Monday, 26 December 2011

Koh Samui

Beach of Koh Samui
The second largest island of the Kingdom of Thailand,Koh Samui, still has the air of an isolated, carefree, self sufficient , exotic holiday destination and is dotted with swaying palm trees and surrounded by clean white sandy beaches. Till 1989 the only way to get to Koh Samui was by boat and only the most fearless tourists ventured there. With the airport came western tourists, hotels, resorts, roads, malls and showrooms of all possible international brands.Even the fishermen now  use green lights at night to attract the fish. Thailand is among the top destinations among places to travel and Koh Samui is the most popular tourist place. 




Koh Samui Airport
Samui Airport ,owned by Bangkok Airways opened to commercial flights in 1989. Bangkok Airways is a boutique airline operating out of Thailand . Samui Airport has a quaint ,homely ,small town air about it with multicolored flower beds aesthetically positioned both inside and outside the Airport. There is no air conditioning at the airport and the tourists start enjoying the tropical Koh Samui  weather at the airport itself. At 9Deg N the weather is more equatorial than tropical.The 560 KM Bangkok Airways flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui takes about an hour.
Moonrise at Koh Samui
The 21KM by 25Km island has a shoreline fringed with palm and fruit  trees and in the center is a rain forest covered hill. Moon rise at Koh Samui is magnificent. It appears big almost like  the setting sun, but which is actually rising into the sky. Then we realise that it the rising moon and not the setting sun.This is the result of the most investigated Moon Illusion because of which the moon appears much bigger at the Equatorial Horizon than at its zenith. Scientists say it is psychological, but it is definitely a combination of some optical/retinal effects. 

Resort at Koh Samui
We stayed at an excellent resort on the beach complete with swimming pools, modern luxury  villas with all possible amenities, a restaurant serving the best of Thai and Indian cuisine. The South Thai cuisine is a mixture of Malay and  Indonesian and is known for its excessive spiciness. An island will also always have excellent sea food also. Thai massage is very popular all over the world for its therapeutic benefits and involves stretching and deep massage. The resort also provided the Thai Massage facility. 

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Yatch Ride at Koh Samui
Yacht Ride at Koh Samui
The Resort is  owned and run by Oceans Elite  who also provide Luxury Yacht Charters.Koh Samui is surrounded by more than 60 islands known as the Samui Archipelago which provides and excellent cruising ground. The service on the Ocean Elite Yacht was truly first class and the crew was confident and experienced.Near one of the islands the Yacht was stopped and the more enthusiastic members got a chance to jump into the ocean and try out their snorkeling and diving skills. Used to swimming pools with continous filtered water their enthusiasm did not last long.


Library Bar at Koh Samui
Koh Samui has a large number of pubs,cafes, restaurants,night clubs,discos,bars  along the beach serving up all kinds of entertainment,drinks and night clubs which are all popular in any tourist place.This is picture of the Library Bar Cafe on the beach of Koh Samui. It had many swimming pools with yellow lights. There was also a library with many books,making me wonder,who would read a book when you have Kindles,I Pads and several kinds of Tabs. 
Snorkelling at Koh Samui
Yatch at Koh Samui
Crew
The expert crew of the Ocean Elite Yacht.



The Phosphorescent wake of the Yacht .


Chinese Lantern
At night we released Chinese Lanterns on the beach.The luck of a person ,releasing the lantern,is supposedly proportional to the height attained by the lantern. The trick is to hold the lantern after lighting the wax, and then release  it when it starts pulling up hard .It will go up fast and , maybe,very high.


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