Rest in Koh Samui

We rented a house on Koh Samui, Thailand for what we hoped would be a relaxing and "vacation-like" stay.  This was planned because we figured we'd be tired and wore out after Cambodia and Vietnam, and also knew we were headed into service projects in Thailand followed by a very long travel time to South Africa and Swaziland with two of three weeks spent serving.  Samui is a very laid back and peaceful setting as even the airport is relaxing, if you can imagine that.  No one seems to be in a hurry but yet things operate on time.  Food is delicious with fresh fish available on sandy beach restaurants all around the island. 

Typical view on one of many beaches

Beach dinner while youngest swims as we wait for food!

Flying her 1st kite - she thought it was called a "Magic Carpet" - think she's been watching too much Aladdin!

Beach ballet!

Local boy, Pang, who hung out with us a lot at beach

While reading at the beach, a stray dog came over, lifted it's leg & peed on Mom's foot & lounger!
The man next to her laughed and said, "Oh, that happens all the time here."  REALLY!?!?

Our home was situated away from the beach up on hill in a neighborhood of sorts.  Our Airbnb host was extremely helpful in the whole process and arranged for a rental truck to be waiting for us at the house as well.  This would be dad's first experience driving a left handed stick shift!  The kids waffled between begging to ride in the pick-up bed and assigning an "outcast" to ride in the pick-up bed... it seems there's always something to disrupt the peace, even on a Thai island!

The home was the largest we have stayed in yet and had a pool, soft beds, some toys, fresh decent-sized towels, and a blender for making smoothies.  The local grocery store had several American foods and we laughed as we realized we'd bought them out of Greek yogurt as we went back several times throughout the week to see if they'd received more, but to no avail.  Mom also surprised the kids by some creative substitutions and made "Puppy Chow" and Special K bars.  The kids were psyched about our set up and mom and dad hoped to rest. 

Lots of time was spent playing darts propped up on lawn chair.

We found a Thai boxing gym near our place and arranged for taking classes there our second morning.  This proved quite fun and we ended up going 6 days from 8-10am.  This got us out of bed and sweating early and it felt so good to actually workout, which has proven very difficult on this journey. With new meds helping, even Dad was able to participate!  We had some good laughs as we realized some of the children could not solo-jumprope during our warm-ups, and the main instructor referred to every direction as "left," so we were always trying to figure out what we were supposed to be doing!  It just so happened that the same people running the gym also owned a spa nearby, and because we were taking classes they offered us a discount.  We obliged by taking in a few massages for about 1/3 of what they cost at home. 

Gym where we worked out

Morning warm up

Boxing in the ring!

Goofing around

Everyone got to participate in the fun in some way or another!

Oldest working on his kicks

Look at Dad go!

Boys looking' tough

"Steam room" at local spa - you do sweat in there with pot boiling below

We spent one day on an island-hopping tour where we got to kayak and snorkel with a Russian group of tourists (no idea how exactly that happened).  This involved a large speed boat of sorts that shuttled the 50 or so of us around the ocean a bit like cattle.  When it was all said and done, we enjoyed seeing the islands and scenery.

The kayaking crew

Mom & G battled the current

Go boys go!

Kids after hiking up to a fun look-out area

Thai island hopping

Oldest flipping off of the boat

Some of the fish coming to the surface where we snorkeled

On the way back to Koh Samui, our boat drove by David Beckham's house!

One highlight of our time in Koh Samui was the Spices Cafe, a local restaurant with about 5 tables owned and run by a sweet woman who used to run 5-star resort kitchens.  On a much needed date night, mom and dad had the privilege of dining there over a delicious meal that cost about 1/10th what it was worth.  We were so impressed we asked about her private cooking class which we had read about on Trip Advisor.  This was a great experience and the kids really enjoyed it as we learned about local produce, spices and techniques.  Not to mention we got to eat what we cooked and are bringing home some great new recipes!  

Results - cashew chicken was delicious

G slicing' and dicin'

Tom Yum soup was delicious!

Everyone gets to help at cooking class!

Chefs & their creations

We spent our evenings walking around different night markets if we were needing to get out of the house a bit.  For the most part they all had the same things.  One of the favorites was a crispy crepe for dessert.

Chicken anyone?

Ordering her crispy crepe with Nutella!

Towards the end of our stay there was an island festival.  This included food, bands, games and a Thai boxing event.  One of the guys who had helped train us at the gym was fighting as the headline fight.  Some of us were excited to see him go at it in the ring as watching him train was a bit frightening at times.  We sat for 4 hours, in scattered rain showers, watching fight after fight until finally throwing in the towel at 10:45 and leaving.  Dad had two who wanted to stay and two who were miserable and none of us had eaten as we thought there would be a chance beforehand but we got there late and seats were going fast so we sat down only to find there weren't safe food options available.  So now we had four upset family members and a very tired 4 year old, all of whom were hungry as it was pushing 11pm - ah the memories! 

Muy Thai boxing

Crowd gathered for the fights

Our time here was indeed restful but it took more than a few days to get used to the slower pace, and when it was time to go, we all wished we had more time here. We still struggle with planning our time in advance and trying to be spontaneous.  We obviously cannot fully have both, and now that we feel affirmed in continuing our travels, with Dad's feet feeling better, we spent time trying to finish some travel plans while we had decent Internet access.  We wish we had a few more days in Koh Samui, but were so grateful for our time here to catch our breath a bit as traveling is a different kind of exhausting.

Enjoying the beach fun!