Koh Samui, Thailand

This is our second time in Ko Samui. We toured the island before, visited many temples and shrines. For today, I booked a private tour for 4. Our friends from 2017, Pat and Norm joined us.
We took first tender boat from our ship.
Insignia anchored very fat from the island and we were told it will take 30 min to get to the shore. Instead of the our ship boats, local boat were used to transport passengers from the ship to the shore.
The reason our ship stopped so far from the shore is there was an accident when ships’s anchor cut the cable under water.

The sea was pretty choppy, the ride was not very fast, but by 8:40am we got off the boat. We met our tour guide/driver right away and got on the back of an open 4x4 truck.

We drove up high in the mountain where the temperature was cooler and there was a light wind to cool us off. We had to navigate few suspended bridges to reach mountain restaurant. The setting was beautiful. Lounge chairs soft bean bags for seating, netting beds with a view below, canopy beds and a restaurant. The view was beautiful.
More bumpy driving, we arrived at another view point. On the way we stopped many times and our guide talked about plants and fruits that grow in the area.
We stopped in Lamai village with temple, big Buddha and zodiac sights sculptures.

After more bumpy driving we arrived at the hidden Buddha statues gardens. Unfortunately, there were many steps to get there, so Boris was waiting for us.
The place is very peaceful and there are very many buddhas and gods scattered around. That was our last stop on the tour.

We asked our tour guide/driver to take us to the beach. We arrived at Crystal Beach Resort on the western part of the island, settled at the open air restaurant overlooking beautiful beach. After lunch, swim in the pool and in the ocean, Pat and I went for a Thai massage. That was probably the best one I ever had. As soon as we got off the beds, we saw dark clouds. In 2 minutes the wind picked up and the palm and tree branches were falling all over. By the time we met Norm and Boris, which took 3 more minutes, the pouring rain was over us. Luckily, our driver was waiting for us.

Back in the open truck, we were back in the dock all soaked, but not hot.
We got onto tender boat and 40 min bumpy ride we were on the ship. It was a fantastic day of adventure.Read more