Travels in South East Asia August-September 2011. Lemai Beach on Koh Samui (island) in Thailand was a lovely place to wake up. We were at the quiet end of the beach and that was busy enough for us. Later in the morning we ventured north along the beach, towards the busier parts. At 10am we came across a comatose English tourist lying in the sun on the sand. Some sort of music beat box was by his head. A bucket of beer was by his feet. He appeared to have copious quantities of sunscreen so we figured he was in no immediate danger.
We stopped nearby for a coffee. Within 5 minutes the English guy was up and dancing to his music. He was joined by an Australian guy wearing shorts with two stuck-on large bum cheeks – making him look like he had the arse out of his shorts. A couple of minutes later he put on his Osama Bin Laden lookalike head mask and started to harass people in the water. Clearly everyone has their own idea of holidays and travel.
We ventured inland a short distance to the main road. This was a mad mixture of bars and restaurants and tourist shops and motorbikes and taxis and people. Is this the natural progression of tourism? Is this what we bring to anywhere beautiful and peaceful.
Lemai Beach main street, Koh Samui, Thailand
Gallery of photos – Travels in South East Asia August-September 2011
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