Ride to Koh Samui

                                     A couple of friends and i planned to take a ride to Thailand  before the start of the fasting month.  Initially we planned to ride to Hat Yai and back but after some discussion  , the new plan was to ride to the island of Koh Samui , spend 2 night there and on the third day ride to Hat yai , sightsee and on the fourth day ride home. The 1st days ride was going to be interesting as the distance from KL - Don Sak(ferry to Koh Samui ) will be about 860 + km , then a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride  , and another 30+km from the Samui pier to Chaweng beach .

                                      Earliest i 've left ever

RV point

Still predawn hours

1st rest stop , time to break out the shades.

on the hills near Ipoh

Hazy early morning view( or lack off)

Reached Gurun R&R quite early

Stopped here for a pic as the last time we passed it was raining quite a lot.

 

fellow bikers

Another rest stop. We stopped frequently to rehydrate.

Quite near to Don Sak

My navigator trying to figure out the route on the GPS

Fail . so old school method employed  : )

Nice roads

Perfectly surfaced

After 13 hours we reached the pier of Don Sak

bike parking onboard

not too bad ..

Leaving the Thai mainland

we timed it right so we managed to catch the last ferry

On reaching Koh Samui we left the port and rode around the island to the main beach of Chaweng where we managed to get a good hotel right on the beach

Nice room . Got dinner , walked around a bit then promptly crashed. long day.

The next morning we could appreciate our surroundings as we came in quite late the night before.

Breakfast right on the beach

Chaweng beach proper

Nice parking . Secure .

The main street of Chaweng right outside our hotel

Nice place. 2500Bhat per night

After breakfast we decided to explore the island.

1st stop was at the viewing point

Then we went to see the famous grandfather and grandmother rocks.

here

guess which is which

saw more rocks  : )

 

Then we visited the mummified monk

his holiness

surrounding temples

Dragoonnnnnnnnnnssss

From there it was to visit the Big Buddha

Temple guard here

Big Buddha

Nice carvings

Samui's mermaid

Not too sure about this though ?

More temples at another complex

The 1st. They all are built on water

No 2

No 3. very cool

Awesome carvings

By then we were all templed out so time for some food.

Got back to the hotel and checked out the night life at Chaweng.

Not too bad  : )

Caught the ferry back the next morning

Nice place to chill onboard

AC room  is also provided

Leaving the ferry we proceded to Hat Yai

Somewhere  past Phattalung

Reached Songkla

In the main street of Hat Yai

Found a decent hotel for only 600Bhat/night

Ok parking

View from my room

After a quick shower we went to see the sights

Hat yai's sleeping Buddha

Another temple in the complex

From there we visited the floating market where this caught our eye.

Closer...... fried grubs

Crickets

? maggots .....yummy

The floating market proper.

After resting the night we were up early to find breakfast

Nice restaurant. Malaysian food avaliable and halal

After checking out we took a nice ride to the border and back home.

Overall we got to see Koh Samui and Hat Yai  and the experiences along the way made the trip richer and more fulfilling.

A great ride.

Cheers