We’ve spent the past two days exploring the island by bike. Usually we just rent scooters, as I don’t like manual transmissions. But after a quick lesson on motorbike gear-shifting from our guesthouse owner, we were off. Yesterday, we circumnavigated the island clockwise. Driving east, we passed a few small beach towns before curving southwards towards the developed side of the island. First, we stopped at Chaweng, a super developed and touristy area. Although the main road runs alongside the beach, you cannot see any beach from the road. It’s a total Waikiki. We parked the bike, grabbed some snacks, and walked through a resort to get to the ocean. It was a really nice stretch of sand with constant waves. The water was nice- warm and shallow out past the waves. It wasn’t white sand and crystal clear waters as our guidebooks claimed (but after the Maldives, I take those descriptions literally), but it was nice. Ko Samui is surrounded by beautiful colored water. The clarity is good, but from our guesthouse in Maenam, we can see turquoise waters all the way to neighboring Ko Pha Ngan. Chaweng is similar with absolutely beautifully colored water.
After a couple hours, we got back on the bike and headed to Lamai, supposedly another developed-yet-nice beach. However, an unnamed bay caught our eyes, so we pulled over and walked down to the beach. We think the name is Crystal Bay, based on the name of a nearby resort, but regardless I think we stumbled onto one of the nicest beaches I’ve ever seen. There’s not too many people, the water is perfect- warm, shallow, amazing hues; huge Hampi-sized boulders border the cove (like if you’ve ever seen photos of the Seychelles), powdery sand, and palms right on the beach to provide plenty of shade.
Crystal Bay
We just swam and took in the scenery for a bit, before deciding to be on our way so we could finish our circuit before dark. On our way to Lamai, we did stop to hike to a little rocky outcrop with two well-known rocks, known as Grandfather Rock and Grandmother Rock. Then we rode straight back to Maenam covering the southern and western sides of the island. The island reminded us of Maui- a lush tropical mountainous island. Would’ve taken some photos to provide here, but we were on a bike.
grandfather rock
grandmother rock
One thing I didn’t mention is that we got a flat tire yesterday. So after investing 100 baht in a new tube and 100 baht in gas (which as it turns out is a lot more than we needed), we decided to take the bike out again today. Oh, also the marine park is closed as its rainy season right now. Anyways, we followed yesterdays morning itinerary of hanging out at Chaweng in the morning and then heading to Crystal Cove in the afternoon. The trouble began when the dark clouds out over the ocean moved in and it began pouring. We ran back through the resort behind us and found a restaurant/internet café. We had some hot chocolate and spent some time replying to emails, while we waited for the rain to subside. It took a little over an hour before the rain really lightened. It was past three when we decided to go- it was still drizzling, but I certainly didn’t want to be driving on wet island roads in the dark. So we hopped on the bike and began the hour-long journey back. The rain wasn’t so bad, as I had sunglasses to protect my eyes from raindrops that stung our skin as we drove. The thing that was bad was the drainage on the road. More than once we were driving the bike through puddles, streams, and huge flows of water on the road. The reddish-orange water came up to my ankles a couple times, as I drove in the wakes of the vehicles ahead of us. I’ve walked through plenty of monsoon floods before, having lived in India, but I’ve never driven through floods before. It was an experience to say the least, but we made it back safely. Its been a fun past couple of days and we’ve seen a lot of Ko Samui, from it beautiful beaches and mountains to its flooded roads.