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Surf's up in Samui (Tues 25 - Thurs 27 March 2008)
Now the Easter holiday is over (and I am still Easter eggless unfortunately), I am back to work…. well, all that means for me is leaving Lamai beach and finding my way to Chaweng, the main resort area on the island, a tuk tuk ride away. I must say I am getting good at this bargaining business, they routinely ask for 100 bahts for any trip, but I manage to pay 50 0r 60 (62 Bahts is £1), a small triumph I know, but as a poor pensioner every penny counts….. The ride to Chaweng is over the headland that separates it from Lamai where I am staying and it’s a beautiful drive with views of the sea from the cliff top road on one side and huge coconut groves on the other – but the drivers are a bit mad so it becomes something of a white knuckle journey, and fairground rides were never my favourite. Chaweng is a long sandy bay about twice the length of Lamai but there is something “worn out” about it, it almost looks stuck in a 60's time warp and needs a good sort out. Hard to describe, but it just looks a bit scruffy with tatty looking hotels lining the beach and lots of beach restaurants. The surf is back up here after a couple of calm days, so perhaps that had something to do with it – the beach is full of all sorts of flotsam and jetsam that is being washed up by the high seas. But people were actually surfing. The road behind the beach is about 2kms of shopping, and unlike Lamai, there are quite a few “proper” shops – a Boots store every 200 metres, a couple of Starbucks, Timberland, Haagen Daz, Baskin’ Robbins and of course McDonalds and Burger King. And Carole, if you are speaking to Kathy Cartwright, tell her whoever is doing the training here for Boots is doing a great job! In Boots No 1, I was link sold to by the girl suggesting aftersun to go with my Soltan, and in Boots No 2, I ended up buying 2 Boots own brand things to qualify for a rather good PWP after being told about it by the assistant (luckily, as the promotional notice was in Thai), so I would otherwise not have known! I was very impressed. And it’s also good to see that the top couture houses have chosen Chaweng as a launch pad for their Spring accessory ranges – forget the handbags, now we have flip flops, bikini’s, cloth headbands and Alice bands all by Louis and Chanel – poor Coco must be turning in her grave as we speak! The shopping is basically the same as at Lamai – same, same and not a lot different, t shirts, watches, bags, sarongs but it’s still amazing that every so often I really feel in need of some retail therapy, so comb the shops and stalls looking for something nice – luckily I don’t find it – I really can’t carry it, and as it is, even though I’m still convinced I haven’t bought a thing, I will have to send another box home from here… I did actually buy a watch - I managed to drop mine on a tiled floor weeks ago, and even the local fixers here couldn't mend it, so have invested a fiver in a new one, but I did resist the obviously real Louis Vuitton one with diamonds, silver, gold and a bright pink face. I realised that I hadn't had a working watch for weeks, something that I couldn't have done without at home for a day - how times change... It’s nice when I get back to Lamai beach, I know I chose to stay in the right place, and the beach is much nicer. There’s a bit of life (in fact as I sit on my terrace writing this at 11pm, I can hear some rather amusing but bad karaoke from the bar across the road). And the fireworks continue to blast away. It sounds like everyone’s having a great time. But Lamai overall is peaceful but with lots to see as you wander about. There are still a lot of Thai/Western “couples” about and I am still amazed at the number of really young Western men who are a part of them – I always assumed it was always older men… But my cynicism is misplaced in a few cases. There are two separate older Brit couples here who are visiting their sons, both married to Thai girls who now have young families. Having siad that, you don't see any western women with Thai husbands.... It’s also quite warm here, yesterday it was 38 degrees, and even the locals are complaining about the heat, but I’m not, just like the local McD’s, I’m lovin’ it!
Now the Easter holiday is over (and I am still Easter eggless unfortunately), I am back to work…. well, all that means for me is leaving Lamai beach and finding my way to Chaweng, the main resort area on the island, a tuk tuk ride away. I must say I am getting good at this bargaining business, they routinely ask for 100 bahts for any trip, but I manage to pay 50 0r 60 (62 Bahts is £1), a small triumph I know, but as a poor pensioner every penny counts….. The ride to Chaweng is over the headland that separates it from Lamai where I am staying and it’s a beautiful drive with views of the sea from the cliff top road on one side and huge coconut groves on the other – but the drivers are a bit mad so it becomes something of a white knuckle journey, and fairground rides were never my favourite. Chaweng is a long sandy bay about twice the length of Lamai but there is something “worn out” about it, it almost looks stuck in a 60's time warp and needs a good sort out. Hard to describe, but it just looks a bit scruffy with tatty looking hotels lining the beach and lots of beach restaurants. The surf is back up here after a couple of calm days, so perhaps that had something to do with it – the beach is full of all sorts of flotsam and jetsam that is being washed up by the high seas. But people were actually surfing. The road behind the beach is about 2kms of shopping, and unlike Lamai, there are quite a few “proper” shops – a Boots store every 200 metres, a couple of Starbucks, Timberland, Haagen Daz, Baskin’ Robbins and of course McDonalds and Burger King. And Carole, if you are speaking to Kathy Cartwright, tell her whoever is doing the training here for Boots is doing a great job! In Boots No 1, I was link sold to by the girl suggesting aftersun to go with my Soltan, and in Boots No 2, I ended up buying 2 Boots own brand things to qualify for a rather good PWP after being told about it by the assistant (luckily, as the promotional notice was in Thai), so I would otherwise not have known! I was very impressed. And it’s also good to see that the top couture houses have chosen Chaweng as a launch pad for their Spring accessory ranges – forget the handbags, now we have flip flops, bikini’s, cloth headbands and Alice bands all by Louis and Chanel – poor Coco must be turning in her grave as we speak! The shopping is basically the same as at Lamai – same, same and not a lot different, t shirts, watches, bags, sarongs but it’s still amazing that every so often I really feel in need of some retail therapy, so comb the shops and stalls looking for something nice – luckily I don’t find it – I really can’t carry it, and as it is, even though I’m still convinced I haven’t bought a thing, I will have to send another box home from here… I did actually buy a watch - I managed to drop mine on a tiled floor weeks ago, and even the local fixers here couldn't mend it, so have invested a fiver in a new one, but I did resist the obviously real Louis Vuitton one with diamonds, silver, gold and a bright pink face. I realised that I hadn't had a working watch for weeks, something that I couldn't have done without at home for a day - how times change... It’s nice when I get back to Lamai beach, I know I chose to stay in the right place, and the beach is much nicer. There’s a bit of life (in fact as I sit on my terrace writing this at 11pm, I can hear some rather amusing but bad karaoke from the bar across the road). And the fireworks continue to blast away. It sounds like everyone’s having a great time. But Lamai overall is peaceful but with lots to see as you wander about. There are still a lot of Thai/Western “couples” about and I am still amazed at the number of really young Western men who are a part of them – I always assumed it was always older men… But my cynicism is misplaced in a few cases. There are two separate older Brit couples here who are visiting their sons, both married to Thai girls who now have young families. Having siad that, you don't see any western women with Thai husbands.... It’s also quite warm here, yesterday it was 38 degrees, and even the locals are complaining about the heat, but I’m not, just like the local McD’s, I’m lovin’ it!
