Christmas on Koh Samui
After Tanya and I returned from Laos, we landed in Bangkok, quickly changed flights and flew to what we assumed was Surat Thani, and airport near Koh Samui, however, we landed at a completely different airport called Nakhon Si Thammarat. They were both around the same distance from the port where the ferry would be waiting to take us to Koh Samui, so it was no big issue.
We actually booked a fly and ride, which I'd never heard of, but it basically was a flight and a bus ride to the port all together on one booking. Both airpots had this option, but they didn't tell us that they airport would be changing. It doesn't really matter, it was just funny when I checked the map, to find out we were in a totally different location.
We jumped on the minibus, over to the port, got on the ferry, which took twice as long as expected, then arrived on the west side of Koh Samui at about 6pm, with no taxis available really, just the standard scammer taxis waiting to rip tourists off.
Asia's version of Uber is called Grab, and there were absolutely no Grabs available on this side of the island. If you're going to Koh Samui, rent a scooter, the cost of one Grab would pretty much equal the weekly scooter rental - Grab is a complete rip off on this island, as are all taxis.
Anyway, we jumped in a taxi which took us all the way to the other side of the island to our apartment, where we stayed for 3 weeks. It was comfortable, but I have no idea why people choose this island. The beaches aren't that good, it takes ages to get anywhere, and it's literally crammed full of loud tourists. I definitely won't be coming back.
We spent some time with Kurt and Tom, and also my friends Daniel and Keiron were over for a while so we all did this boat trip together to Pig Island, which is literally an island with a restaurant, and some pigs. That beach was alright actually. However, once again, the boat guy tried to rip us off.
I'll be back to Thailand, because the internet is fast in most places, the connections on flights are good, and I like the food and prices, but there are a lot of downsides to Thailand and on Koh Samui, I seen a lot of those downsides.