Honeymoon Part 3: The Islands of Koh Samui and Koh Tao

So after the Bangkok frenzy and a few busy, hot days in Chiangmai, we were both very happy to move on to the next phase of our trip- the Islands. We took another quick plane south to the island of Koh Samui.

Koh Samui, the honeymoon destination in "Meet the Parents," is a huge honeymoon spot. It is super duper fancy and very developed. Knowing we would only be there for one night, we decided to go for a very nice place- Le Meridien Hotel. It was spectacular. Our room was on its own semi-private pool, that came with a very friendly little cat that I liked, and a privacy monkey that R thought was hilarious.

The Entryway/Lobby Area of Le Meridien

Our Room at Le Meridien

Privacy Monkey says Shh?

Hotel Pool

After some much needed pool swimming and general relaxing, we waited in the hotel lobby area for their nightly release of floating lanterns. After a short intro, they gave us each a paper lantern to open, while they lit the candle below. It was a little windy, so holding onto the thing without catching it on fire was tricky. So tricky, in fact, that in the process we dropped our camera. In the water. #travelfail. We quickly released ours, which floated off beautifully with the others, before veering into the roof of the hotel, and then into a palm tree. #wesuckatlanterns . We quickly retreated to our amazing room to hide out and try to save the camera.

Other hotel guests, successfully releasing their lanterns

Me and our lantern in the camera's final moments

The next morning started super early with a ferry ride to the nearby island of Koh Tao. Despite the fact that these islands are so close to each other, they couldn't be more different. Koh Tao has great diving, and has attracted a large population of expat divers, mostly in their right after college years. As such, food and hotels are cheap and a little rustic. Our hotel here was the Sensi Paradise Hotel, where we had our own little cabin.

Ferry to Koh Tao 

Our cabin 

We quickly dropped our stuff and headed off for our first dives. We used the Big Blue Diving company, which was well reviewed. It appeared to be the capital of the expat population- so it was a bit like a college dorm and cafeteria. Very exciting, pretty crowded, maybe a little overwhelming, but the dive master was good. The diving was great (sorry, no pics), because of a few strong currents that were really stirring up the nutrients and bringing in the fish.

That night, we had a lame dinner at our hotel -- I ordered shrimp that were deep fried in their shells. It was a seriously nasty mess to try to get the shrimp out, and totally not worth the effort. R had a grilled fish, which was the dish of the island. At this point though, food had really become an after-thought. Between the heat and the humidity, we were barely eating much at all.

For the next day, we opted to try a new diving place. Scuba Junction was another dive shop (one of many in Koh Tao) that was well reviewed, but much smaller than Big Blue. Both were good and the same price, but I think we generally preferred the less frenetic Scuba Junction.  Again we did two dives, following a dive master with one other person in our group. Again the sites were amazing and full of fish.

Koh Tao at Sunrise

Before we left, I was a little worried about R, who had just gotten certified right before the trip. Instead, he did great, and I was the problem. Clearly diving, like any sport, is a skill that needs to be practiced. I hadn't been since last summer, and maybe 4 years before that- so I was super rusty. Since R had just been certified, he was a little less rusty than me and did great. This is particularly important, because a lot of diving is about fighting your instincts so you don't do something stupid.

At some point on the first dive of the second day, I was struggling with the current and breathing too much. I realized that I was running low on air and indicated to the dive master, who just kind of turned around (communication under water is really difficult). He kept swimming without acknowledging me, while I kept breathing and using up my air. I started to panic, and wanted to shoot the top for air (The first rule of diving is that you don't shoot to the top because you may explode. Seriously). I didn't, and managed to get back to the boat without completely running out of air. We did one more dive after that that went well, so everything ended fine. I was left thinking that I need to dive more so that I'm better at it-- but very happy to get back on dry land.

Oh happy Pad Thai. 

Pool Time

We had some good pool time and then went to the Whitening restaurant, which is the place to eat in Koh Tao.

Sunset at Whitening Restaurant

Then we were back on the ferry, heading back to Koh Samui. This time, we opted to stay at the Hansar, another super fancy hotel. We had some more good pool time, and lazed around.

Hansar

That's not a cup, that's a coconut. 

Holy spring roll!

We picked this hotel because it was by the fishermen's village on the island- but we ended up lazily having dinner at the hotel. By this point, I think we were both tired of constantly moving from place to place and starting to get tired of Thai food. Despite my best efforts, we were both mildly sunburnt and covered in bug bites. I had developed a head cold/allergy situation that was as annoying as it was attractive. Our camera still wasn't working after the lantern fiasco, and our clothes were beginning to smell like we'd been traveling for a while. The idea of going home was starting to be appealing. Knowing that we were coming to the end, we rallied for one last plane flight for the fourth and final phase of the trip.