On the way back to Melbourne, we stayed in Bangkok for 3 days. We were booked in the Bangkok Millennium Hilton. Bangkok is amazing… There were some celebrations for the royal family and we were able to visit places (like the royal temple) that were usually not oen for the public. Despite the scams on the road, we managed to make it to the royal palace as well. On the way there, several people tried to convince us the palace was closed. I saw through it straight away, but I cannot imagine how many tourist actually believed the “university professor” and hopped in a taxi to be driven to yet another tailor.

We arrived in Koh Samui early in the morning. Koh Samui Airport is everything you expect from a tropical destination, but unfortunately it was raining heavily. It appeared that we arrived on the first week of the rainy-season. On the way to the resort, roads were flooded. We stayed at the Muang Samui Resort & Spa for 8 nights in the Royal Suite with our own private rooftop garden with Jacuzzi. The resort was beautiful, with direct beach access but also directly on the main road with access to all shops and restaurants. We did a lot of shopping (T-shirts, watches, sarongs, DVD’s, suits, sunglasses and handbags), had some great diners at “Lucky Mother” and “Relax” on the beach. We also did a tour around the island, visiting a zoo with elephants and monkeys, a hilltop restaurant, Big Buddha and Grandfather & Grandmother rock formations. Unfortunately the car broke down on the way to the hotel, but with a little pushing we managed to arrive back at the resort.

Melbourne was the start of a 2 week holiday to Thailand with Olivia and Sam. We left around 8pm for our night-flight to Koh Samui via Bangkok. I wasn’t looking forward to the flight itself, 10 hours in economy class, but it turned out to be OK. Thai Airways is a good airline and I wasn’t as squeezed in as I expected. After a 2 hour stop-over on Bangkok, we flew Bangkok Airways to Koh Samui.