Ko Samui was a long debated choice for us, as although it is an island and our return to Thailand was to visit the islands for their beach style holidays, it has no place in the backpacker circle!

Let us explain. Because of its heavy Western influence and its chain restaurants, holier than thou backpackers have been for years and still do turn their noses up at the mere mention of the place.

It is advertised as a perfect destination for families, honeymooners and couples, as it has the conveniences of home with a tropical climate and apparently sea and beaches to match. But with all this difference of opinion we just had to nosey for ourselves and make our own mind up, with the result of us having mixed views of the island as a whole.

We went to a part where the crowd is so called "younger and less groomed', which we found not to be the case. Where we stayed was quiet and just off of the main bustle but the crowd throughout was older, with at least half been middle age single men. This trend in different proportions seemed to follow throughout the island as we saw when we explored.

This middle age group has based on what we saw one quite obvious reason for been here and that is for 'rent a girl'! Yep that's right these sad cases pick up the bar girls that throw themselves at any man passing and generally end up spending the duration of their stay with them. This costing the…..eeerrrr, shall we say "customer" a tidy bit as the bar girl gets all her meals, drinks and use of the "customers" lodgings for this period, oh and there is of course the other cost for her "time and extras"!!! The "lady boys" that seem to be everywhere in Thailand also have a similar set up, but their customers are of a different nature which were sure you can guess at.

To get a feel for the rest of the Island we got a moped for a couple of days and went exploring, the nicest beach seemed to be one called 'Chaweng' on the east side of the island half way up. This also turned out to be the busiest and more expensive area, with bigger resorts and even more commercialised than where we were, to the point you didn't feel like you were in a foreign country! Still they had the bars full of screaming girls and lady boys in high heels and mini skirts, so the middle age single crowd was sure to be around but on at a lower population.

We found some nice view points around the island looking very picturesque and did consider scuba diving here, but in all honesty the sea was just not having the correct appeal. The sea here is calm and hardly has a wave, meaning the sea should be relatively clear as it isn't getting stirred up, however that was not really so. It had kind of a muddy tinge to it, which on one beach is guaranteed as it's a mangrove beach so there is mud involved, but it appears that something is muddying the waters at every beach. So we decided against diving or swimming here and instead stuck to life around our pool.

Speaking of pools we found loads of huge on the beach hotel resorts, which were no doubt at one point pristine and grand in all their glory. But are now run down and deserted in the way of guests, but somehow still open! They are scattered all over the island and for such a so called holiday makers paradise it is very odd to see them like this. We pondered why this may be as even where we are the hotels and resorts off the beach are the fuller ones and we thought maybe people are scared of the beach front. After all everyone of these islands was damaged when the Tsunami hit in 2004 and maybe people are just too scared of been in the direct line of fire and instead prefer the safety of an inland resort, with a short walk to the beach as they wish. But that's just an thought.

One thing we did notice is that everywhere we went there was at least one 'McDonalds' if not two every where we looked, and the chains didn't stop there. Oh no, Burger King, Starbucks, and even Tesco were in on the act two! So no chance of escaping the feel of home here.

As for families, well there is very little for kids to do if they get bored of the beach and its debatable whether you would want to expose them to the shenanigans of the rent a Thai brigade, as these groups seem to be drawn to one another in a way of acceptance for what they are doing and so forth become drunk at every chance and cause havoc in and around the place that one of them is staying. Of course the island has various guided trips to offer which mainly involve boats or a jungle but there would only be a select few suitable for a family.

If you love people watching though this place is fantastic for that and whenever we were out this is what passed most of our time.

Well there you are, that's our account of Ko Samui, which if you find a quiet hotel with a pool is fine as long as you eat at the street stalls as the restaurants carry a price hike for the benefit of having home conveniences! Oh and as long as you don't mind murky sea water the beach is fine.

For us if the island was more like an island than a Blackpool outpost and with a different clientele it could be nice but as it is it was just ok. But quite amazing the number of people that feel the need to rent a partner!

For our next stop we are revisiting a place we have already been when we had Carina's sister Alicia with us and that is the island of Ko Pha-Ngan, our time there was only short but it was a gorgeous place that we wan to see again, so we are doing, just because we can!!!