So I lied and didn't end up posting more about our Koh Samui trip when I said I would. I am sorry. Here it is now!

After our 28-odd hours of travelling, we finally arrived at our hotel. Driving along the "beach" towards it, we couldn't help but be a little trepidatious - the "beach" appeared to be nothing more than a sliver of sand before the water started, hardly what we had imagined ourselves suntanning on. And then we arrived at the resort. We were greeted at reception with cups of very sweet iced tea and we sat down to sort everything out before being taken to our room. There had been a bit of a mix up, as the website that we had booked through was not the website that gave the hotel our confirmation, and our request for separate beds somehow got lost by the wayside. In any case, after a quick chat with the manager, everything was sorted out and we were taken to our room - a wonderfully cool cemented room with a king sized bed (and an extra single beside it making it the biggest bed I have ever seen), a small bathroom with a rain-like shower, a large TV and a veranda that housed our own personal sitting area, fish pond and jacuzzi tub. After taking in the room and freshening up, we were on the move and heading to our first site of the trip - Big Buddah.

I have a number of Buddah statues in Korea, many of them big, so visiting Buddah was not a unique experience on my part at least, but it was certainly different to be visiting him while surrounded by turquoise seas and palm trees. There were also a number of other different features to be found - the ritual of placing flowers at the base of the Buddah and the option to have a monk spray you with holy water for good luck being two things that I don't recall seeing before. Another thing that I don't recall seeing in Korea were the number of shops that surrounded Big Buddah. Our spending spree, which had started before boarding the plane to Thailand, continued as we wandered the stalls bartering on prices for dresses, sarongs, handbags, sunglasses and shoes. Needless to say, we both walked away with a number of prizes in our hands.

It was late by the time we were finished shopping, and we were weighed down with bags, so we decided to just head back to the hotel and take advantage of the room service rather than explore any further. It had been a long day, after all, and we had another one ahead of us. We found a taxi without a problem.
"Mimosa resort?"
*Blank stare*
"Mi-mo-sa?"
*Blank stare continues*
"Mimosa, Maenam beach?"
"Ah!" It finally dawns on him where we need to go. Not a problem. We occasionally struggle to get Korean taxi drivers to understand where we are going too. This is something that we are used to. He motions for us to get into the car.
"How much?" We had been warned to ask this each time for fear of being ridiculously overcharged.
"500 baht."
Jess and I look at each other. We had been told very clearly by the hotel that it shouldn't cost more than 200 baht to get back from here. Do we risk it? We decided not to. Even when the driver offered to take us for 300, we weren't budging, and so we ended up deciding to try our luck on the road. A short walk later, we were on the main street and quickly found ourselves being picked up by a truck with couches on the back for travellers. He didn't know where Mimosa was, but he was prepared to take us to Maenam beach for 100 baht each. It wasn't the best way to travel, sure, but it was relatively cheap and easier than walking. So we climbed on. Twenty minutes later, we were told that we were at Maenam beach and, after looking around us, we decided that things did indeed seem familiar. We must be close.
We started walking in the direction that we thought our hotel was in. When we hadn't come across any signs fifteen minutes later, we checked our map. Yes, this did seem right. Can't be too far now.
Half an hour later, the road we were walking on was pitch black and we were really starting to get worried. We stopped and asked for directions, but the man we asked couldn't speak any English.
Finally, fifteen minutes later, we saw the first sign for the Mimosa Resort, and we finally knew for certain that we were on the right track. A bit more of a walk and a short scooter ride (thanks to another hotel's staff member) later, we were back at the hotel, looking more than a little disheveled I'm sure, and we made our way to our room for a relaxing night in of eating and watching movies.

We were up bright and early the next day for our first real adventure. Unfortunately, however, the driver that was supposed to pick us up was not. Not to despair! While we waited, we took the opportunity to be charitable and hand out food to the monks to celebrate the coming new year. This in itself was a slightly awkward activity, as monks passed by the tables laden with food which we were instructed to place into their waiting carriers without touching them. If our attempts at getting this right weren't embarrassing enough, it was truly mortifying when the taxi finally arrived to pick us up and the only way out was to climb under the table that the untouchable monks were on the other side of. It was certainly an entertaining way to start the morning.

Once the taxi arrived, our adventure-day truly started. We were taken to a small dock where a speedboat awaited us. We climbed aboard with about 20 other people and the hour-long ride to Ang Thong began. Ang Thong National Marine Park was, according to the brochure we read, the inspiration for the novel and movie The Beach, however nothing else that I look up seems to support that, so it could be utter rubbish. Regardless of whether that was the case, however, the marine park did hold some more amazingly turquoise waters and some deserted-looking islands. The trip there was a rather uncomfortable one. About halfway in, the first person started getting sick, and another had joined her far less discreetly by the time we arrived at our first stop. As you can guess, we were VERY relieved to get off the boat by that point.

The first stop was at a little cove where we were able to do some snorkeling. Having never snorkeled before, it took awhile for me to get used to the equipment, and I ended up holding my breathe while using the goggles for the first half an hour rather than attempting to use the snorkel. Eventually I did get used to it, though, and thoroughly enjoyed floating around and watching fish in different shapes and shades. About fifteen minutes into the swim, I tapped Jess on the shoulder.
"Do you feel that?"
"What?"
"It's like I'm being stabbed with needles!"
"Yeah," Jess agreed. "Maybe we have cuts that we didn't know about?"
We both shrugged it off as being inexplicable and carried on with our swimming until, about an hour in, it was Jess's turn to tap me on the shoulder.
"I saw a jellyfish!"
"No..."
"Yes!"
She pointed it out to me, but I didn't see it at all and just assumed that Jess was going mad until she saw another a few minutes later, and this time I did see it (and just about poked it!) That was it for me! I swam back to the boat as fast as I could, and Jess followed moments later, giggling as she told me that she had seen me kick at least three of them on my way back.

After our snorkeling adventure, it was just about time for lunch. We made our way to an island a few minutes away (for which we were all grateful when the same girl started getting sick again). The island itself, though beautiful, was not particularly entertaining, and after doing a bit of canoeing and eating a lunch of curries with rice and fruit, we were back on the boat and heading to the next stop.

The next stop was one that I hadn't expected and was not too excited about. We arrived on another island and made our way along a very unsteady plastic walkway onto a small strip of sand. I looked around us, wondering what on earth we could be doing here, when my eyes fell upon steps. Steep ones. Steep, uneven ones. Steep, uneven ones that were sometimes made up of nothing more than bags of cement. Not many people know this, but I don't like steps. I blame the time I tripped down them in middle school, but basically, I am just not very good at climbing them and always sense that I am going to fall down. So the prospect of climbing these steep steps that were not real steps was not one that I was looking forward to. I slowly made my way up and was the last to get to the top where there was a pretty view of a turquoise lagoon that I refused to look at because I was too shaken. I should have taken my time up there, because the way back down was far worse involving shorter, steeper steps that required me to put my ballet days into action and walk down with my feet at curious angles. Once we were halfway down, I managed to snap this shot of the lagoon (feeling much better now that the worst was likely over) and then we made our way to the bottom once more and relaxed on the beach while we waited to get back on the boat.

The boat ride back was an adventure in itself, really. The sea, it turned out, was furious with us and threw us around as we tried to make our way back to the mainland. While most of us were clinging to our seats and holding on for dear life, one of the British girls (who we believe to be around 18) was screaming for more.
"Give it all you've got! Come on! You can do better than that! Bring it!!!"
Soon Mother Nature really did bring it. One minute we were being thrown around, and the next we were soaking wet while being thrown around as the heavens opened up on our poor little vessel. I was a tad unlucky, as I happened to be under an opening in the roof and ended up getting absolutely soaked, but I don't think I was too much worse off than anyone else on the ship. Everyone was a tad miserable, and so Jess and I, at the request of the group of Brits, decided to cheer everyone up with a rendition of Journey, followed quickly by Proud Mary and I Will Survive, our noraebang nights finally coming into use. It certainly did make the time go faster, and before we knew it, we were back on solid ground and off for the last part of our adventure.

One of the main things that we wanted to do while we were in Thailand was to ride an elephant! I have had the chance to do this before back home, but I have always been too chicken. With Jess there, rooting us on, I decided that it was time to suck it up. Once we arrived at the park, we quickly changed out of our wet clothes and made our way to the elephant riding booth. An elephant was provided for us, and we made our way galumphing rather uncomfortably along a path while the driver picked bamboo leaves from the passing trees and made us each a ring and one small bird, which Jess took when we finally realised what it was supposed to be. The ride itself wasn't at all what I had imagined (I had pictured us actually riding on the elephants backs, when instead we were on couches that were carried by the elephant), but it was fun nonetheless, and we got a good picture out of it to boot. After our ride we spent some time feeding the baby elephants (my favourite was the naughty one who stole bananas from the other elephants mouths) and trying to get a monkey to play with us. Jess managed to get his attention, and he seemed rather fond of her when he reached out his hand to hold hers. We were so captured by his cuteness that we didn't even notice his other hand reaching for her back pocket where the bamboo bird was being stowed. And so, bamboo bird was no more. This wasn't enough to deter me, however, and I kept trying to be his friend until he had the same moment of uber-cuteness where he started reaching out to hold my hand, and I realised that he was going for my camera. After that, I wasn't so keen for Mr. Monkey to be my friend. When our driver informed us that it was time to go, we were more than ready, being damp, smelly and all-in-all pooped.

We arrived back at the hotel and immediately started getting ready for our New Years Eve dinner. Of course, by immediately I do mean that we took long showers and baths, took our time putting on our make-up, fussed and faffed and eventually left the room about two hours after we had entered it. We left looking fabulous, however, and made our way to the restaurant where the New Years Eve gala dinner was in full-swing. Full-swing, it turned out, did not involve many people, but we had fun nonetheless playing carnival-style games, winning silly little prizes and tasting some of the Thai sweet delicacies, some of which were about as good as they looked (which wasn't very). When we were done with the games, it was time to start our feast and we found our seats at the table and began our buffet dinner. Singers, dancers and musicians entertained us throughout the evening, and we also had a go at entertaining them. When the singers were taking requests, Jess and I eagerly shouted for Journey only to be told that they didn't know it, and we should come up and sing it ourselves! We politely declined until another couple took the stage and warmed up the crowd. After that, we couldn't say no! And so, our noraebang practice was put to further use, and our singing careers took another step forward. A few minutes before midnight, white lanterns were passed from table to table and each person was told to write a wish. At midnight, the lanterns were all set off into the sky in a beautiful ceremony, and moments later the fireworks display began. All-in-all, it was a wonderful way to bring in the New Year.

We managed to sleep in a little bit the next day, but were still up by 9:30 to indulge in the buffet breakfast. After breakfast, we got the hotel to call us a taxi and made our way to Chaweng beach, the main beach of the island and, of course, the main shopping spot. We wandered down streets, bargaining down prices and made a few purchases (one of them being an extra bag in which to carry supplies) before heading back to the resort for an afternoon of relaxation.

We had decided that no Thai holiday could be complete without a spa treatment, and since the resort was also a spa, we took the opportunity to book a massage a piece. While Jess went all out and decided on one of the packages that they offered, I was more trepidatious and decided instead on a simple Thai massage. I have never been a big fan of massages, but this one went over rather nicely for the most part with only a few pangs and twinges making me uncomfortable. By the time our massages were finished, it was time for our final dinner at the hotel (which was perfect as per usual). After dinner, we made our way back to our rooms and spent the rest of the evening packing up and preparing for our last day in Thailand and our return to Korea.

To read about our time in Bangkok, click here.
To see the first installment, click here.