Koh Samui - Part 1: Angthong National Park

Day 1

Reached Koh Samui around 5.30pm Bangkok time after an unexpected long (1 hr 20 mins) flight from Penang. Checked into Tango Resort, had a nice dinner at the fancy restaurant next door, and took a walk down the street to central Chaweng.

More hotel pics coming up later!

Mandarin orange + lime juice

From top left: Tomyum, broccoli with roast pork, Thai sauces, sweet-tasting duck, assorted dish

Lovely ambience

Day 2

Early next morning, we were already awake for our adventure to Angthong National Marine Park! The package cost RM130 per pax, inclusive of speedboat transfer, breakfast and lunch, snorkelling equipment, and an endless supply of cold water and soda drinks on board. Pretty worth it, as we soon found out later!

As we were waiting for the speedboat, Leonard bumped into his colleague, Zaki, who were also going on the same trip with us! The world is so small, and Intel is so huge... -_-'''

Look who's the 'broadband' now...

Leonard managed to chat up a cute Parisian.

Our first stop was snorkelling at Koh Vaw. I expected a speedy arrival, but it took us almost 1 and a half hour to get there! Was feeling a bit seasick from the boatride, but once we arrived, my health completely took over and I was soon throwing off my clothes and jumping into the sea!

Once in the water, Leonard and I were already swimming around like fish, while mom took a while to get used to being in the open sea. Dad however, after a few feeble attempts in the water, shouted: "Get me outta here!" Hahahaha... what to do... he became our camera-man afterwards, poor dad :P Better get more swimming practice!

Happy snorkellers ^__^

Say cheese!

"Cheese!"

Happy mama ^__^

One for the family

We had only an hour to snorkel. The water around the boat was dirty and filled with breadcrumbs, but it got clearer as we neared the shore. I saw schools of yellow fish, the usual rainbow-coloured trouts, several mud-slingers, a long, sharp-nosed fish and many corals. Though Leonard said they were dead corals. I think I gotta buy a fish-book to start identifying the fishes I see on my snorkelling trips! The corals were at very shallow waters, and I literally floated just above them, scared to get my legs cut on the sharp rocks.

Coral island

Next, on to Angthong! Angthong is an archipelago of limestone islands located to the west of Koh Samui. Before the trip, I thought Angthong was given 'National Park' status for its beautiful marine life and corals and there would be some place for us to snorkel. However, it was actually something similar to Langkawi's Geopark. -_-''' But nevermind, I enjoyed the view a lot! Albeit the scenery was constantly blocked by an European who kept on hogging the deck to become everybodys background... Poor Leonard got seasick, his face turned green and couldn't bear even to stand up to view the magnificently formed islands.

Majestic Angthong

The Leo and Koh Leo (encircled)

Us and deck hogger (behind) :P

For lunch, we were whisked away to a picturesque little island called Koh Wau-Talap. So picturesque that I was so caught up in the view until I forgot to take photos!! I loved the cuteness of it all: the beautiful blue skies and sea, green, tidy landscape, coconut trees, sandy white beaches and pastel-coloured kayaks. It looked like Survivor Island! There was a quaint little well and makeshift shower for us to wash ourselves before lunch. Surprisingly, there were also clean toilets and bathrooms and freshwater supply! We had a lovely buffet Thai lunch, much better than the lunchbox provided at Pulau Paya. The French girl sat with us and talked about food (Ratatouille!) and places in Paris. Now... I'm SOOOO looking forward to going there!

Koh Wau Talap

...Ohm...

After lunch, time for some exercise! All of us got into kayaks and started rowing round the island. For first-time kayakers like my parents, a guide sat into their boat and rowed with my dad while my mom sat back like Cleopatra. :P Leonard and I, on the other hand, took our time to enjoy ourselves. While I was paddling, I saw a humungous jellyfish the size of my head and I stabbed it... much to Leonard's shock. He was shouting for me to not to stab it. Haha... sweet revenge for the jellyfish that stung me in Batu Feringghi!

We rowed and rowed till we came to a part where we saw other kayak members lining up to go through what seemed like a small cavern. So we queued up also. Little did we know that it was a misunderstanding; somebody's kayak got stuck in the small cavern and everyone thought everyone else was lining up. Luckily with the help of a guide, we lay low and our kayak passed through safely without us needing to get into the jellyfish-infested waters... *scared/ guilt*

Back on the boat, we played games to guess the age of the Thai guides on the boat. I scored correct all 3 times! 25, 26 and 27 years old! I wish I were that good at gambling :P

Our next destination was to visit the Emerald Lake at Ko Mae, otherwise known as Talay Nai. Talay Nai means Lagoon inside the Mountain. It is also famously known as the Blue Lagoon from Leonardo DiCaprio's movie The Beach. It is a large pond formed by the sinking of the limestone base of the mountain. Water was channeled in through an underground tunnel from the surrounding sea outside. We climbed a short distance uphill, through the marble rocks to reach the viewpoint to see the lake, spread out in front of us.

Trekked through the stone caves like the Seven Dwarfs

Emerald Lake

Comment allez-vous?

Archipelago of mountains in the sea as seen from the viewpoint

Ko Mae beach

Taking a moment's rest

We got back to our hotel around 5pm. I bought myself a nice souvenir from the boat - the guide had taken a silly, laughing picture of me and put it on a souvenir plate! Later that night, we were so washed out but we wanted more! So we took a tuk-tuk to Chaweng center to look for food.

Beautiful Girl ^__^

Pretty Boy ^__^

From top left: Spicy chicken with santan, spicy fish, mixed vegetables with pork, Tomyum (everyday!!)