Ko Samui

Unfortunately the train was late arriving in Surat Thani, which created yet another adventure. We eventually found the Songserm bus in amongst the melee at the station, and 45 minutes later arrived at the ferry terminal only to be told that we had missed the ferry and the next one wouldn't be for another 5 1/2 hours. However he would organise a bus to the rival companies terminal, at our expense, if we wanted to catch the ferry (and pay for a new ticket of course). 11 of us decided to (otherwise we wouldn't arrive till teatime). 100 baht each, and it turned out to be a ute with covered seats in the back which we all squashed into, driven by our bus driver! Given the train is late most days, it was a lucrative scam, when we could have got onto the rivals ferry directly from the train.


However we arrived at 12:30 instead of at four o'clock. That meant that transfer didn't wait of course, but after some fluffing around with phones, the resort sent the ute to find the two stranded foreigners with red packs. Finally got to a lovely room around 1:30, had a shower after two nights on a train, organised the laundry, recharged all manner of batteries, and went to explore the resort. Had a swim and a spa, bit of a walk, then went to change for a formal dinner at the beachside restaurant. Had a table on the balcony overlooking the sun setting into the ocean whilst I had a prawn cocktail, steak and pancakes. Romantic and yummy. Can't remember the last time dinner stretched to 3 hours. A balmy evening.