The four days fly by so quickly it feels false calling it a Long Weekend. Desperate to milk our worth out of the holiday we travel to Koh Samui the largest of the three main islands in the Gulf of Thailand and filled with cultural attractions. Some expected: the waterfalls, golden temples and white sand beaches...the genitalia shaped rocks less so, but still surprisingly popular with the tourists.
Despite it's size we manage to travel the entire island in a day on scooters as some of the Patthalung (Southern Thailand) ETA's have taken a short driving course. Driving in Thailand is definitely not for the faint hearted and if you want to give it a go I'd invest in a course beforehand.
We see fireshows, eat fresh crab at beach-side restaurants, sample coconut icecream, swim at the foot of a waterfall, sunbathe to our heart's content and wander through the markets packed with all the essential tourist nic-nacs: jewellery, clothes, fake designer handbags and sunglasses. All in all the perfect four days of holiday.
Totally relaxed we fail to book a boat home. On a national holiday it turns out to not be the brightest of ideas. It takes nine hours to travel home on a rickety boat, picking up the queasy looking stragglers from the full moon party and the sleepy Thai children and parents, exhausted from sunsoaked days exploring the islands. At each stop it gets more and more tempting to stay an extra few nights, but we make it finally back to Chumphon train station with a few hours to spare to wash some teaching clothes and think up Monday's lessons.
[I've noted a few more hints and tips about travelling to Koh Samui in "Places to Visit". Out of the three islands, Koh Tao, Koh Phagnan and Koh Samui, Koh Samui is definitely the most culturally rich and diverse and takes a couple of days at the least to have a proper explore.]
Despite it's size we manage to travel the entire island in a day on scooters as some of the Patthalung (Southern Thailand) ETA's have taken a short driving course. Driving in Thailand is definitely not for the faint hearted and if you want to give it a go I'd invest in a course beforehand.
We see fireshows, eat fresh crab at beach-side restaurants, sample coconut icecream, swim at the foot of a waterfall, sunbathe to our heart's content and wander through the markets packed with all the essential tourist nic-nacs: jewellery, clothes, fake designer handbags and sunglasses. All in all the perfect four days of holiday.
Totally relaxed we fail to book a boat home. On a national holiday it turns out to not be the brightest of ideas. It takes nine hours to travel home on a rickety boat, picking up the queasy looking stragglers from the full moon party and the sleepy Thai children and parents, exhausted from sunsoaked days exploring the islands. At each stop it gets more and more tempting to stay an extra few nights, but we make it finally back to Chumphon train station with a few hours to spare to wash some teaching clothes and think up Monday's lessons.
[I've noted a few more hints and tips about travelling to Koh Samui in "Places to Visit". Out of the three islands, Koh Tao, Koh Phagnan and Koh Samui, Koh Samui is definitely the most culturally rich and diverse and takes a couple of days at the least to have a proper explore.]