Days on Koh Samui

It's Tuesday, 26.7.2022...We're walking along the road and want to take the Songthaew to Chaweng.

Our accommodation is located between the towns of Lamai and Chaweng, so in order to run errands, we have to go to Chaweng. So thumbs up and wait for the "taxi", driver 1364 picks us up. These pick-up taxis are common in Laos and Thailand. And since you sit outside, we don't come into contact with the air conditioning either. A blessing for me, and we also get to experience passing advertisements (cars with loudspeakers promoting the Muay Thai match) up close. It's striking that there are also many women working at the construction sites we pass... Women who can do it all 😍.

Arriving in Chaweng, we have European food for the first time. I have bruschetta and tomato soup (and Nasi Goreng), it has to be done sometimes 😄.

At the beach in this place, there are some beach sellers - you can buy everything from jewelry to food. Even grilling is done (at a thousand degrees), and beautiful fabrics are offered - oh no, actually not, the seller only uses them as an excuse to show off his joint, which he wants to sell to me. Mai cai - koop kun Kaa (no, thank you).

At 7/11, there is once again no fruit, but there is cannabis. When we leave the supermarket, 1364 (he had already spotted us before) is ready to take us home. A concerned old man 😘. Let's go, because tomorrow we're going to an early cooking class (https://www.smileycooksamui.com/).

Well, theoretically, practically he is almost 1 hour late, but we have time and the necessary calm... Swedish Matilda is with us in the group, along with her English husband and baby Noah (they live in Denmark), and so that they can actually see each other, the man's best friend (who lives in Australia) said he wants to visit them here during their vacation in Thailand for 1 week. With a travel time of 23 hours, that must be true male friendship.

We go to the local market and smell our way through, try things, look and marvel.

For example, Karin learns that rice noodles need to be soaked in cold water for a long time, that Pad Thai originated from a famine, that there are no fixed meals or differences between meals, etc.

Mong leads us through the various dishes, as a group we decide on a fish, Pad Thai, papaya salad, and a curry (always vegan for me). I'm glad I don't have to fold banana leaves (like in Lombok) and the pounding is limited (painful experiences in Indonesia as well).

In the evening, the mother has the great plan to go to the night market in Lamai. I love night markets and I'm sad because we can't find one. The driver - sadly not 1364 - takes us to the fresh market, okay. We can take a look, but then we want to go to the night market. I think I should have found it strange that no one - and I mean really no one of the people we ask - knows about the market. We get lost, walk around in circles, I'm annoyed, eventually we reach the Night Market and as you can see, there's nothing to see - except for about 7 stalls and only white faces. Not a place for locals. This is not a Night Market - too bad, I'm annoyed, I want to go home.

We take a Songthaew back home. Strange, when we got in, the distance between the road and the entrance wasn't that high, but when we get out, I definitely have to jump, Karin jumps too. The mother is unsure, and the driver comes along and lifts her - she resists a bit, I advise her to trust him - down over his shoulders. The best sight of the evening 😁. After that, the two ladies go for a cocktail - or 2 - and I go to bed 👌🏽.

At 9 o'clock - by now it's already the 28th of July - we drive to the south of the island and take a longtail boat to Koh Madsum, also known as pig island. There lives a family that has rescued pigs and now lives there with the animals, who roam freely. But since pigs eat a lot, the idea came up to open the island for tourists, as they also donate to pig island with the proceeds (about 3€). The animals lie in the sand, in the shade, and like to be stroked - and they feel great.

The water is crystal clear, the pigs are happy, we are relaxed, and the Instagrammers (with changing outfits) obviously love the setting as well.

Now it's time for snorkeling. I'll put it this way: I don't like it. I don't want to know what I can see under me. But I see coral and fishies. But no, not for me, I decide! Humans don't belong under water 😅.

He belongs in the pool 🙃 - which I enjoy again, especially the view.

Tomorrow we have to move within the resort again, this time the living room will be outside, mega!

Mega is also my first foot massage, actually the first one in Thailand. Unlike the family - who invests all their money in massages 🙃.