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KO SAMUI
After our time in Penang, Malaysia, we spent all of January 28, 2000 traveling to Ko Samui, an island off the eastern coast of southern Thailand, located in the Gulf of Thailand. It was great to get back to a true beach environment, particularly one as pretty and laid back as Ko Samui. Incidentally, for those who have read or seen The Beach (the movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio), Ko Samui, and the surrounding islands, play a prominent role.
Having endured a day of crowded mini-vans and small pick-up trucks, we boarded a ferry for the 1.5 hour ride to the island of Ko Samui. With its aquamarine water and numerous, vegetation covered limestone outcrops rising out of the ocean, this part of Thailand is very picturesque.
We stayed at Lamai Beach on the eastern coast of Ko Samui. Many of the locals rely on fishing for their livelihood, as shown by these fishing boats docked in the surf at the north end of Lamai.
Thai woman walking along beach.
Bo and Heidi Mullan arrived into Ko Samui on January 31. Here they pose in front of Big Buddha.
Big Buddha, at Wat Phra Yai, sits roughly 36 feet high into the sky.
On Bo and Heidi's first night we enjoyed an entertaining evening of Muay Thai, or Thai Boxing. Quite the spectacle, in Thai Boxing the combatants where boxing gloves and trunks similar to those worn by American boxers. Unlike American boxing, however, in Thai boxing blows are not confined to mere punches to the head. Rather, all parts of the body are fair game, as the combatants rain punches, kicks, elbows and knees upon one another (including the brutal move of grasping an opponent behind his neck and slamming his face into a rising knee). At times, the matches resemble wrestling, as occasionally the fighters will be caught in clinches and try to slam the other to the ground. Adding to the spectacle and as enjoyable as the fights was the ceremony that preceded each match. The boxers would enter the ring and, accompanied by Thai instrumental music (sounding somewhat Arabic in nature) that would play through the entire fight, they would rhythmically pray, dance and meditate around the ring. Above, the boxers are engaged in such pre-fight ceremony.
Off the porch of our $29 a night bungalow splurge on Lamai Beach.
The major industry on Ko Samui is the cultivation of coconuts, as the entire island is covered with coconut palm trees as seen here.
A crew from one of Ko Samui's many fishing boats relaxes after a long, hard day of fishing at the Nathon Pier.
The grounds of our tropical beach resort, which now clearly takes the prize as the best place we've stayed during this journey.
Bo, Heidi, Kelly and Rich at Lamai.
Continue with us as we travel north to Chiang Mai, Thailand. |
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