In the end we decided to fly Bangkok airways to ko samui from Phuket rather than a 10 hour day travelling. Only an hour flight we were really stoked with our lunch meal and our brightly painted ATR. Quite cool. We got a shuttle from the cute airport to our accommodation where we unpacked and walked along beach. We found a bar where the seating was beanbags on the sand with candles dug into the sand. The cocktails were two for one So had a few cocktails there and found another place further along beach for dinner. On Gregs birthday we had a relaxing day on the beach in Chaweng. Later that night we had a bucket of cocktail and dinner on the beach. Most of our time in chaweng was spent at the beach. The weather was amazing so all we wanted to do was swim and sunbath. We have made friends with a cute wee thai family who sell corn cobs, mangoes, pineapple and fresh coconut on the beach. The wife cooks and the daughter helps her while the husband catches small fish and crabs. Every time we buy something we get two free bananas for happy hour. We have kept them in business the past week buying a few items from them daily. On the 4th night in ko samui we moved to lamai beach which is further south. After a taxi driver tried to rip us off twice we arrived in our new accommodation. During our time there we beached and ate out lots. We found a really cheap night food market so went there for a couple of nights. The thai people kept saying hello my friend your back. They seemed very happy we were back to buy off them. A Thai curry was 2 nzd 50baht. Very cheap. We had banana and chocolate pancakes there too like Phuket. One day we hired a scooter for 200baht for 24 hour hire to explore the whole island ourselves. We checked out several waterfalls and the big Buddha. It poured with rain several times during our trip so we had to pull over under shelter wherever we found some. We decided once we were wet we were wet so kept biking in the pouring rain getting strange stares from locals. It all added to the adventure. We scootered around to Nathon town to check out markets and through busy Chaweng stopping at our favourite place for a omelette. The beach at Lamai wasn't as picturesque as Chaweng but we enjoyed seeing another part of the island. We got put off swimming there on the second day after seeing several large jelly fish washed up on sand and one poor man getting stung by one. Wasn't nice to watch. After 3 nights in Lamai we went back to Chaweng to the same accommodation for 4 nights. We found the Laem Dim Market for dinner a few nights. More delicious cheap Thai food. We have tried all the famous dishes such as green curry, papaya salad, and thai omelette. We are asking for all our dishes to be thai spicy now. We are sick of local suit men saying gidday mate how's it going? Thinking we are ozzies. They try and speak with the accent from what nationality you say you are. One night Greg said we were from china. The next night he started speaking to us in Chinese and we had no idea what he was saying. Was quite funny!! The last night we finally said we were from New Zealand and he said ohhhh kiwi kia ora bro. We can't get over how many dogs there are roaming the streets and beach. Some look really sick, malnourished and have clearly been in a scrap. Quite horrible. But others are really really friendly. Most resorts have pet dogs and cats roaming around. Ko samui is less tourist focused and more relaxing than Phuket. Although we have enjoyed staying at both places. It is wet season and the past few days we have had a few down pours. It rains solidly for an hour and then will clear up as if it never rained!
It's nearly 6 am here and it's pouring outside. We have a long day ahead travelling by speedboat and then bus to Bangkok where we start our intrepid. More updates from there.