We flew Bangkok Airways to Ko Samui on July 14 and stayed until the 26th. Richard, of course, arranged stunning accommodations for us at the Conrad and Cape Fahn.
We started our stay at Moon Cottage. This was our one-night padding so that if planes or ferries ran late, we’d still be on time for the Conrad. We were cautious because we weren’t sure about weather in monsoon season, and our initial plans were to take a ferry from Surat Thani, so we were extra cautious about potential delays. In the end, though, we decided to fly directly to the island, which worked out really well. Most of the Samui airport is entirely outside. It has a few gates and accommodates a surprising number of planes each day. Turns out the weather was fine. Our driver picked us up on schedule. We headed to Moon Cottage with no delays or hiccups.
The pictures of Moon Cottage online made it look a little more beautiful than it actually was, but overall it was fine and gave us the extra night of padding for a minimal price. Our cottage was up a private road off the main thoroughfare. The door to the garden locked but, almost like one of those puzzling existential plays where you stare at a door, you could easily walk around this door, so it guarded nothing. After we settled in, we walked down to the Main Street and had dinner at Uncle’s where I finally got my $2 phat Thai noodles.
Our evening at Moon Cottage was a dip in the pool to cool off and then sleep. We sat on the deck with our feet in the pool for about 10 minutes and then the rain started. I said to Richard, “Don’t worry. They don’t have thunder and lightning with these downpours.” Then there was the clap of thunder and lightning in the distance. We scrambled out of the water fast, and I lost major credibility for a while.
Next day, the driver from the Conrad picked us up and took us to the other side of the island for a room on the hills above the sea.
The Conrad was gorgeous! The rooms were modern, separate bungalows, each tucked away on different levels of the hillside overlooking the sea. Staff picked us up and dropped us off in golf carts, wherever we wanted to go on the property–to our room, breakfast the beach. The beach wasn’t really swimmable, but it was a beautiful place to have a lounger in the shade and relax. For the first couple of evenings, we got the dramatic effects of the monsoon winds strengthened by the presence of Typhoon Wipha in the South China Sea. With a few impressive gusts one afternoon, our outside deck pillows went flying into the pool, then bobbed along over the infinity pool edge. It was an effect demonstration of why floaties are not allowed!
From the Conrad we made our way to Cape Fahn, another beautiful place. Cape Fahn is technically a private island and the incoming tides separate it from the main beach. There is a special, very large, vehicle that can get through the water. If the tides are especially high, they use a boat. Just like the Conrad, we had our own private pool and secluded space. We got to know some of the staff at the restaurant and enjoyed chatting with them. We took a few strolls on the beach. There was still some cloudy weather the first few days, but it cleared up and we had hot sunny days at the end. Every bit of it was wonderful. The property has two restaurants. Long Dtai, the hill top restaurant, has garnered some recognition for its Thai food. We had one of our meals there and it’s definitely worthy of the good reviews. I was also thankful for the side bowl of cool veggies and seaweed after I accidentally ate one of those bird’s eye chiles. Still, my crab curry was fantastic.
We departed the Samui airport on the 26th and headed to Krabi to see if we could have some nice days on the sea, despite the monsoon winds and rains. I have a feeling I’m going to want to say more about Samui, but in the next post, I’ll give some of the details about our stay here on Ko Jum, a small island near Krabi where we’ve settled for a while.
Leave a Reply