On 17 April this year I, and 3 friends, stopped over in Thailand on our way to Australia. We spent 4 days in Thailand and this Review is designed to be helpful for anyone who has the same aim as we did – de-stress very quickly at the beginning of a holiday. We started off in Bangkok and moved quickly to Ko Samui.
***Arrival***
I won’t bother you with details of the flight too much – I’m sure I can Review airlines elsewhere. Anyway, about 9 hours after leaving Heathrow we landed in Bangkok airport having had a pleasant overnight flight. The scene was not unlike other large international airports. Travellers from a myriad of ethnic origins were rushing in different directions while others, who had more time on their hands presumably, lazed around enjoying the cool air conditioning.
***Lesson 1 – Plan in Advance***
We learned our first lesson very quickly…don’t stand around looking lost or unsure of yourself. We did just that – taking our time to look at books for hotels and other information. Each time we stopped in the terminal building we were approached by a number of Thai men and women wearing blazers and looking official. It turns out that these people can arrange your accommodation, transport and excursions – in fact probably anything you would ever want to do in Bangkok! These people were very insistent, and loud, and had the amazing ability to switch off their understanding of English when we mentioned the words “too expensive”. The agents are commission based and the problem we had was that we didn’t book a hotel in advance (which can be done over the internet with ease) so didn’t know if we were getting a good deal or not.
***The Result***
We explained that we only wanted to stay 1 night in Bangkok and return to the airport the next day for a flight elsewhere in Thailand. So they offered us a couple of hotels that all seemed a bit too expensive – about £25 each for bed and breakfast – which in Thailand is expensive.
After mulling over a book of hotels we picked one at about £20 a night each and that included transfers to and from the airport. Again, we didn’t do our research so couldn’t tell if we were being ripped off or not.
***Leaving the Airport***
After booking the hotel (and having a distinctly uneasy feeling that things were happening too quickly) we were ushered to an area where a gentleman was checking documentation (that the agents gave us) and arranging the next available transport. After waiting about 20 minutes a silver people carrier pulled up and we walked outside for the first time. I can still remember the shock as I hit the wall of heat. Bangkok was scorching! (if a little smoggy) And we were dressed in jeans, T shirt, socks and trainers – which we regretted very quickly. The agents had given us a hotel quite near the airport and once we were on the motorway it only took about 25 minutes to get there. Our driver didn’t speak English and didn’t ask for any money from us – you just have to make sure you hold on to your document from the agents (a small pink piece of paper in our case).
***The Hotel***
The Bangkok Centrepoint Saladaeng is luxury compared to most other forms of accommodation in Bangkok. 4 star accommodation from about £40 per twin room per night. The hotel had a swimming pool, gym and bar and the rooms were huge with very effective air conditioning. On arrival in our people carrier we were greeted by 4 of 5 very enthusiastic Thai boys in uniforms who were saluting us as they welcomed us from the car. It was quite amusing really and you don’t need to tip them at this stage but when they take your luggage to your room it is polite to tip them a few baht (Thai currency) which only works out at pence.
I have to admit that staying in a large hotel in Bangkok wasn’t what I had planned but we decided to have a wander around straight away.
***That Night***
We decided to have something to eat and get an early night. We were still knackered from the flight after all. As we left the hotel and wandered down the main road we saw a few taxis (normal cars) and dozens of these curious little machines that I suppose were a form of transport. They looked like one of those compartments you get at fun fairs that spin you round and around…but fused with a motorbike. 3 people can squeeze in the back and your driver rides the “bike” bit. These drivers are very insistent and will attempt to pick you up even if you are minding your own business. They will also try and rip you off. Don’t pay more than about 30 or 40 baht which is about 50p. Then again we got a cheeky chap who was quite funny so I gave him 100 baht (£1.33). His eyes lit up and he was over the moon.
We asked out first driver if he could take us to a nice restaurant nearby. The journey took a hair raising 20 minutes and we eventually got dropped off at a nice little seafood restaurant. Although don’t ask me where he took us - I’ve no idea!
The restaurant wasn’t busy and we had a seafood platter (cockles, grilled baby octopus, huge prawns, green mussels, crayfish and squid). Beware – the “lobster” as advertised seemed more like crayfish to me – I’m sure lobsters have claws and the specimens for sale didn’t. We noticed that almost everywhere we went.
I had a Thai Green Chicken Curry (not very adventurous I know!) and it was amazing and very cheap. The meal with about 4 beers each cost 600 baht each or about £8.
We hailed a couple of funny wee motorbike things again for the return journey and it only took 5 minutes to get back to the hotel….which was strange given it took 20 to get to the restaurant! The conversation went something like this:
Me: “Centrepoint Hotel please” Driver: “Ok, I take you see girls” Me: “erm no thanks Hotel please” Driver: “Nice girls, I take you”
***Lesson Number 2 – Be assertive***
We eventually persuaded him to take us back to the hotel where we went for a brief stroll around the block. About 30 more drivers approached us during this walk and we just said no to their offers of a lift. If you look and sound assertive they will leave you alone…but they can smell indecision a mile away!
***Koh Samui***
We had decided before we arrived in Bangkok that we wanted to chill out on a beach somewhere. We returned to the airport and ran the gauntlet of agents until we found a desk for Bangkok Airlines. There we spotted a little island called Ko Samui and noticed it was only about an hour away to the south of Bangkok on the eastern side of Thailand.
The hotel had earlier said that we needed to get to the airport 3 hours in advance of any flight. We were right to be sceptical! We asked when the next flight was and it turned out Ko Samui is serviced every 20 minutes and we were offered one almost immediately. The price was about £80 return.
As we were waiting more agents came and again as we had no accommodation booked we decided to look through their catalogues. The “water festival” had just finished so the prices were a little cheaper (The water festival occurs every year in Thailand and is a festival designed to celebrate the coming of the rains and some relief from the stifling heat – April is the hottest time of the year in Thailand).
We decided to book 2 serviced beach apartments “with garden view”. Garden view means you are not looking out onto the sea and with hindsight it would have been worth paying a little more for “sea view”. We paid about £10 each per night bed and breakfast in the Chewang Cove Resort, Chewang Beach.
*** Koh Samui airport***
Our Bangkok Airlines flight was very pleasant and they fed us even though it was only an hour long flight. On arrival at Ko Samui airport we were astonished to see a series of dainty little wooden huts with flowers on the roof. This was the international airport! We got our luggage and were met by a representative of Chewang Cove Resort who had come to collect us. As we drove the 15 minutes from the airport to Chewang Beach I reflected on the “International” airport and the security features. The little red rope that restricted entry to certain parts of the airport was little more than a “keep off the grass” rope – which was worrying…being an international airport I noticed that luggage could be checked right through to countries like Germany (although not the USA or UK).
***Chewang Cove Resort***
The temperature was 42 degrees in Ko Samui which doesn’t have the smog of Bangkok to keep the sun off. My white skin was in immediate danger as we dropped our bags in and ran down to the beach. You really do need a lot of high factor sun lotion if you are not used to the sun. I found that I stayed in the shade a lot, either under the parasol on the beach or in the shaded bar area of our resort.
You got a free beach towel each day from your own resort but we found that the sun loungers were not as comfortable as the neighbouring resort – so we used theirs and no-one minded.
The accommodation itself was fine but remember that the air conditioning does not stay on when you are not in the room. Don’t panic (as we did) when you get back at night and the room is stifling – it takes only a few minutes to cool down.
Chewang Cove Resort lies to the south of Chewang Beach and is less commercialised than the north. We walked up there one night and it reminded me a lot of Greece at night. Lots of bars and “designer” clothes shops with McDonald and KFC sprinkled around.
***Lesson Number 3 – be careful which bars you walk into***
I was amazed by the number of bars that were empty apart from maybe half a dozen Thai girls. I couldn’t understand this as they all seemed so friendly… You can spot the “family friendly” bars quite easily as they look very much like bars back here – some have the football on TV and they are populated by men, women and the odd dog.
***The midday sun***
Be careful with your skin! We wanted to go jet skiing so got ready to do it at 9.30am because by 11.00am ish the sand is uncomfortably hot to walk on and the red burns start to appear on your skin. Drink plenty of water too – especially if you are boozing at night time – if you dehydrate you start to feel ill very quickly. If you drink beer during the day (I recommend Singha – you can get that in Britain too) limit yourself to 2 or 3 and sit in the shade with a big jug of water. The sea breeze really is deceiving and you don’t think it is too hot - but be sensible – and watch for the redness on your skin starting.
***Eating Out***
There are a huge number of restaurants in Chewang and we opted for Thai every time. There is a strange one called “Captain Kirk’s” which has a star trek theme on the outside but once inside it is just a normal looking Thai restaurant – weird! The food was excellent here and I would recommend the sizzling seafood starter with garlic.
The Chewang Cove Resort also had its own little restaurant and the food is good here too. Warning - you may be embarrassed at how cheap it is. A very nice Thai Curry or Chicken with Cashew nuts (really nice) was only 90 baht – which is about £1!!
***The Return***
Well our 3 days were up and it was time to return to Bangkok for our connecting flight to Sydney. We paid our room mini bar bill (waste of money – get your own stuff from local stores) and waited on our transport back to the airport.
***Lesson Number 4 – leave plenty of time***
When we got to the airport we realised straight away that there was a problem. There were hundreds of people all stewing in the heat. One of the planes had broken down and we were all facing delays of up to 2 hours. We were very glad we had left about 3 or 4 hours extra to make the connection!
***Conclusion***
Chewang certainly won’t be everyone’s choice of resort but it did allow us to immediately de-stress. After 2 days I couldn’t even remember what the front of my work building looked like! Koh Samui offers other, less commercialised, resorts. Indeed I was told there are some where there are only a dozen or so people.
The food and friendliness of the people was also great to experience and I now know that when I go back to Thailand I’ll mix the Chewang experience with some of the more traditional Thai experiences in the north of the country.
very helpful
very helpful
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
