Koh Samui & Christmas!

Getting there
We took the Seatran ferry which is larger and slower than the catamaran,  but it is cheaper and still only took around 1 hour. We were met the other side by a minivan. That took us to our hotel.

Accomodation
We stayed at the new Novotel on the island. It has recently been taken over by Novotel,  it used to be owned by the Kata group and was known as kandaburi resort and spa.

The hotel was in a great location at the quieter end of Chaweng Beach,  the rooms were large and clean,  and had everything you could want from a hotel room. The staff and service were good here!

Chaweng Beach is known as the prettiest beach in Koh Samui,  and it is gorgeous.  shallow blue water,  5km long,  and an island to gaze at just off the beach. The beach also has many hotels,  bars and restaurants along it and if you were searching for a party I am sure you would be able to find one.

We had rain a few of the days we were here,  and nearly every night in the early hours., this wasn't a huge problem,  but did limit you on what you could do. The film channels in the hotel made this easier.

We celebrated Christmas at the hotel on the 24th,  (apparently it is celebrated on the 24th here) we had a Christmas buffet, with Turkey and Brussel Sprouts! This was what was desired and we were pleased we found turkey in Thailand.

On Christmas day we had a meal at treetops restaurant which was amazing. Some truly brilliant food, with wine pairing.  The location of the restaurant is in levels in a treehouse,  so your table is private.

Another place on Koh Samui we would highly recomend was a restaurant called The Larder. It was fantastic, any foodies heaven!  It was essentially a British gastro pub with some Thai flair and the food was so good we went there twice. The prices were similar to what you would pay in the UK for a meal,  but the standard of food and service was exceptional. And they have Cheese!  And it's amazing!  The best cheese since leaving the UK. 

Besides eating and drinking and chilling by the pool we didn't do too much in Koh Samui, so off we went to Phuket.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Koh Tao

Hua Hin to Koh Tao - Getting there

This was relatively easy, although it was an early start to get to the ferry office in Hua Hin before 7.30am where we had to check in with the ferry company and confirm all of our bookings etc. We then had to wait around for 45 minutes for the bus to arrive, it was an AC bus with reclining seats. The Journey from Hua Hin to Chumpon took around 4.5 hours. and got us to the ferry port around 2pm. We boarded the Lomprayah High Speed Catamaran for a nice smooth ride to Koh Tao (Mae Haad Pier). The water was crystal blue and very flat making it a relaxing journey.

 At the port we were collected by the hotel and taken to one of the nicest hotels we had stayed in, the Haad Tien Beach Resort (Check it out, this was the view from our room). The location was stunning, the rooms were stunning, the private beach was stunning. The service was ok. We were here for a couple of nights, and the food was pretty good, although they had just changed the menu and this caused a few mistakes, however we addressed this and management seemed to be sorting the problems, and had taken it seriously.  

We had a nice time staying here, but didn't have much time to get a feel for Koh Tao as we were a bit limited due to rain! It appeared to be a diving hotspot with more diving schools than anything else filling the streets around the harbour. 

We did manage a couple of quick trips to the local town (Mae Haad) via the free shuttle provided by the hotel and ate at a little local restaurant called Nana's on the main street. On another night we found a beautiful little coffee shop called the lounge, which was just like somebodies front room, but with tasty cocktails. (It even had a cat that liked sitting on laps, Abi loved it!)

The following day it was off to Koh Samui!

*****photos to follow****

A fleeting visit to Hua Hin

Transport
We had a transfer arranged by taxi as part of the tour and the drive was around 3-4 hrs from kanchanaburi.

Accommodation
We stayed in a mall boutique hotel - The Rock Hua Hin. It was a gorgeous little place with lots of little touches. We were very impressed by the rooms and hotel generally.
Breakfast was lovely with a very good selection and with nice little touches such as yoghurt in jars and juices in glass milk bottles!
After the long drive, we had food in the hotel on our first night and were pleasantly surprised  by the quality of the food especially as we were the only ones in there!
The infinity pool was gorgeous however the beach which the hotel backed onto had a very small amount of sand so no use for sunbathing, the tide was right in a lot of the time. But It was lovely and warm for a dip and actually was very shallow.

The night Market
On our second night we ventured into the night market which was very busy, brimming with tourist's looking for their holiday bargains!!! It was much the same as most night markets in Thailand, but the family were able to pick up a few bargains to take home with them!

We ended up eating in a fish restaurant called KO seafood, along the way which actually was fine, but I certainly wouldn't rush to go back!!

Then we headed back to the hotel for a G&T in the lovely bar before heading to bed in preparation for the early morning pick up the next day!!

The Gorgeous Pool & Sea

Our Lovely Room!

Kanchanaburi & The river kwai

Transport
So we had an early taxi from Bangkok (around 4 hr drive) which took us to an area close to the bridge over the river kwai. Here we could take a speedboat to the bridge to get a good view of it from below. This was great fun, the boat was very speedy!!!

Once arriving at The bridge over the River Kwai, we had time to walk over it and take pictures as well as read signs that explained different parts of the bridge. There were also some of the old original trains on display. It was very interesting and just the start of a day learning about the bridge and the prisoners of war.

After the bridge we went to the. Museum & Cemetery. The museum is great and explains all of the history in detail with some impressive displays and artefacts.

We really could have spent over an hour in the museum alone but had to do both the museum and cemetery in an hour which felt rushed really. The cemetery was very eerie but beautifully kept and a lovely place to come and pay your respects to all of the brave individuals that lost their lives during the building of the railway.

Once back on the bus we made our way to our hotel for the night...somewhere we were very excited about...The River Kwai jungle rafts. We were going to be spending the next 24hr on a floating hotel!
We obviously had to take a boat to the hotel which was great fun, winding down the river at quite some speed! On arrival we were given lunch which was a mixture of Thai dishes with rice and were told everything we needed to know about the stay and what we would be doing.

As soon as we could we had our swimsuits on and were jumping into the river! It wad lots of fun and once in it was literally a giant lazy river where you could be carried by the current from one end of the hotel to another! It was certainly fun trying to grab onto the hotel at the last minute before being swept away!

In the early evening we walked onto the land and to a village next to the rafts which is home to the Mon people. A lot of them are employed on the rafts, but otherwise they run elephant trekking and make handicrafts to sell as a means of making a living.  It was interesting walking round, meeting some locals and seeing how they live. It was amazing that despite the village being small, there was still a rather large and beautifully adorned temple!
Once back to the rafts we had dinner before watching a traditional Mon performance. It was again interesting and the dancing was great, but we did find the music very noisy and were unable to understand the rhythm!

The next day after breakfast we were taken to the Hellfire pass & museum. This was one of the areas that was most difficult to build the railway and lots of PoW lost their lives here. We were able to walk on where the railway once was -there are actually quite a few sleepers remaining. And see the memorial there before heading into the museum. Again this was incredibly interesting (despite there being some repetition from the previous museum). We left, well informed and feeling incredibly grateful to all of those who lost their lives. Also thankful to live in a peaceful world without wars on this scale.

After the museum we had lunch and were able to take a ride on a small amount of the railway line that is remaining. This included one part that is on a rickety looking wooden bridge over the water!

From the railway we were met by a driver who was to take us to our next destination; Hua Hin! 

The bridge over the River Kwai

Alone on the Bridge

A lone tree in the path of the death railway

A gorge cut out from the hillside for the railway to pass through

Stilted bridges for the trains to cross.

A Temple in the middle of the forest at the Mon Village

Entertaining but noisy Mon Performance