It turned out that our Koh Samui beach vacation was more vacation than beach--until our 4th week. We knew before coming to Koh Samui that it would be the monsoon season but were unprepared for the torrential downpours all day that we encountered. Coming from drought-ridden Colorado, seeing the kind of rain that Koh Samui got, was an experience. We loved the Four Seasons Koh Samui even in the rain. It is a great vacation spot--calming and exotic. Our days were different from our at-home ones, they were more relaxing. The month went fast. We also loved talking to Sean, the GM, Alessandro, the Resort Manager, and Macall, the Director of Rooms and Residences. It was fun to get to know them and learn about their lives. We reveled in all of the attention they paid to us and it made our stay memorable.
Our first activity (after our quarantine light) was an island tour by Jas, the driver of the Four Seasons Koh Samui House Car. We went south and around the island counterclockwise. We stopped at the Secret Garden and made a plan to return when it wasn't so slippery and wet. We also identified the area where the electric bike rental was that Dimitri had found online and the sugar cane juice vendor for Dimitri's favorite drink that Jas told us about. We went to Wat Khumaram and also saw the view of Koh Tao Island at the southwest of Koh Samui. Then, just like that our 3-hour tour was over and we were back in our villa.
When we were ex-pats in Jakarta, we loved the amazing levels of service. It didn't take long until we experienced it again--the car rental company delivered our Toyota Yaris rental car to the Four Seasons! At US$26 a day we were happy with the car that was practically new. Dimitri did all of the driving (on the left) and didn't seem to mind. Unless we were on the more crowded east side of the island at night, then it was tedious for him. Without adequate street lights, it was difficult to see the motorbikes darting around us. Even so, we could only imagine what the horrible traffic would be like if there were lots of tourists visiting. Our northwest location at the Four Season Koh Samui was much calmer.
On our second day, we drove our Yaris to find Dimitri's sugar cane vendor and found it. Boy, was Dimitri happy--it's been years since the last time he savored it. The electric bike rental (the only one on Koh Samui) turned out to be a crappy place with the crappiest bikes we have ever seen. We went and talked to Al, the owner, and decided to give that place a miss.
On our third day, we went to the Four Seasons Fitness and used the strength machines and the aerobic machines; it's a good gym. We didn't walk up to the gym, the buggy path was just too steep. On our fourth day, we were introduced to Koh Samui in the rain. OMG, it could be ferocious. We didn't know how lucky we had been for our first days without rain.
On our fifth day, we didn't have rain and we skedaddled to the beach to try out kayaking. We liked it and looked forward to doing more kayaking. Audre swam her first laps in the 50-meter (164 foot) pool and loved it. Years ago, Audre swam in her 25-meter pool at the Four Seasons Vail and after swimming for months, got up to swimming 1 mile. Audre's goal in Koh Samui was to swim 10 laps (500 meters) while there. We didn't walk to the beach because the buggy path isn't just steep, it's vertical. The Four Seasons Koh Samui has enough staff so that we never had to wait more than 2 minutes for a buggy which made the resort on such vertiginous terrain work.
On our sixth day, Non, from the concierge staff, came to our villa to help us take our Day 6 obligatory rapid COVID test. We tested negative and were free to travel throughout Thailand.
We developed a pattern of rainy day activities. One day we would go to the gym, one day we would do our stretching and toning in our 1000 sq. ft. villa using the yoga mats that the Four Seasons considerately puts in guests' closets.
Whenever it wasn't raining, we would walk to breakfast. The paths for the buggies were steep, actually almost vertical (the repetition is for emphasis). Walking to breakfast isn't long but it does get the heart rate up! After the walk up the buggy path, there were still 86 steps to climb to the breakfast pavilion.
On days when it wasn't raining, we would try to hike. That wasn't too successful at first. The famous hikes in Koh Samui are to waterfalls. The first one that we tried was Hin Lao Waterfall by the Lipa Yai River but it had a sign (which we didn't see even though it was in English) that said: "do not enter, dangerous, absolutely". It didn't take long for us to turn back making the decision ourselves that it was too slippery and there was too much water. What we did that day instead was to find the Maenam Viewpoint at Laem No Lam. It wasn't easy to find and we were very proud of ourselves when we did. Our later hikes were on paved paths up to viewpoints. The steepness of those roads was similar to the buggy paths in our resort but fortunately not as continuously steep. Evidently grading isn't a priority.
Our concierge tried to find a bike tour that we could take with regular mountain bikes (no e-bikes). Because of the lack of tourists and the rain, they were not operating bike tours. The seas were too choppy to go to the Mu Koh Angthong National Marine Park. Such a shame.
When Dimitri needed a dentist, Macall made an appointment at the Koh Samui branch of the Bangkok Hospital. That facility could take an x-ray that could be digitized so Dimitri could send it to his dentist in Vail. He was impressed with the dentist, the facility, and the whole operation, actually. Eventually, we hoped his infection would be under control.
Each evening we would go to another local Thai restaurant, either one that Dimitri had identified online or one that was recommended by someone at the Four Seasons. Click here for a blog post of all of our restaurant reviews.
We found our favorite Japanese store Uniqlo at The Central Samui Festival Mall and bought Audre some new "at-home" drape pants and Dimitri some "at-home" pants, with pockets, to go with his Qatar Airlines outfit (without pockets) that they gave him in business class.
In an extraordinary act of thoughtfulness, the Four Seasons Koh Samui treated us to a private showing of the famous Fire Dance of Koh Samui. Click here to read about that.
In spite of the rainy days, we got to the tourist attractions for the obligatory snap or went to the pool so Audre could swim. We had to wait until our fourth week for the sea to be calm enough to try kayaking again.
As our stay in Koh Samui comes to a close, it might be fun to review our doings and plans in a Google Map. We don't know how long Google lets this type of map stay active. The items in green color are those that we visited and the blue ones are of interest but we didn't get around to going there.
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