Ko Samui

Big Budda is worth a look, I had heard it was in a bad state but it has obviously been painted and looks quite impressive- especially from across the bay.

I found Chaweng to be too busy with a poor beach, though if you're in to lively nightlife its the only place to go.(Worth a trip to see Thai Boxing).

We stayed firstly near Bophut and then at Hat Choeng Mon. Bophut is a really nice village with great eating places, and cheap accommodation. Also many boat trips leave from here so its very handy. The beach isn't the best, though we were never without a moped and found some great places not that far away.

Choeng Mon is in a different class, Great beach still with little fishing boats- not at all spoiled. Great food at night - all the restaurants serve by candle light on the beach- truly beautiful. If you aren't that into exploring, its the type of place you could stay for a blissful few days and not need any thing else. (We stayed at Choeng Mon Bungalows and had an air conditioned chalet with hot water and Sky Tv for about £8 per night).

Quick Tips:

A candle lit dinner on the beach at Choeng Mon is not to be missed.

Best Way To Get Around:

The roads are quite good on Ko Samui. You can drive right around the coast. A moped is a cheap and easy way to get around (can be hired from around £3 per day)

Sunny bungalows was great. The owner picked us up from the boat and drove us there on the back of her pick-up. We had asked to go to Bophut and at first were disappointed that it was quite far out of Bophut. However we soon grew to love the place. Although the beach here isn''t great (too rocky to swim), walk 10 mins to the east and it soon improves. Theres also a great view of Big Budda across the bay. The bungalows are very good, clean and secure with an attached bathroom. Our bungalow only cost about £4 per night.

The woman who owns Sunny Bungalows is only about 24, her very mellow husband runs the small bar, and her hyper toddler son ''Guy'' does his best to break things (especially your beer bottle- so beware!)

The woman (whose name I forget) was very helpful. She drove us around in her pick-up, organised moped hire (even collecting the bike for us), she let us use her phone, and best of all cooked great grub! Her brother is a fisherman which guarantees unlimited cheap seafood. One night she made us barbecued whole Red Snappers, a mountain of hugh prawns, rice and stir fried vegetables- she only charged us around £13, it was the best feed I''ve ever had!

Choeng Mon Beach is lined with quite a few restaurants. At night they put tables right on the beach at the waters edge. The beach is filled with tables and candles and its totally informal, you can go in bare feet and have a paddle between courses if you want.

It really doesn't matter which restaurant you go to as all are excellent,cheap and equally atmospheric.

The food is of a traditional Thai style, but mainly sea food of an excellent standard.

Something with an unusual name on every menu is 'No name' which is a bit like a vegetable pakora.

During the day these restaurants still operate but not on the beach. If you really want to be fed on the beach at lunch time there are Thai ladies who carry cooking pots around and can russle up a curry beside you as you sunbathe!

As we were on a budget we first tried all the restaurants in Bophut that looked somewhat ramshackle ie. cheap. They were cheap but the food was consistently of a high standard, and all were right on the waters edge. One night we decided to go somewhere a bit more expensive. ' Starfish and Coffee ' looked amazing, decorated in red and gold with candlelit tables. When we read the menu out side we realised that it wasn't that much dearer than all the others. The food was fantastic and the service also was great. We ate there many more times and our only regret was that we didn't try it sooner.

The most memorable night was during a thunder storm, the electricity cut out (as it does almost everywhere on this island when it rains). They still managed to serve our food in no time in almost darkness.

A brilliant day - a must for anyone who has seen 'the beach'.

Our boat left Bophut very early in the morning. It took over an hour to reach Ang Thong, we spotted lots of flying fish along the way.

As soon as the islands came into view we were amazed. The Ang thong National Marine Park consists of 41 small islands which are mainly covered in dense jungle. It was the inspiration for the movie'the beach' and some of the scenes were set there.

The first place we got off was Ko Mae Ko island which has a land locked lake. The walk to this is steep in places, but not too difficult and the green lake is well worth seeing. A steeper climb will bring you to a viewpoint from where you can see the many surrounding islands.

The next stop is at Ko Wua Talab island where there is a more demanding walk to a spectacular viewpoint. This walk is extremely difficult and takes longer than the hour we were told it would take. Most of it involves pulling yourself upwards using a rope, and while this is fine under the trees at the very top it is over exposed rock (though cliff would be a better description). The combination of heat exhaustion and vertigo did not agree with me and I did not make the rest of the climb. Though my partner Wesley assures me that the view from the very top wasn't much better than at the point where I faded. Because it took us so long to do this walk we didnt get to go to the cave, so I can't comment on that.

All together a fantastic day, with breathtaking views and optional walks!

A nice place to visit. It's not too steep a climb to the waterfall, which is worth seeing. It is possible to go part of the way on elephant. There are a couple of plunge pools on this waterfall, one of which is quite high up. Please please be careful on the slippy rocks!

I don't want to be a downer, but please be careful when exploring. Do not take the same risks that you would at home or elsewhere in Europe. Remember that the rescue and medical services are not what they are at home.

We saw a young man slip on a wet rock at The Na Muang Waterfall. Although he didn't fall far he suffered a bad head injury. The only way down was by elephant (no chance of an air lift here). We tried to help as much as we could but there wasn't much we could do.

I wouldn't like to imagine how much blood had been lost by the time they got him to a hospital. I doubt he survived at all.

Sorry to depress you - JUST BE CAREFUL!!!