We haven’t had a restful holiday since June 2008. OK, so we have had dive trips, & touring holidays, & visits, but none where we could take time out to do very little. This trip was booked up last October when we knew that our renovation & move would be over and done with, also coinciding with Carols birthday & our wedding anniversary.

We chose the small island of Koh Samui, located about 460km north of Penang, of Thailands’ east coast. Carol had never visited, & George was last there around 30 years ago. We booked our flights with Fireflies, Malaysias’ community airline, with the direct flight taking 1h20m. We booked into the Saboey Resort & Villas at Bangrak, on the north east coast of the island: this was recommended by several friends who had stayed there.

Tuesday 16 June

Our afternoon flight arrived a bit late, & after clearing immigration, we took a shared taxi for the short drive to Saboey. We had only booked a basic suite & as it was low season, were offered upgrades at reasonable prices, so our first task was to be shown available rooms: a deluxe suite on the 1st floor overlooking the resort & on to the sea, & a garden villa which looked out on to the back of the ocean villas. We opted for the deluxe villa & moved in. We took our evening meal at The White Bar at Saboey, & noted that there was a good selection of dishes, all reasonably priced.

Wednesday 17 June

Our first stop was at Reception, as we noted the air conditioning just didn’t cool during the night. By the time we had eaten an extensive breakfast (fruits, full cooked, toast, juice. coffee), the a/c had been repaired. We took a leisurely walk westwards along the beach to 100 Degrees East Dive Centre (also recommended by friends) to arrange our dive days. We had been in touch with them before travel & were more than happy with our arrangements. Once done, we walked back along the road to Saboey, & rested by the pool (under a cloudy sky). We soon realised that the meal portions were too large for us & ultimately we shared our meals. That afternoon, it rained. It rained extremely heavily & we just happened to be at the bar for happy hour cocktails when it started.

Back in the room, we noted that the a/c wasn’t cooling again, & as Carol went to get shoes for our evening out,  found them - & our cases - to be wet. The staff & management were wonderful! Within minutes of reporting these problems, we had been allocated another room, offered assistance with moving & received deep apologies all round. And our upgrade charge was waived. To be honest, that was a bonus. What we liked was how the problem was resolved for us, & we moved ourselves later that evening, after taking a small Thai meal at U2 just along the road.

We slept well that night in an Ocean view villa.

Thursday 18 June

Our first dive day with 100 Degrees East, being picked up after a continental breakfast by Ivan at 7am. We opted for continental thinking it wold be smaller, but no! Coffee, juice, fruits, cereal, toast & croissants. The dive trip set off at 7.30am, with Sail Rock being our destination. We arrived after 1 hour of travelling, coinciding with a storm. Entry & exits were interesting, but the dives were excellent, with good visibility & abundant marine life. Lunch was taken between dives, & we were dropped off at Saboey around 1.30pm - in time for more relaxing. That evening, we walked towards Bangrak Pier & had a Mexican meal at Catcando.

Friday 19 June

A totally lazy day by the pool! We decided to hire a car for 24 hours, & arranged a Suzuki Swift (4 door with a/c) at TB1700 (including insurance)/RM190/£33. Each beach takes it in turn to hold a Walking Street each week, & Friday is the Fishermans Village at Bo Phut, just a few km to the west of Bangrak. The drive was easy, & we found paid parking just off the main road. A Walking Street is simply a big night market selling clothing, jewellery, food, ornaments, bags, tattoos etc. There was a good selection of items, although after walking for maybe 20 minutes, the stalls started to repeat. We made a few purchases & rounded the night off with chicken skewers, washed down with a beer or 2 when we returned to Saboey.

Saturday 20 June

Our day out to explore the island. We left at 9.30am, & were back by 4pm, after seeing & doing all that we wanted to. After so many visits to Thailand, the Wats (temples) all start to seem the same. We visited Buddhas, Kuan Yins, pagodas, rock formations, waterfalls while seeming to follow the same tour vans around. Driving was slow & easy - very different to Penang, & easier than mainland Thailand.

Sunday 21 & Monday 22 June

Two very lazy days by the pool. The Sunday was broken up with a Thai Massage by ladies just on the beach: they seemed to find muscle & tendon knots & worked to ease them. Carol received a plate of carved fruits on the Sunday for her birthday, when we took the seafood BBQ as our dinner option.

Tuesday 23 June

Our second & final dive day at Koh Tao - 8am depart from 100 Degrees East, but a 90 minute each way boat trip before we could dive. The sites were good, no current, lots of marine life & many anemones.

Wednesday 24 June

Our final day of relaxing! To add some ‘excitement’, we returned to the Fishermans Village where we had a curry dinner before walking further along the restaurants, bars & shops.

Thursday 25 June

A last morning of relaxing by the pool. Check out was 12 noon, & we were leaving at 1.30pm for the airport, so we were able to keep the room until we left. As we landed in Penang at 5.30pm, it took longer to get home in the rush hour traffic than it did to fly back!