Ko Samui: The Motorbiking Adventures Continue

We spend a lazy morning on Lamai Beach, enjoying the slightly cooler waters of the Gulf of Thailand and the beach chairs provided by our little Sea Breeze Bungalows. We eventually rallied and decided that because there wasn’t anything to do in Lamai other than sit on the beach, we would rent a motorbike and tour the island.

We drove north through the overdeveloped shopping centers and somewhat dirty beaches of Chaweng, decided that nothing on this stretch of the island was worth stopping for. It has much more of an American beach feel than a Thai beach feel. We kept driving and came upon fisherman’s village in Bo Phut. Because you can’t park anywhere within the village, we just drove through really slowly and took in all the knick knack shacks and smiling Thai faces, marveling at the odd smell of bananas, kerosene, and wood polish.

Our first stop of the day was near the entrance to the Big Buddha temple on the beach near Bo Phut. We parked our bike, and commenced a 15 minute struggle to open the seat and get out our day bag. This bike was unlike the other two we had rented and didn’t have a key release for the seat. Needless to say, a small Thai woman emerged from the coffee shop across the street (after she had ample time to laugh at us) and helped us out. We figured the least we could do was have an iced coffee in her beachfront shop. We sipped our drinks on barstools looking out on the bay through a big, open picture window, enjoying both our beverages and the quieter atmosphere the northern part of the island is known for.

We walked up the ornately tiled stairs leading up to Big Buddha itself, admiring the vibrant colors, seven headed serpents, and scenes from the Buddha’s life that decorated the staircase. The statue itself has five smaller Buddha statues in front, surrounded by a square shaped veranda overlooking a very picturesque bay. Bells hand from the open roof of the veranda, separated by ten feet of uninterrupted ocean views. If I was Big Buddha, I would be pretty proud of my view! Big Buddha is one hundred feet tall and painted solid gold, reflecting the heat of the midday sun onto his admirers. The temple was very peaceful and majestic in a mysterious way that we thoroughly enjoyed.

After paying tribute to Buddha, we drove our motorbike through the hoity toity northeast coast of Ko Samui littered with five star resorts, private beaches, and expensive rental cars. We headed south the roundabout way, but saw some beautiful coastlines on our way to the Namuang Waterfalls. After our 25 minute walk to the “swimming hole” we were sorely disappointed to see a barely flowing, dirty waterfall. We used our imaginations to picture what it would have looked like with more water, but couldn’t imagine there ever being enough water for people to jump off cliffs into the small ponds that we saw depicted! However, it was beautiful, even if not what we expected, and the walk was a nice change from the seat of the motorbike.

We continued to drive south in search of another temple, but we either took a wrong turn somewhere or didn’t go quite far enough. We ended up on a beach in Laem Sor, a quaint nontourist town on the southern shore of Ko Samui. I would guess that the locals don’t see many tourists, considering the puzzled looks we got as we drove through the sleepy town. No one even tried to sell us anything! The beach we found by accident had a deserted, castaway feel to it with no one else on the sand as far as we could see, other than a few nearby grazing cattle. The views of the mainland to the south, the palm tree lined strip of sand, and the fallen coconuts strewn about contributed to the charm of this little gem.

When we got back to Lamai, we decided not to try the party scene again and opted for dinner and cocktails on the beachfront. We were joined by our friend the centipede who was more than willing to pose for a few pictures and crawl all over us.