Day-08: Ko Samui, Thailand

Day-08: Sunday, February 9, 2014

Beginning Location: Bay of Thailand, En-Route to Ko Samui, Thailand
Interim Location: Ko Samui, Thailand
Final Location: Bay of Thailand, En-route to Bangkok

We awakened around six this morning with the first vestiges of daylight illuminating the near shoreline. In that we were leaving for our shore excursion early we opted for breakfast to be brought in; promptly at 0730 our butler arrived with fruit plates, pastries, juice and coffee.



By 0800, we were securely anchored off the coast of Ko Samui, the second largest island of Thailand. In the waters around us were fishing boats and sampans; at first glance not so different than boats of many years past in the same waters.

At 0845 we departed the ship by tender for the short ride to the town of Nathon where we met with six others from the ship that we would be with us for the day. Our tour guide and driver were assigned and soon we had boarded a small bus and were on our way.

After a brief drive we arrived at an elephant "work & training" camp, aka elephant tourist show.  On arrival we were given a coconut, chopped open and served with straws.





As many will know, coconut water isn't as sweet and thick as the coconut syrup used in drinks and in this case one of our co-tourists suggested the coconut water tasted like Sprite.







For the show, two Asian elephants, both female and aged 12-15 years were before us. The mahouts (elephant handlers) began the routines. The elephants went through a series of maneuvers, standing, sitting, limping, etc. all things frowned upon by the elephant rightists and a thing one would see at a circus. The elephants played harmonicas and twirled hoola-hoops on their trunks. For me personally, I had the opportunity for a massage; recognizing this was Thailand, I quickly volunteered. The pictures will tell the rest of the story.

We moved on to two Buddhist temples, each privately funded by wealthy Thais but open for the public. As one might guess the temples are extremely ornate and more colorful than anything we would normally see outside of SE Asia. We were able to photograph the temples but before entering the actual shrine, we did have to remove our shoes.

"No Underwear Allowed"

What's with the "No Underwear Allowed" sign.

At one location to assure our good fortune, Sheila and I rang a series of bells and of course donated cash to the local temple fund.

Lunch followed at the Nora Buri Resort & Spa. This was a top rated resort on the island and the lunch, hotel grounds and beach-side location would prove to support the top notch rating.

Our lunch consisted of Chicken Satay and Vegetable Spring Rolls followed by soup, either a Chicken Cream Chowder or Spicy Shrimp Broth. The main course was a combination of Fried Pork, Lamb Curry, Steamed Rice and Steamed Vegetables,  followed by a Sticky Rice topped with Mango and Whipped Cream; for me the meal was washed down with a couple Singha beers. The lunch was excellent. There was a group from the ship in a cooking class, seems they had a good time and were pleased to eat the meal they prepared.

Cooking Your Own Lunch

The Cooking Class
"Not Us"

Following lunch we were back on the road. It seems like we circled the island but I suspect not. The villages and towns en-route to our destinations were varied in size, from small to very small. Most of the island, at least the part we traveled was heavily visited by European, Russian and Australian vacationers.


Travel on the roads is similar to much of SE Asia, hectic, mad-capped and shear terror if you're on a two-wheeler weaving amongst the cars, trucks and tour buses.














Our last stop was meant to be a cultural experience, where we would learn how locals train and use monkeys to harvest coconuts in the vast coconut groves throughout the center of the island. We stopped at a very odd spot for this demo as there were only a few coconut trees in sight (???), but not to fear, the monkeys and their handlers were present and prepared for our visit. Basically, the monkeys are trained from a young age to perform the harvesting and a trained monkey is considered to be very valuable. The handler brings the monkey to the fruited coconut palm, the monkey shimmies up the tree and then twists the coconut until it breaks from the tree and falls to the ground. Works perfectly but I did wonder if this show had to frequently relocate otherwise, how could the trees replenish the ripe coconuts so fast? So the truth be known, for the demo, the ripe coconuts aren't actually attached to the tree, they are attached to a rope and pulley system. Seems that the monkey dislodges the coconuts from the rope device and later the handler reties the coconuts to the rope and hauls them back up the tree. Problem solved, you can do this demo continuously using only a few trees and not fret the details such as the fact that it takes 10-11 months for a coconut to grow and ripen to harvesting size.

Star Of The Show

By 1530 we had returned to ship and a half hour later the anchor was aweigh and we were underway for Bangkok.

Afternoon Snack

I would like to say that with our afternoon and night on the sea, we were able to take advantage of all the ship has to offer, e.g. the casino, shows, dining, etc. but we didn't quite make it. Seems that the short nap before heading out upon the ship wasn't so short. Oh well, if rest was needed, it was rest we got, we'll be ready for tomorrow.