Goodbye Bangkok - Hello Koh Samui!

 The shortcomings of the not quite finished W Bangkok were immediately forgotten when we arrived to this spectacular view at the W Koh Samui!  Amazing, beautiful Thailand spread out before us across the infinity pool at the back of the Lobby!  The "lily pad" effect of the green seating in the lounge area was amazing.  Paradise Found!

 The  views of the Villas and beach below were just a preview of what we were to enjoy in this beautiful location.

We were soon transported by golf carts to what would be our villas  during our stay here.

This amazing WOW Villa would be Charles and Jon's location for our three days here.  It was 3,500 sf of pure luxury with its own private pool facing the beautiful sandy beach and incredible view!

There is definitely NOTHING to complain about with this location...private pool, huge luxurious spaces with the Master facing the view of the Sea and Islands beyond.  Sigh...Beautiful, Thailand with it's amazing, genteel people ...We immediately were introduced to two phrases we would hear a lot of while here...

Here is as simple an explanation as I can come up with for one of them...

Sa-wat-dee kraup (male speaker)
Sa-wat-dee Kah (female speaker)

Note: Sawatdee is the greeting. Kraup (male) and Kah(female) are polite endings. You want to include them especially in any formal settings. It like when we add 'please' to a question, except they add them to questions and statements.

As the poster mentioned, Sabai dee mai means how are you. However, Thai speakers don't ask this question unless they're familiar with the person. Otherwise it's considered an odd question. If you do know someone and want to ask, again add the polite ending. Sabai-dee mai Kraup?

Thank you is - Kop Khun Kraup (or Kah for a woman).

P.S. Good idea learning the greeting in Thai. They really appreciate it when we make that effort. Especially considering so many of them spend so much time learning our language.

Source(s):

Thai language student and part time resident of Thailand.

      We quickly learned that the last word in the greeting

changes depending on whether you are a man or a woman...making it just a little more difficult! But we did so enjoy all the polite folding of hands in front of the chest while making a little bow of the head.  It was done EVERY time you came in contact with someone.

Koh Samui's W has a gorgeous beach with a bar and grill at the shore.  So we all decided to "veg out" a bit this first day.  They have the nicest beanbag type beach chairs which are so comfortable, you could nap in them all day, and the breezes of the water are marvelous! Melanie opted to take one of the kayaks and paddle out to a small island off shore.  Charles and Jon decided to play like the boys they are and enjoyed some of the "water toys."  I, on the other hand, decided to plop myself into a lovely hammock and enjoy all the beautiful sun and breezes I could absorb!





Koh Samui, the third stop on our journey through Thailand, was turning out to be the most magnificent of all! 

After a relaxing day enjoying the beautiful resort and beach at the W, we met for drinks at the infinity pool off thelobby, sitting in one of the lighted "lily pads."  We hadn't decided where to go for dinner this first night, and so we consulted with "Ice," one of the friendly and personable staffers of the W.  

 While we snacked on freshly made popcorn and sipped our drinks, we listened as he made suggestions of where we might go for some good authentic Thai food.  At his suggestion, we decided to take the hotel transportation into Chaweng (Chaweng Beach Road) where there are many restaurants and shopping areas.

However, when we got there, it was crowded to capacity with so many tourists that we knew this was not what we really wanted to do.

So, we asked our driver to keep driving down the road and to help us find somewhere he thought we might enjoy as more "local" and not quite so touristy.  We ended up at a tiny little open air place which was decorated with Santas! 

The place was quite small, but had one of the most extensive menus I have seen anywhere.   They had everything from authentic Thai food to Pizza and spaghetti!  Hysterical.  After perusing the menu for a while, Charles began to question the waitress about the Thai selections they had available.   We finally settled on several selections, and the food was actually quite good. After finishing our meal, we managed in spite of the huge crowds around to finally catch a local cab to return to the W. Imagine our surprise, however, when we climbed hurriedly into the cab and witnessed the dashboard you see on the left!  Yep, that IS a dashboard buried under the most little bobbleheads you ever saw!  The lady cab driver was a hoot, and was very willing to drive us around and show us some of the other local restaurants which we might like to visit for local fare on another night. Our lady cab driver also had laminated many forms of bills which she had accepted as payment for fares from many different countries.  She was quite a collector!

By this time we were all pretty tired, and decided that since we were supposed to have a big day boating the next day, we would head back for the hotel and nice cozy beds!

We all got a kick out of the lobby entry floor which changed patterns when you walked across it.  In spite of the tired state we were were in, we all took turns "dancing" our way across it!
Everything from snowflakes to fire!  What fun!

It had been a great day for our first one in Koh Samui, and we were all looking forward to another tomorrow!

GOD BLESS - Peace, Love and Joy