was that we would press ‘repeat’ and make the most of the time relaxing by the pool. We all have books to be read and sunshine to bask in, so no need to pressure ourselves to go out on tours etc. Either way Michelle and Amelia are off to the Elephant Sanctuary tomorrow for a few hours and plan to look around after that.

The rest of the day was spent lounging, playing cards, reading and generally doing very little.

By the time early evening had arrived, and we’d had a couple of drinks around the pool, we hatched a plan to go to Fisherman’s Wharf, a bar and restaurant area a couple of miles along the coast. It’s a place we’d had recommended by Izzy, a girl we met on our tour of Cambodia.

The wharf is in Bo phut and is awash with restaurants and bars most on the beach. When we arrived we caught the nightly fire show with fireworks going off in all directions.

Dinner was at a pleasant Thai restaurant looking across to the beach which did a mean Thai green curry, as well as a delicious chicken with cashew nuts. Amelia was feeling a little off colour so went for a Caesar salad which pleasingly hit the mark for her.

This part of Samui is a little more commercial and we definitely heard more English voices than anywhere else during our time in Thailand.

Post dinner Amelia was keen for a dessert and went straight to one of the street vendors for her Thai tea fix!

Andy had other things on his mind, a good beer and a place where we could watch the England v Denmark Euro game which was due to start at 11pm.

The Main Street in Fisherman’s wharf was the busiest we’ve seen on the island since we arrived, but there is still a sense that the place has not fully recovered from COVID with a few places still closed.

The wharf is themed and we spotted a couple of well placed fishing boats with the obligatory dog relaxing waiting for any food to be dropped by an unsuspecting tourist.

The girls had a look around some of the stores, which were selling souvenir stuff and designer copy bags and sportswear (Nike trainers seem to be in vogue) being sold at a quarter of the price they would be at home. Thankfully there was no purchases and by 10pm we decided to return to our hotel and see if it would be showing the football.

By luck we dropped into a sports bar opposite the hotel showing the England game on a big screen. Sadly the match turned out to a dull and not particularly pretty England draw against the Danes. A disappointing showing from Southgate’s men and we are definitely hoping for a lot better in the last game of the group later in the week.

Not much more to report, it’s been a pretty low key day and one where we have let the time just wash over us. Nice to have these, knowing we have time on our side and can pick up the travelling plans again in a day or so.

A relaxing day in the norm, putting to one side Andy’s early morning 10k on the treadmill.

We decided to take things easy today and to enjoy the sunshine and the facilities of the U Samui hotel. It’s sits in a great position on the beach front with an eternity pool between our room and the sea.

After a very enjoyable breakfast, which had food and coffee options for every taste, we entered into the R&R zone and embraced the easy going feel of the hotel. We found our position at the pool side, got out a good book and made the most of the serene atmosphere and views.

After a morning of intense nothingness, we left Amelia on a sun lounger and went for a wander along the beach.

It’s low season at present so we had the place to ourselves and headed towards the nearby pier and the big Buddha in the distance.

The initial plan was to walk to the shrine, but the heat of the day was too intense, so we settled for a walk to the pier and took in the views from across the bay.

Once back at the hotel we returned to an afternoon of further ‘reflection’ and some more reading at the pool. Sometimes you just need to recharge those batteries and take stock of where you are and just enjoy it!

We can’t pretend today has been much more than a relaxing affair and it’s given us to time to just enjoy being with Amelia and doing holiday things.

Today was playing cards, reading our books, chatting about stuff, the things we want to see and do, the things we miss about home and what we might do differently. Those kind of conversations you have when you’ve got time on your hands and can reflect.

This evening we continued with the low key approach and decided not to go out and instead got take-out and relaxed at the hotel and caught up with some Apple TV viewing and watched the new series Presumed Innocent. We both remember the original film with Harrison Ford and hope it’s as good, which from the first 3 episodes it definitely has potential.

Tomorrow we plan to go further afield and visit Fishermen’s Wharf, a few miles up the coast for dinner, and possibly on to Chaweng beach if there’s time. Until then.

A day of travel. After 4 enjoyable days in Railay Beach we are saying goodbye and are heading to Koh Samui via Bangkok.

We had a relaxing morning on the beach lying in the sunshine and watching the world go by.

Early afternoon it was time to leave and take one last photo on this picturesque beach before making our way back to the airport in Krabi.

The first mode of transport is a long tail boat from Railay beach to Ao Nammao Pier.

From there it was a golf buggy ride to a nearby minibus and then a 40min drive back to Krabi airport.

We had originally hoped to get a direct flight to Koh Samui, a mere 50min flight, however its low season and these flights are few and far between and instead we are flying back up to Bangkok before a short layover and a further flight back south to Koh Samui.

With only 1hr 20mins to get off one flight and on to the other, it was going to be a rush at Bangkok airport. Having set off late from Krabi, when we landed and arrived at the terminal, it was 6.50pm and we had only 25mins before the gate to our flight to Koh Samui closed. It was a mad dash through the terminal, however the good news is we made it to the gate within 15mins! We were then able to relax in the knowledge we would be making it to Koh Samui as planned. Crazy to be rushing given how long we are away, but we are trying to get to do as much as possible whilst Amelia is with us.

The flight to Koh Samui with Bangkok Airways was fantastic. Great service & a pleasant meal and most importantly plenty of leg room!

We are staying at U Samui, only a few miles from the airport and just north of Chaweng beach. The hotel is stunning and a real boutique affair with views out to an eternity pool and the sea beyond. We are staying here for 9 nights and plan to do some touristy things for part of the time – big Buddha tour etc, with the rest of the time spent at the pool/sea and enjoy being together as a family.

After a long day of traveling, we caught up with some tv and watched the latest Euros footie game between Turkey & Georgia before hitting the sack at 11.30pm.

Tomorrow we plan to have a relaxing day before heading out in the evening for dinner in nearby Chaweng Beach.