Koh Samui highlights

We spent 3 weeks in Koh Samui and had some days doing absolutely nothing, which is a good thing when you're traveling but doesn't give you much to write about. So instead of the usual day-to-day story I'm gonna share with you some of the best places we encountered. We stayed in Mae Nam, Chaweng and Lamai during our stay. Mae Nam is the most quiet one of those three. Chaweng and Lamai are bigger and more touristy with tons of restaurants and bars. They also have nicer beaches but it doesn't really matter where you stay if you rent a vehicle to get around.

Hotels

Ampha Place (Mae Nam) 

This was probably our favorite and we stayed here on two occasions, three nights when we got to Koh Samui and two nights right before we left. The hotel is located in Mae Nam and there is no beach within immediate vicinity of the hotel but the pool is great and they rent scooters so it's easy to get around. The owner is really nice and helpful if you need information or ferry tickets etc. and the breakfast is good costing around 150 THB. Be sure to try their jams, mango-passion fruit was our favorite!

Ampha Place's pool

P.S. Leave a comment if you stayed in Ampha Place and found our blog after reading a certain book..

Chaweng Cove Beach Resort (Chaweng Beach) 

We wanted a little something extra for Christmas so we splurged on a little more expensive hotel and had a room with a whirlpool one of the three nights we stayed here. The location was nice right on the beach and the breakfast buffet kept our stomachs happy for a long time.

Our whirlpool

The Spa Garden (Lamai) 

The hotel was located a little further away from the beach but they have a free shuttle service and scooter rental so it didn't bother us. Their restaurant had some tasty dishes and there was a pool on the premises. The weather was not on our side so we didn't spend time there but it looked good enough.

Chaweng Skybar & Hotel (Chaweng) 

Drinking beer and playing pool, that's how we spent our days in Chaweng Skybar & Hotel. It's right in the heart of Chaweng, short walking distance from the beach and other restaurants. They had some good happy hour offers, free pool and the room price was pretty decent considering the location.

Everyday routine 

PTK Residence (Chaweng) 

Staying two nights here was nothing special. The pool was nice but that's pretty much it. The hotel was not bad but there's better options for the same amount of money if you're staying in Chaweng.

Restaurants

Roman Turkish Restaurant (Mae Nam)

We got here on a quiet night but the place was quite lively. They had live music and the guy performing Nessun Dorma was VERY talented. The act alone was worth paying for so the fact that the pizzas were tasty was just an added bonus.

Bavaria (Mae Nam)  

Go German! This is your place to get your sauerkraut and wurst if you're tired of eating Thai food all the time. You can find this sausagelicious restaurant in the middle of the Mae Nam walking street. 

Wurst! 

Noi (Chaweng) 

We kept coming back to Noi again and again. Thai dishes were delicious and cheap and they also have a good selection of western food. I also appreciate the fact that they gave us fish sauce with chili without asking.

Stacked Samui (Chaweng) 

You know those times when you just want to forget counting calories and that six pack that is just around the corner and just enjoy the flow of that delicious grease? Luckily you have these kind of places when you most need them. They serve heart attacks on a plate disquised as juicy burgers and fatty fries. It's better to go here hungry as the portions are big.

More cheese,  please. 

Crystal (Chaweng) 

This little place is located right next to Chaweng Skybar & Hotel. It's a shame we didn't find it earlier as the food here was absurdly cheap compared to the ones around it. Besides being affordable the food was mouth watering and the staff was overly friendly. This is a must visit if you're nearby. Five stars *****

Green Cafe (Lamai) 

This was our hotel's restaurant when we stayed in The Spa Garden. Savory Thai dishes and good selection of European dishes with reasonable prices makes Green Restaurant worth a visit.

Pamon Thai (close to Lamai) 

Oh my, it makes my mouth to water just thinking about Pamon Thai. This is a small local restaurant just outside of Lamai. We were here two years ago and I was extremely happy to be back. Last time Sini didn't eat here but this time she didn't let the simple looks to fool her and had a go also. The dishes are amazingly tasty and they cost next to nothing. You have to have a car or a bike to get here but I highly recommend to give it a try and give your taste buds something to remember!

Delicious! 

Coco Tam's (Fisherman's Village Bophut) 

I don't know if it was because we were very hungry or what but the pizza we shared here tasted heavenly! I've eaten pizza all around the world including Italy and Sicily. I've had pizza to cure hangovers. I've had cheap pizza, expensive pizza, homemade pizza, all kinds of pizza. but still the one we ate makes it in my top 3, easily. The tropical cocktails and the setting were nice too.

Tropical Cocktails on the beach, not bad 

Disc golf

There are 3 disc golf courses in Thailand and two of them are located in Koh Samui so this is pretty much a perfect island :D

Samui Disc Golf

The place is easily reachable from Mae Nam and they have signs along the way. For 250 baht you can play as much as you want for one day and if you don't have your own plastic with you the discs are included for the price. The course is pretty easy and if you're not totally new to the sport there's a good chance for birdies. It's also suitable for beginners and they sell discs with unique stamps so bring some cash with you.

A beautiful place to play a round or two! 

Laem Sor Beach Disc Golf & Acoustic Cafe

This course is aimed more for enthusiasts and more advanced players. You can find it with a navigator but be sure to check your location from time to time if you're arriving with scooter as they don't have any signs on the road. You can tell that Dave, the owner, is really dedicated to the sport as he has done an enormous job making the place playable. He seems like a nice guy and showed us around the course. They have 18 holes but only 9 were available to play when we got there. It was 200 baht for using the course and the level of difficulty was a bit higher than in Samui Disc Golf. It was a funny "coincidence" that we run into Finns both times we visited here :p

He posed for us near the disc golf course 

She made that putt :) 

Good to know

Songthaews

Taxis are expensive, use Songthaews instead. They are pickup trucks with two rows of seats in the back of the car and they run all around the island. It doesn't matter how long are you going, the rate is 100 baht for farangs. For shorter distances you may want to bargain.

Riding the Songthaew 

Make it spicy! 

Many restaurants adjust their dishes to be more tourist friendly and cut down the heat. If you love spicy food just ask for fish sauce (Nam Pla)  with chili as every place has it no matter how westernized. The stuff smells horrible but tastes awesome, I love it.

Fish sauce makes it better. 

Fisherman's Village Walking Street market (Bophut) 

There's a ton of market stalls popping up in almost 1 km long Walking Street in Bophut. The market runs every Friday from 5 pm until late. You can buy pretty much everything here from sunglasses and t-shirts to souvenirs, spices, handicrafts, jewelry and much more for low cost. In addition to stalls there are free performances you can admire while enjoying the atmosphere. There's a big parking area if you're arriving with car or bike.

Friday night market

- Matias





Our route so far

Penang

I've lived in Penang for six months or so when I did my student exchange in USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia) back in 2008. So if getting to Bangkok felt little like coming home, getting to Penang definitely felt like it too. There is a taxi counter in the airport arrivals hall and they have list of destinations with fixed prices. It's recommended to use the stand instead of hailing a cab outside the airport, because some drivers easily "forget" to use the meter and you can get ripped off. So we got our taxi tickets for 44 ringgits and got to our hotel in George Town. After checking in and chilling a bit we headed out to find some food. After 5-10 minutes walking we hit the jackpot as we found a little street filled with different stalls selling all the local specialties. Penang is a melting pot of cultures and it also means a diverse and delicious food culture. I ended up ordering some Hokkien Hae Mee from an old Chinese lady who didn't speak English almost at all. The dish consisted of some noodles, chicken, prawns, fish cakes and some other not-so-easily-recognizable ingredients in a savory broth. I had some Dragon fruit juice to go with that which actually cost more than the food but 14 ringgits (2.9€) for the whole set was not bad at all!

Some of the food stalls

Slurping it

After the meal we continued our walk, the next stop being KOMTAR. It is easily seen and recognized from all around George Town, but as far as shopping goes there is very limited options and many of the shops have shut down. We spent some time there wandering around in few interesting shops we found and then continued our way along Jalan Penang towards George Town nightlife. It had been two hours since the food stall stop and we were getting pretty hungry so we went to Red Garden, a hawker center with dozens of food stalls to choose from. I went with roasted duck and Sini had some Nasi Goreng Pattaya, both dishes tasting delicious. Our stomachs full we walked to the nearby bar area to enjoy some liquid bread before taking a taxi back to our hotel.

The following day we went to Gurney Plaza, a nine stories shopping mall with 380 stores. Beats KOMTAR. Other than that we just took it easy and stayed at the hotel and later went to Red Garden again. 

There's a ton of street art scattered around George Town and we went on a hunt to find some on the third day. Chinatown was a good place to start so there we went. Sini had saved a screenshot of a art map which we used to find some of the paintings. Locals were very interested about the art pieces also and there were many groups doing some spotting around the city's tiny streets. We also spotted Chew Jetty across the street and went there for a walk. There are Chinese clans living in villages built on stilts above the water and Chew Jetty is one of the most visited ones. The jetties were formed in 19th century when Chinese immigrants came to Penang and worked near the port and nowadays they have UNESCO world heritage status.

After spending some time in the jetty we slowly made our way to a scooter rental place I had spotted earlier online. This time they actually asked if we had international driving licenses and after presenting them we got our scooter pretty quickly. It was a reputable company with plenty of good reviews but it's still always a good precaution to take pictures of the scratches and other damage the bike might have so they don't blame you later for those and ask for money. We made our way towards my old hoods in Gelugor. During my studies we lived in Sunny Ville and although I've visited Penang after that I've not been to our old place since.  Luckily they didn't ask us anything at the gate and we got to the premises for a short visit. The cafe had changed a bit but otherwise the place looked pretty much the same as in 2008. From Sunny Ville we rode to Bayan Lepas, Balik Pulau and took the curvy hill road back to George Town. After returning the scooter we had dinner in Red Garden. Yes. Again. Hey don't look at me like that, if Anthony Bourdain has eaten there they must have some pretty darn good food!

We still had one stop before going to sleep. We went to KOMTAR's bus station and got our tickets to Cameron Highlands for the next day. Across the station I spotted a place selling Cendol and that was on my list for dishes to try so I got a bowl of it. As weird as it looks it's actually very good even though I'm not usually a fan of sweet things. There's coconut milk, grass jelly, shaved ice and tons of palm sugar. Malaysian version also contained some red beans, yummy.

This might take a while..

Sunny Ville :)

@ Red Garden

Cendol

A short stop to Cameron Highlands

We were supposed to be in front of the bus ticket booking office 10.30 am, but being too optimistic about how long would it take to get there we were running late. Our Grab (similar to Uber) was there around 10.45 am and then we run with the guy we booked tickets from to the minivan and it actually took maybe another 15 minutes before we left the station. The minivan took us to the other bus station and it took over an hour before our bus got there. On top of that the bus ride took over four hours so it was getting dark already when we got to Tanah Rata in Cameron Highlands. We had only rough conception of where our hotel (Heritage Hotel) was located so it took some time to find it. We asked around and after a few missteps we found the place. It was getting late so we looked for a place to eat dinner nearby and called it a night.

The next day we had some daylight to explore the city. It definitely has some Europe vibe to it as the buildings look like they're taken from some village in the Alps. The climate is also cooler and it was a nice change after the hot and humid weather we'd had so far. We looked for a taxi and asked how much would it be to visit the nearby tea plantation. The driver said 20 ringgits for the return ride and a hour of waiting there. That sounded good so off we went to the Cameron Bharat Tea Estate. The views were nice and we took a walk down also. After coming back up we had some tea at the restaurant there. When we got back and paid the driver insisted that the price was 20 ringgits one way. The guy seemed nice and it might be that he wasn't trying to rip us off but nonetheless it was a good reminder to make sure you agree on the price beforehand. All in all Cameron Highlands was a nice place to visit but maybe not worth it if you're just visiting for a one day because of the long bus ride. Luckily we have time :)

- Matias 

Tanah Rata

Life is like a box of chocolates

Our route so far

Crossing the border to Langkawi

It was a beautiful, hot Tuesday when we packed our bags and headed to the beach.. though today was not the day to just lay there. No, it was time to go to the immigration so we could say our goodbyes to Thailand and hello to Malaysia.

We had booked our ferry tickets the day before from the company called Bu-ngha and paid 750 tbh each. We had read that bookings should happen at least the day before and before 6 pm. So with the tickets we went to check in, handed our passports and sat by the immigration to wait for them to call us by our names. After some time the moment came and we went to get our stamps and noticed that we didn't get our passports back just yet.. scary, but we figured (hoped) that we'll get them back on the ferry. Then after some more waiting we got to hop on a longtail boat and got a lift to the ferry. Koh Lipe does not have a pier so wear a pair of flip-flops and shorter pants so you won't get too wet when entering or leaving the island ☺️.

The trip to Langkawi took about 1,5 hours and the Malay immigration was quick and easy. Before we noticed we were sitting in a taxi, the local driver was speaking some Finnish to us and again we saw some monkeys on the street :) We stayed in Pondok Keladi Guest House. The lovely and funny host Dee lives also on the property with his partner and they were always ready to help. I was expecting some formal check in but no! Dee was so laidback and was immediately ready to show us around the property and also the nearby areas with his car. And there were even complimentary water and beer waiting for us in the fridge.. what a wonderful welcome :) The place is located approximately 1-1,5km from the beachfront and from the shops and restaurants. Dee had also rental scooters available (30 MYR per day) so it was easy to walk or drive to the busier area. After settling in we headed to search for the ATM and food. We found this small chain restaurant, I don't think you've heard of them.. umm it's called McDonald's 😁 Our food was mad cheap! I took a triple cheeseburger meal and it was 3€ (15.5 MYR). Whoa! I also learned quickly that Langkawi is like Åland for the Finn's.. tax free. So cheap beer, tobacco and parfume are available. The chocolate is also tax free and we did find this magical place which advertised to have chocolate from all over the world! Omg I got emotional just from the thought of chocolate and even more so when I thought that I might find some Finnish Fazerin sinistä (Fazer Blue (?)) from the shop.. I know myself and I am sure that I would have started weeping if I have found the best chocolate there is from there.. But this time I was out of luck unfortunately :( But! I do have one bar of Fazer Blue with me but I am saving it for 6th of December because it's a big day for Finland, celebrating 100 years of independence ❤️

Pondok Keladi

Fear factor

We were chilling in the common area of the guesthouse on our first day at Langkawi when we noticed monkeys like 10 meters from us.. they were climbing on trees and getting closer to us.. luckily Dee's dogs scare them away. Then when I went back in to our room, noticed some droppings on the bedside table.. quick Google search taught me that it could be gecko feces and it could get us ill. Gecko droppings contains salmonella and when inhaled.. well you get salmonella also. I was horrified. Then, just when we were heading out to eat, the thunder started booming.. and like that wasn't enough the toilet stopped flushing! "Omg!!!"

I guess it's good to clarify that I  am scared of monkeys, bugs, getting ill, bacteria and for example.. thunder. I like safety and cleanliness.. This night it felt like many of my fears were coming true and I was way out of my comfort zone, again! I was panicking. Luckily I am fortunate enough to have an amazing boyfriend who understands me and Matias said we could have dinner at the guesthouse (guesthouse has a shared kitchen and offers toast, eggs, noodles and coffee for free) and just chill at our room (our gecko poo room 😂). I got the immidiate fear out of my system and started soon to make jokes already about the dirty monkeys and the evening went nicely. We ended up to stay in this place for three nights because,  i dont know, it still felt like a good and safe place to stay.

Cruising around Langkawi

The second day we rented a scooter and went to the cable car which was around 17km away from Pondok Kelodi and Cenang beach. When we got to the cable car park, we saw that this was actually a big touristic place with different kinds of tax-free shops and fun things to do. We bought  the basic package which included the cable car ride and entrance to SkyDome, SkyRex and 3D arts museum. It cost us 55 MYR (11€) per person. The cable car ride was actually scary! Scarier than the one in Barcelona! If I understood correctly, the Langkawi one is the steepest in the world and it sure felt like it! :) A good experience! After getting back to the ground level we headed to the SkyDome where we watched some short films. It was ok but nothing spectacular. After that we went to the SkyRex which had a cart that fits around 30 passengers. We got 3D glasses and sat down with some scared Malay girls :D The cart rolled to an area with 180 degrees screens and some kind of platform that allowed the cart to move and all of a suddent we were a part of Jurassic Park type of a ride where the Tyrannosaurus tried to eat us! Fun ride and it definitely exceeded my expectations :) The 3D arts museum was cool too. A big place filled with 3D art that you could photograph yourself with. Here's some examples:

Later that night we ended up in a Korean restaurant called Haroo. It was top rated on TripAdvisor. The atmosphere was nice and the lady who was waitering us was absolutely wonderful! We ordered kimchi and she was in awe like "how do YOU Europeans know kimchi and how do you dare to order it?" It was out of ordinary I guess! She was happy that we knew their traditional dish and that we ordered and ate it :) We highly recommend this restaurant :) (I must add that it was thundering again but I found some courage somewhere and hopped on the scooter still.. a personal win for me :))

Our purpose was to stay in Langkawi for two nights and take a ferry to Penang but Dee said that we should think about the flying possibility also. So we checked the prices and found a very cheap Air Asia flight so that's what we booked. We paid 266 MYR with the value package (including 20kg luggage and a meal). We could have gotten it a little cheaper without the package and with 15kg luggage allowance but we hadn't tested how much our backpacks weight before buying the tickets.

On the third day on the island we hopped on the scooter again and went to Kuah to see the famous eagle statue and then back to Cenang beach to walk and wander around. We were surprised how many jellyfish we saw there! We didn't see any in Thailand so that was strange. After some wandering around we were heading back to the main street from the beach. I tried so hard to watch my step but then.. it happened. I stepped on to something sharp and started bleeding a lot from my heel. An old Malay man came to say that I have to push the blood out first rather than stop the bleeding. He was sure it was a rusty nail that I had stepped on to.. I figured it was a rock or a piece of sharp plastic.. either way I was not happy. Shit! (Ja paljon muita kirosanoja..) The man also said that I needed "a shot" and he wasn't taking about tequila alright.. but I had my latest tetanus shot on September so I was confused should I go see a doc or not. We went back to the guesthouse and I started my Google search.. Dee called his medical friend and he said that because my tetanus is ok, I don't need to worry.. well.. I worried. Again thanks to Whatsapp, I asked help from home and got the "ok" from there also and was able to breathe again. Just some Dettol cleaning liquid there and some bandaid and I was good to go. On Friday I felt that it really was time to get out of this island and see what else Malaysia has to offer. Off to Penang we went! Hopefully we (I)  have less scarier times ahead..

- Sini

Langkawi riders

The eagle 

Our route so far

Scootering around Phuket

One week ago we decided to leave Bangkok finally behind and continue our journey to Phuket. We searched for the flights one day before flying (I use Skyscanner almost always) and got the tickets with Thai Airways for a reasonably good price. We also booked a hotel near the Phuket airport because the most popular beaches are still a long way from there and our flight landed after 9 pm.

In the hotel we searched for what would be the best place to stay in Phuket and decided to go with Kata Beach first. Patong is the most touristy one with all kinds of attractions (particularly for single men...), Karon is a bit smaller and Kata's the most quiet one. When we got to Kata next day we stayed at Little Mermaid Guesthouse & Restaurant. It was budget friendly but we had to change rooms because of a bad smell in the bathroom and some little bugs all around the room. Also it was located a little further away from the beach. No thumbs up.

Kata Beach in Phuket 

When it rains, it pours

Our next hotel, Pro Andaman Place, was in Karon and it was a way better place to stay. It had an excellent location near the beach and some good restaurants (nice live music at Two Chefs, good Thai dishes in Schlusslicht and Ying to name a few), and the two always smiling aunties who run the place made us feel very welcome. Only downside was the noise coming from the street outside but other than that it was a bargain being a thousand baht per night. There was also a temple within walking distance, Wat Suwan Khiri Khet, that we paid a visit on the second day in Karon. Later that night they held also a night market there in the temple grounds. You can find some good deals there, we bought some clothes and a couple of sunglasses 100 baht per piece.

Wat Suwan Khiri Khet

The best way to see around in Phuket and many other places is definitely renting a scooter. It's cheap, it's fun, and you easily bump into places you would never otherwise see. 24 hours rental cost us 200 baht (~5€) plus gasoline. Considering that the local Tuk Tuk drivers charge 300 baht just to go from Karon to Patong, it's a no-brainer. We drove to Patong Beach and had some lunch in Nicky's Handlebar (good memories there, cheers Darab if you're reading this!) and then continued towards north until we noticed some food stalls and people gathered around so we pulled over. The sun was getting low and it turned out to be a wonderful place to check out the sunset. Around Patong Beach the traffic can get somewhat crazy so remember to stay alert at all times if you decide to drive there.

Cheesy deliciousness at Nicky's

Kalim Beach sunset

We had rented the scooter around 4pm, so we still had plenty of time to use it on the next day. After a late breakfast we turned on the ignition, fired up the engine and rode our 125cc beast to Phuket's Big Buddha, which was about 16 km away from our hotel. The views were nice, the buddha statue was big standing 45 meters high, and the monkeys near one of the viewpoints were trying to steal everything they could including our water. We won that battle, at least this time.

The Big Buddha

A monkey and the view

A cup of joe on our way back

Our route so far