On to Chaweng Beach

Rain Rain Go Away

We wake to the sound of rainfall…heavy rainfall. We have to check out of our Airbnb today but not until 11am so we pack and spend the rest of our time on our covered deck which we share with a Tocay Gecko and a number of smaller geckos. It is peaceful and relaxing.

Too soon it’s time to leave. The rain continues to come down and it is windy. We drive through many huge puddles and in some places water is pouring down onto the road from higher ground. Click here for a short video.

At one point, the rain is so heavy on the windshield that we pull over to the side of the road. Fortunately we are almost in front of a restaurant that has five star reviews. It is nothing to look at but this family run restaurant, true to its reviews, has delicious food. We order too much but finish every last bite of our papaya & shrimp salad, shrimp spring rolls and noodle dishes.

Kirikayan Boutique Resort

We head to our hotel on Chaweng Beach. The rain is still coming down.

The hotel is lovely. The rooms all lead out to an outside garden pathway, that leads to an infinity pool and the beach. Unfortunately it’s raining… pouring.

Weather reports say it’s going to be like this the whole time we are in Koh Samui.

We wait an hour In our room until the rain let’s up a bit and head to supper and a massage.

This time we try the Thai massage. Two little Thai ladies are our masseuses. Thai massage is a lot of full body pressure and manipulation of body parts . It is quite physical. Even though it is hard at times (and hurts a few times), I love it and I feel great afterwards. It really works the knots in my muscles.

John tells me after that it was too hard for him and it hurt. I say “Why didn’t you let her know?”
He replies, “It wouldn’t be very manly to complain to the little Thai lady that she is too hard for him.”

Better Weather on Tuesday

We sleep well but wake up to more rain. Yikes.

However, by the time we go to the breakfast buffet, the rain stops and the sun shines through.

We walk a half hour down the main street and return to the hotel by way of the beach. The waves are huge and all the red flags are out, warning people not to swim.

We hang out for a few hours in a covered louge chair area which is surrounded by a fish pond near the pool.

Bophut Fisherman’s Village

In the afternoon, we take the car and head to the Bophut Fisherman’s Village. This is not a quaint little village as one would expect but a high end tourist place filled with shops, restaurants and massage dpas on Bophut Beach. It is pricey by Thai standards. We have a drink (of course mine is a fresh coconut) at a beachfront restaurant before checking out the market and going for supper.

Motorcycles, Drag Show and a Songthaew

We take the car back to our hotel, change and the next thing I know, I’m hiking my skirt up and jumping on the back of a motorcycle with some guy I just met. Actually it was my Grab ride. Grab is an Asian version of Uber and you have a choice of ordering cars or motorcycles to get to your destination.

I wave goodbye to John as we jet off into the traffic. Sometimes we are zipping between two vehicles, so close that if I move an elbow out too far I will brush them….but I don’t because I have a Vulcan death grip around the motorcycle driver’s waist because I just realized that I’m not wearing a helmet.

The drive to Divas Cabaret takes longer than I expect because of all the one way streets but eventually I am dropped off. I know I am in the right place because there are a lot of glamorous ladyboys on the street handing out flyers for the drag show.

John arrives on another motorcycle ten minutes after me. He says he worried that his knees were going to get whacked when his motorcycle narrowly passed between two vehicles. He also informs me that I was supposed to hold the back of the seat, not the drivers waist…oops.

The drag show is really well done and a lot of fun. Everything is over the top, just what you’d expect. The performers really put their all into it. Click here for a short video.

There is a huge line up of people waiting to get into the next show when we leave.

To get back we flag down a songthaew which is a small pick-up truck with bench seats in the back and a covered top. You flag one down going in the right direction and jump into the back. The fare is based on how far you are going and other people can hop on/off throughout the ride. It’s a unique rideshare/bus. At one point, I see another songthaew so full that two people are hanging off the back. Fortunately we were the only ones in our songthaew which had comfy upholstered seats and backs.

Our motorcycle ride to the cabaret was 75 baht (3.18 CAD) each and the songthaew back was 100 baht each (4.24 CAD). The cabaret show cost 350 baht each (14.64 CAD) which included a free alcoholic drink. So a fun evening for around $21 CAD each!

The streets, night clubs, restaurants, bars, tattoo shops, cannabis shops and massage spas are hopping. Click here for a short video of my view from the back of the songthaew.