The expected touts at the wharf must have slept in or something. It was all very low key as we sat around wondering what to do next. We realised we’d need to take a taxi – to somewhere. The most interested taxi driver agreed that Chaweng Beach was too hectic and suggested Lemai Beach – which was already on our radar. We had some recommendations but he suggested a possible place and we decided to have a look. Amity Bungalows turned out to be the perfect spot. It was very low-key with a small restaurant on the beachfront. We ended up in a second floor room about 100m back from the beach. The room was spotless. We were almost at the end of the beach – near the Grandfather Rock – a very phallic symbol. The beach was quiet with few resorts nearby.
We had a late breakfast and were soon in the water for our first swim. It was gorgeous – warm and calm and clear. I’d estimate the water temperature to be in the low 30s. It was still slightly refreshing. We had a slack day with eating in the restaurant and more swims and a walk in the nearby town. So ended our first day on Ko Samui.
I was up early on Saturday to see the sun rise and we were both in for our first swim by 7am. Later we walked along the beach towards the centre of Lemai – and that was an eye-opener. Resorts and drunks on the beach – at 10am! There was a crazy Pom flaked beside his boom box just above the tide line – with a bucket of empties beside him. He seemed well covered in sun cream so we walked by. Not long after he was up dancing again! Another chap had a false plastic bottom stuck to his swimming shorts. If that missed offending anyone he then found his Osama Bin Laden face mask and proceeded to cavort in the water. Such is the nature of some of the visitors to Ko Samui.
We walked from the middle of the beach into the centre of Lemai town nearby. It was all souvenir shops and bars – lots and lots of bars. We walked back to our end of the beach which seemed even quieter than before. We passed the day lazing under the trees and reading and eating and swimming. We had definitely come to the right end of the beach.
