Well where to start…..? Since our last blog lots has been happening here in Koh Samui. We arrived here on Tuesday 22nd March and had great weather for 3-4 days and then it started to rain….. and rain…. and rain!!!! And I don’t just mean rain as in sprinkle, I am talking full on torrential rain – NON-STOP!!! During this time the power in our room would intermittently go on and off which was really annoying too. On the following Tuesday we woke up, our power had gone out the night before and still wasn’t back on. We went to breakfast at our hotel restaurant which is on the beach – usually the waves are little flappy waves that well, you could hardly even call waves – that morning it was a whole lot different. The waves were as big as what you would see at Burleigh and were breaking into the front of our restaurant. It was something else.
Because of the rain there was nothing really to do other than go to the bars around here and have some drinks, play cards and watch whatever sport was on for the day. We were at the Islander on the Tuesday playing cards and a guy who was sitting by himself started talking to Craig – the conversation begun because Craig was wearing his Origin Jersey and he was from Brisbane. His name was Gerard and he ended up telling us his story about how he was here on a bucks week with a heap of mates and they had rented this huge house up in the hills of Koh Samui – they had all come into Chaweng the night before to party and he had met this chick from UK and stayed the night here – only problem was, because of the rain and flooding, he couldn’t get back up the mountain to his house in the morning. We sat all day drinking with him and then the chick that he had met Karen, met up with us too. Her sister Claire had gone up the mountain the night before and couldn’t get down. To make matters worse – they were meant to be flying home the next day. Later that day, she turned up at the Islander too. Turns out she had to swim about 400m through flood water to get back to Chaweng. This was about the time that the Manager at the Islander - Damian told us that Koh Samui had been declared a disaster zone because of the floods!!
Gerard ended up getting a room here in Chaweng for the night and we drank with them. We planned to meet the next morning to go to breakfast at the Ark Bar where we are staying. When we went there in the morning, the restaurant was a disaster zone, there was about 10cm deep sand in the restaurant and water and debris everywhere. I must say though, the Thai people here are some of the hardest working people I have ever come across. We had breakfast and by the time we were done, the place was nearly back to normal. They just do not stop. The whole time it was raining, no matter what, every morning they would be out sweeping the paths, making sure that everything looked neat and tidy, even though it was pissing down with rain. Anyway, also during the night our power had gone off and still not come back on. We also heard that the airport had been shut down and so we knew straight away that Karen and Claire wouldn’t have flown home. I think this is when we realized that WOW something serious is going on and we are in the middle of it!!!
As I said before, there was nothing really to do but go to the bars. Plus to make matters worse, because we had no power (and I don’t mean we just didn’t have power in our room – the whole of Koh Samui was out) there were only a few bars that were still open because they had generators. Thankfully the Islander and the Ark Bar were 2 of the very few places that were open. So back to our local we went!!! Early afternoon we were drinking with Gerard, Karen and Claire at the islander and some of Gerard’s Bucks mates turned up there too. His whole group ended up arriving and we drank the afternoon away with them. The boys, I have to say were probably a bad influence because what we didn’t know (but now do) is that in the bars here in Koh Samui you can just buy a bottle from the Bar and then purchase your pre-mixes of your choice. The bottle costs about $20 and then you just have to buy the mixes – cheap HUH!?!?!??! Haha imagine if we could do this in Brisbane – messy messy messy!!! For dinner we went to the Ark Bar with Gerard and while he was on his way there to meet us, he met this guy from San Diego – John. Gerard went to meet back up with his Bucks group and we arranged to meet John later that night to go out.
We went to a few of the places that were open and then we had to go back to our room to get more money (we were seriously blowing out) and told John we would meet him back at the Green Mango (which is a full on night club here in Koh Samui – who had a generator – thankfully!!! Lol) When we got there who do we see but all of the Bucks boys!!! As I was saying before, they had rented this huge house up in the hills, which over the past few days became referred to as ‘The Mansion’!!!! After we got kicked out of the Green Mango (at closing) we decided to go and finally see ‘The Mansion’!!!! and O M G!!!!! Mansion was almost an understatement. It was the craziest place we have ever seen, let alone been in before!!!! My experience in the Mansion was short lived though because you all know me, drink – then I get sick! Lol So it was off to bed for me pretty much as soon as we got there. Craig stayed up partied on with the boys… surprise, surprise!!! Lol
When I woke up in the morning, oh the view!!!!! It was literally on the side of a mountain and the pool hung off the edge!!! It was unbelievable!!! We then went to breakfast oh but don’t worry, we didn’t have to go far because part of living in the Mansion, means that you also get your own maids and cooks. We sat at the table and were served breakfast. Anything and everything that you could want…. Eggs cooked how you ask and enough food to sink a battle ship!!! It was awesome to say the least!!! We headed back to Chaweng after breakfast and back to the Ark Bar we went. By about 1pm that afternoon, we were done!!! Couldn’t go on any longer!!!! We went to bed and didn’t wake until the following morning.
This now brings us to Friday – we woke up and YAY power was back. Chaweng, Koh Samui – was back!!!!! We have not seen any reports about the floods or anything because the only news we get here is Thai news and well, we cannot understand them!!! Lol I am sure you all probably know more about it then we do but we have slowly heard all the stories about how other islands around Koh Samui were evacuated and so, I think we have to be thankful that Koh Samui wasn’t really hit as bad as some of the others. But after 7 days of non-stop rain, no power, no internet, no hot showers, and doing nothing but drink. It was so refreshing to finally have it all back and see the sun again!! We are also thankful that we were not booked to leave during that time. The airport was shut for days and so the back log of people trying to get flights is outrageous. Hopefully by the time we leave, it will all be caught up and no problem.
It has rained intermittently since then but at least the sun is out and we can get out side for some fun!! We hired a scooter and went for a look around the island. Unfortunately, because of the flooding we couldn’t really go far because the roads are still under but they have been getting better and better each day. We are hoping that on Tuesday we should be able to get further and then we really can go and have some fun around the island. I am looking forward to going on the Elephants and just seeing some of Koh Samui before we have to leave on Sunday!!!! It has definitely been an experience so far but we wouldn’t change it for the world. We have met some really good people and I am sure that this is just the start of the many many adventures still to come…. We can’t wait!!!!
Flooded Chaweng Road - About 1km from us - this is a little blow up raft that they were using to get tourists to dry land so that they could go home - there is about 4 people plus 2 kids on that raft along with their luggage.
The Lake - usually very small - apparently it got to 15m above normal height!!!
'The Mansion' - As I said, it was on the edge of a mountain. Not the greatest photo because of the weather but I am sure that you get the idea!!!
The Ark Bar - our home for the last 2 weeks. The water is just near the stray dog to the right - it got right up to where you can see the restaurant!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment