Nanana Link to our pics for trip Picasa Web Albums - Marie - Thailand 2006

Trip Report 15/09-12/110/06

We are (were) two thirty somethings away to celebrate my partner’s 40th. We have stressful jobs and as this was our third trip to Thailand we decided to do a beach holiday with very little sightseeing other than self-exploring. My partner (T) loathes organised day trips. We started in Bangkok for two nights (Silom Serene), Samui (Lamai Wanta) for 6, Koh Phangan (Santhiya) for 5 and then Khao Lak (Le Meridien) for 13. As we did little more than eat, ride around on scooters and lie on the beach this report will be more of our impressions of the resorts, restaurants and surrounding areas. We had a wonderful trip and will return again.

BANGKOK(Silom Serene):I do not have a lot of favourable comments about this place. First the positives, close (5-10 minutes walk) to sky train stop and great buffet breakfast. Now the negatives. We had a late check in after midnight by which time we had travelled for about 16 hours from home. We had booked no smoking both through sawadee and a personal email myself. We ended up with a smoking room. They were full and said they would change us the next day. We are staunch non smokers so the stench in the room and whole floor was not pleasant for us. The smell was right through the duvet cover bedding. They did not change us to another room when we asked the next day again were told they were full. They also gave us a wake up call which was not for us at 6.30am. We spent as much time as possible outside the hotel. The room itself was the usual hotel type room but it had dirty stained carpet only one chair and had chipped and dirty tiles in the bathroom. The light over the bath shower did not work so we showered in low light. The water pressure was bad and the toilet blocked constantly. Thankfully we could cope for two nights. We alerted management to both problems in the bathroom but neither was fixed during our stay. The pool area is nice for a dip but very small, fine for a short stopover but I would not recommend this pool area for children. There were only two sun loungers and only a small very public deck area for sunbathing. It was also in shade for most of the day due to its position. For dinner we caught the skytrain to the river and then walked to Tongue Thai which is on O Place behind the Oriental. We really enjoyed our meal here. It was a little pricey for local food but great setting, food and service. We pretty much shopped for the one full day we had in Bangkok. We utilised the sky train all day, as it is such a cheap and efficient means of getting places in Bangkok. We did not feel the need to sightsee. We did four days last year. We both agree that we love Bangkok it is such an assault on the senses, we will return but not to Silom Serene.

SAMUI (Lamai Wanta): We flew Bangkok Airways. I did not mind them. They had free drinks and snacks at the Bangkok Airport (old). Free food always works with me. The plane was old and cramped but service great. The Samui Airport is outdoors and quaint something a little bit different. Now to the Lamai Wanta. I almost don’t want to say anything about the resort publicly because it is such a hidden gem. It is in one of the better positions beachfront on Lamai 1800baht per night for a bungalow cheaper for rooms. It has a great small infinity pool beachfront with plenty of loungers. The restaurant is next to the pool so pool service is available. The restaurant was fantastic if not a bit pricey by local standards. The food was top notch. It was nice to order breakie off the menu for a change. Our bungalow was more than adequate for the price paid. It had an excellent bathroom and a minimalist type bedroom. Bed was a tad hard even by Thai standards. There were oddles of restaurants and shops nearby but once in the Wanta you would never know it. Local persons sold cooked corn, cut up fruit and coconut on the beach as they walked past. It was like having a rolling buffet for lunch. A good find was a bar on the beach called Chill’n who made the best Baguettes for lunch. We also enjoyed eating at Beverly Hills on the hill between Lamai and Chewang with great views. One disappointment for us was Big Johns Seafood on the other side of the island. It was literally **** terrible food, overpriced, bad setting and poor service. Maybe we had a bad day with them. We hired a scooter for the whole time and went around the island doing all the usual tourist stops and some of the off road non tourist areas in our attempt to avoid Police stops for helmets. It was not the fine that bothered us more the 1 ½ hour we were told it would take out of our day in paying it. The locals were the ones who honked at us to tell us of the police stops, very nice of them. Interestingly the Police only every stopped Tourist with no helmets not the locals???? We made it too overlap rock. This was not signposted but we managed to find the road and scootered all the way up to the rock bar the short walking track to it. Unfortunately it seemed to be guarded by two local dogs who did not like us much. It was marked on our tourist map but the path seemed overgrown like no one had been there for a while. Great lookout for the south of the island. Do not fall into the scratchy prize scam at the big budda unless you are interested in a timeshare. The big prize you may win is a free weeks holiday but subject to conditions like availability and expiry. It will take at least 3 hours out of your day. Lamai beach tip: Do not stay at the very North end of the beach as the beach area is terrible with lots of rocks. Samui in general seemed to have new buildings going up everywhere. Samui was nice but we felt we had seen enough and will not return.

Great place , good value. Loved this place for the position etc.

and some very helpfull information, I look forward to visiting some of the restaurants you mention, thank you again,

Colleen