May 31, 2023

I had this whole post on my iPad when it went fluky, froze  and the whole post disappeared, so I am doing this one again on my laptop…

On May 30, we were invited to dinner with our chief engineer, Ned Tonchev, and our captain, Maroje Brajcic.  Erin and Mui were invited as well.  We had a wonderful evening!

On May 31, Wednesday, we had a tour with Sonia and Boris. This port we are anchored and we were about a 30 minute tender ride away from the port.  We were lucky to have shoreside tenders which were large and open instead of using the usual lifeboats we use in other places. Later we heard that ships have to anchor so far out because a few years ago one ship’s anchor cut into an undersea cable which caused many problems.

We were picked up in a 4×4 vehicle by our guide, Tukky.  Good thing he had us fasten our seatbelts because this was an adventure tour around the island of Ko Samui and it consisted of many bumpy dirt roads interspersed with some paved parts and we went way up into the mountains for the beautiful viewpoints. On the way Tukky often stopped to show us different trees and fruits that grow in the jungle.

The views were really beautiful.  At the first stop we had to walk over rope bridges to get to the viewpoint.  We were scheduled to also see the waterfall but it is dry now.

We saw many banana trees but Tukky told us that they are being cut down in many places to plant durian trees (that smelly fruit that is prohibited in vehicles, airplanes and hotels).  Apparently it is more lucrative to sell that and it is in great demand in China. Here is a banana tree, a durian tree and a betel nut. We also learned about the two coconuts harvested here, one for the coconut meat and the other for milk. They are two completely different trees.

The next viewpoint was just as beautiful.  We saw homes and restaurants so far off the beaten path we wondered how people live and how others find the places – but then we found them as tourists.  Tukky told us that Ko Samui was hit hard by Covid, everything shut down and since tourism is the main source of income, it was devastating.  It is now coming back. There wasn’t much illness here and there aren’t many Chinese visitors either since it is a small island and they like to travel in large groups – there aren’t enough accommodations for large groups.

This frog was a visitor in my stall in the rest room.  And these puppies were so cute!

Next we visited the Lamai Temple area where we saw the temple and the museum from the outside and had our pictures taken with the animals representing our birth years (Tiger for me, Ox for Norm).

More wonderful views from here.

Our next stop was at the Secret Buddha Garden or Magic Garden where we walked into a beautiful wooded area with lots of statues.  The walking was a bit treacherous as there were slippery places and many rocks to navigate.  But it was serene and quiet.

Our last stop of the day was at the Crystal Bay Beach resort where we had a beautiful beach, a lovely pool and a delicious lunch.  We told Tukky we wanted to spend 3 hours there before going back to the ship. 

After lunch and a beach walk, Sonia and I had Thai massages (60 minutes for $10!) right along the beach.  So relaxing.  We just got finished when a huge black cloud and fierce rainstorm hit, tree branches came down and sand sprayed everywhere.  Tukky had ponchos for us but we got soaked in the 4×4 vehicle.  Wheeee!

A great day all around.