We grab the next bus to the runway. There is a super colorful little jet waiting for us with Luang Prabang written on the side, a place in Laos that we’ll be in a couple of weeks hopefully. It’s just a short 50 min flight to Koh Samui but they still serve us food. The Bangkok Airways slogan is Fly Boutique Feel Unique. The stewardesses scramble to get the food out and back in the cart in record time. It’s a funny tray frenzy, with us pounding our coffees during the descent to get it all in in time.
We get taxied from the runway to the baggage claim and pick up our bags. It is hot and humid as hell. Glad I cut 10 pounds of hair off just before the trip. I must have gotten a mosquito bite on my elbow. It’s puffy and super sore.
Guess we won’t be getting those Buddha neck tattoos we talked about on the flight here…
We nab a taxi and get dropped off on Chaweng Beach Road and mosey along looking for a hostel. We pass by a swanky spot called Amari and I can tell Tha Queebs is interested. She’s had a hard day of getting screwed over so I’m game to drop cash on a nice place and treat her to something above hostel luxury. It’s got a beautiful foyer and pool area outside the front desk and welcome lounge. While checking in they treat sit us down in some comfy chairs and treat us to some apple juice and cool, moist towels. Both are well received, the humidity is no joke. The hotel staff are super polite and there is a lot of hands clasped and bowing and words of thanks in their language. I think we’re supposed to return the bow, we’ll have to learn some Thai.
We jump on the back of a golf cart and get driven into the complex across the street (ahhhh I was hoping for beach front) and up to our room. It’s much smaller than I thought considering it was sold to us as a Superior Room, but it’s comfy and has a nice balcony looking out into a grass courtyard lined with palm trees. We nab a couple beers from the fridge and relax on the patio. Thus ended our 24 hours of travel and three flights to get here. We take a load off and that first sip of cold cold shitty Chang beer is just the most amazing thing right now.
It’s peaceful here, not much noise, just the chirping of some unknown bird in a palm somewhere. We all take the opportunity to grab a shower and it is just glorious to get the travel grime off and change into some clean clothes.
The three of us go on a little excursion to check out the town and find a place for some drinks. I looked up a place called Bees Knees. It’s a microbrewery of some sort and I knew it would go over well with Queebs just on name alone.
We hit the streets away from our hotel. The roadways are narrow and it’s interesting that they drive on the left side here since Thailand was the only place in the SEA region that was never colonized by a western power. The sidewalks are also narrow and we’re slipping in and out of the street to avoid power poles and puddles from a recent rainfall.
Turns out Bees Knees is a little out of the way and Drisdelle wants to find the beach so we duck into a place called Central Festival which seems to be a sort of touristy beach side promenade. It’s a nice area full of shops and restaurants, covered walkways and green areas.
We take a look around for a bit but are more interested in cocktails than shopping. Queenie rushes over to a bench to take a breather, she’s getting cramps in her calves, probably simply from dehydration. They really don’t serve nearly enough water on flights. “Well let’s just duck into the next bar we find, have a seat and grab a drink”, “Yesssssh that sounds good”, “Guys, there’s a place right here.” Drisdelle points to a cool looking bar just 10 steps from us. It’s called Tai by Red Snapper.
We walk through the dimly lit bar and it opens up on the other side to a large outdoor patio area. A quick scan of some tables and the food I’m seeing looks absolutely baller. A cute server sits us outside and gives us some menus. I crack open the cocktail menu and I’m just stunned. This is an elevated cocktail list for sure. The food menu was also extensive. Damn, this place looks to be the shit.
It was the shit. It was so much the shit that I’m going to due fair justice to it in a post of it’s own since our dinner and drinks experience here was so phenomenal that I would actually be surprised if we find a place to surpass it on the whole rest of the trip.