From Coron to Manila to Bangkok and Koh Samui

Leaving Coron

Today we leave Coron on an afternoon flight to Manila so we spend a leisurely morning at the resort packing, relaxing and having lunch.

It’s about a 30 minute drive to the small airport on Coron. Our flight to Manila is an hour. We get some great views from the plane.

Evening in Manila

In Manila we stay at a large (10 floors) Holiday Inn on the airport hotel strip. We head across the street to Newport World Resorts which has a casino, shops and restaurants. It is your typical high end tourist place.

There are a lot of armed security in the area with large calibre rifles slung over their shoulders. Back in 2017 a lone gunman went into the casino and set fire to furniture, fired shots and tried to steal casino chips. His actions caused a stampede of customers trying to leave resulting in 38 people dying from being trampled or suffocated. The gunman killed himself when confronted by police. Click here for the Wikipedia description.

We had a great meal at a Japanese restaurant.

In the morning, we eat a buffet breakfast at the hotel before heading back to the airport for our 3.5 hour Thai Airlines flight to Bangkok. We check our bags straight through to Koh Samui.

The flight goes well but it is freezing. Why do they always have to have the air conditioning so cold? The time goes quickly because I am totally engrossed in my nonfiction book, “Soul of an Octopus” by Sy Montgomery.

On to Koh Samui

We have a long wait for in Bangkok because our flight to Samui is delayed but finally we arrive.

We exit the plane by stairs and are driven to the terminal in cute little trolley cars. All the luggage comes out on the carousel except ours. Oh not this again! Fortunately, because our luggage came from an international location, our bags came out at a different location. We collect our bags and head to our nearby hotel. It’s 10pm, I am wiped.

John has booked a 2 star hotel by the airport called MM House. He says he could have booked a one star but wanted to give me the luxury treatment… I’m such a lucky gal. There is no reception desk, John walks around looking for someone in charge. A woman wanders over from across the street and asks “John?”. We nod yes. She takes us to our room which is basic but clean with the essentials except for the used toothbrush. John asks about a key. She shows him a latch on the inside of the door and walks off. We have no idea how to lock the door from the outside if we need to leave the room.

There is a very loud group of Eastern Europeans staying next door. I think they’ve been drinking and one of the women has a very grating laugh.

Thankfully we are only here tonight and this is the cheapest accommodation on our trip at $34/night.