I grew up with the idea that vacations were exhausting. Rushing to and from each attraction, going from place to place with hardly a moment to breathe. So it’s no surprise that I’ve sometimes craved that relaxing beach vacations I see others take. 

My problem is that I’m cursed. No, I joke, but honestly it does seem like a lot of times when I set aside beach time on a vacation something goes wrong either with weather (I literally had a hurricane come in one year in Mexico) or illness, or something else out of my control. 

This vacation was no exception.

I’d opted to end my trip along the beach (other than one last night in Bangkok to fly back home). I like beach endings to vacations as it often allows time for relaxation if you’re worn out from the trip.

I took a van out of the national park back to Surat Thani (the largest town in the area). There I caught a second van that took me to the ferry and then over to the island of Koh Samui. The drive was once again beautiful, stunning mountains and beautiful jungle.

I had asked my hotel to pick me up from the ferry, but there was some kind of miscommunication and the driver went to the airport instead so I had to catch a taxi. It was a little more expensive than the shuttle would have been, but nothing outrageous. Besides, Grab cars aren’t really available on the island, so it was pretty much my only option. 

I stayed at Pico Samui, a boutique hotel on the beach. I arrived and settled into my room after the exhausting travel of the day.

I’d made minimal plans for the afternoon figuring I could spend time lounging at the beach or the pool. Instead it began raining right about the time I got my swimsuit on. So I snapped a few pictures and reluctantly headed back into my room to relax until dinner time with some tea.

Thankfully the rain did stop when I wanted to get food. I headed over to Fisherman’s Village, an area that used to be used for fishermen, but now is more of a walking street and night market.

I stopped at Aroy Dee, a restaurant slightly off the street that looked like it had good food even if it didn’t have ocean views. I had a pina colada, shrimp cakes, and some kind of stir fried glass noodles with vegetables and chicken. 

After that I did a bit of wandering through the night market before deciding it was time to go back to my place for the night. The weather had cleared up some so I sat on my porch and had some ice cream to finish up the night. 

A short post, but hope to be back with more soon!