Ko Samui, Thailand - December 2018

While it was a pretty vanilla day for the most part, the sunset was outstanding.

Our visit to Ko Samui was part of our South East Asian cruise that Sam and I did back over Christmas. at the back end of 2018. The day before this we’d spent checking out the stunning Ayutthaya World Heritage UNESCO site in Bangkok, on what turned out to be a fairly busy 12 hour day. Today things promised to be a lot more relaxed on Ko Samui, we were basically going to a resort to lay on the beach for the day, reading and swimming for a day is right up my alley!

We had another tough day in front of us today.

With a day of swimming in front of us I was pretty happy to wake up to blue sky and sunshine streaming in through our window. After a short tender ride from our ship that was anchored off shore in the Gulf of Thailand, we came ashore at Nathon Pier in Nathon Town. Jumping onto a bus we then headed up around the coast for 25 minutes to the flash Peace Resort, now I’m thinking if you were staying in this resort your day just got a little darker as two busloads of tourists suddenly darkened the doorway to your peaceful resort (well I wouldn’t of been overjoyed, that’s for sure).

Ko Samui from water level.

The Peace Resort had set up deck chairs and umbrellas for the boat people though, and we had our own little slice of the steeply sloping beach reserved for us. We were allowed to use the resorts pool and facilities but weren’t allowed to use the sun loungers around the pool, which was fair enough I think. Now like I mentioned the beach was fairly steeply sloping, it was also fairly narrow as well, so with our sun lounges laid out three deep we were almost blocking off the whole section of the beach. This road block proved a good thing for the numerous beach touts that were plying their trade trade on the sand and they appeared to do a roaring trade with the cruise passengers.

The locals turned up to sell their wares.

This bloke was lugging his collection of inflatable toys up and down the beach.

My back had been giving me a fair bit of grief for the last few days (probably something to do with eating like a pig, sleeping 10 hours a day, laying by the pool and doing bugger all exercise) so I was keen to do a bit of swimming today. The swimming on the ship is really limited to just soaking in one of the pools to cool down, I couldn’t really use them for any real exercise even if I’d felt inclined. Now though I had an ocean in front of me and I made good use of it, spending a lot of time out in the tepid water. Speaking of water it wasn’t your typical crystal clear blue water here, the water was fairly cloudy. It wasn’t until I swam 50 metres off shore to a buoy that I worked out why the water was a bit murky, diving down 3 or 4 metres at the buoy I reached the bottom to find slimy black mud, no wonder things were a bit murky. Thinking about it a little it looks like the slopping sandy beach is reclaimed land, it probably use to be mangroves, the coarse sand has probably been trucked in and doesn’t go too far out into the bay. Unfortunately on our trip through South East Asia we saw a lot of low coastal mangroves areas being reclaimed for development and I guess by us frequenting these spots I’m now part of the problem….?

The swim today did my back the world of good.

The water here is a little on the murky side.

Ko Samui

One thing I need to mention about our day at the Peace Resort was the superb Thai lunch that they put on. While the choices weren’t as extensive as some places we’d visited the Thai food was delicious here, easily the best food we had on our 22 day cruise, if you ever find yourself staying at the Peace Resort in Ko Samui you are in for a treat when it come to the food I think.

Peace Resort, if you are lucky enough to stay here then you are in for a treat when it comes to food I think.

Waiting for our tender back to the ship Sam and I checked out a few of the local fishing boats.

Sailing away from Ko Samui tonight.

All good things come to an end and all to soon it was time to retrace our journey back to the ship. Now while today had been pretty good, in a low stress kind of chilled out way, tonight provided the highlight. After getting everyone back onboard we set sailed off towards Singapore beneath one of the best sunsets on the cruise. It always amazes me on those cruises how few punter bother to go up on deck and check out these sunsets, if they are on deck they are inevitably looking inwards towards the pools, bars, other punters or the big screen and not off the ship at natures show. Today was no exception as we shared the sunset with less than a handful of other guests.

Oh, before I log off, the swimming fixed my back so that was another bonus of our day on Ko Samui!

The Dirt.
Sam and I visited Ko Samui on a Princess cruise. We booked a ship tour called Samui Retreat Resort & Beach Getaway which set us back just under $70 US for the day. I was looking to just chill out on the beach, doing a bit of swimming and reading so I suppose everything worked out as planned. The beach and water weren't exactly what I was expecting but the great Thai lunch was better than I'd imagined, so I think everything evened out, so to speak.

Relevant Posts.
Ayutthaya, Bangkok, Thailand, 2018.

Sailing out into the Gulf of Thailand tonight the sunset was simply stunning.

Sunset, Ko Samui.

Sunset, Ko Samui.

It constantly surprises me how few punters come up on deck to check out those beautiful sunsets.