Monday, March 8th
1:30 am
Koh Samui might call to mind beaches and spas - but its coconuts are of particular acclaim. Local growers will tell you they’re the best in Thailand.
You might equate coconut with a sickly Bounty bar or other fake confection - but that’s set to change.
2 coconut treats to try:
A fresh coconut.
Happily, someone else will wield a very big, very sharp knife (machete?) to cut the coconut open. Drink the juice and then use the provided spoon to scoop out the sides.
(Parents - this is a great drink to get your kids hooked on. They won’t ask for Coke or sugary drinks again.)
A visit to the Samui Coconut Farm
Trained monkeys (yes really) are used to harvest the coconuts. Interesting stuff and well worth the pittance paid on entry.
3 coconut facts:
- Coconuts grow all year - so you can’t miss them.
- Fresh coconut juice has more vitamin C than orange juice.
- 2 million Samui coconuts are shipped to Bangkok every month
Related:
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Saturday, March 6th
1:28 am
Lonely Planet says that 80% of you bring your mobile phones on holiday.
On arrival, easily get connected with a local Samui phone number and pay-as-you-go SIM card. Mobile carriers have SIM cards available at local shops, including convenience stores like 7-11.
So forget roaming rates. Check out our Koh Samui packing list for other ideas about what to safely leave at home.
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Monday, February 1st
4:22 pm
It’s not hard to see - a holiday in Koh Samui is truly the good life.
While six meals a day would barely get you through the best of a Thai menu, one visit to Garland Restaurant gets you well on your way.
Arrive hungry - and stay awhile.
What makes Choeng Mon’s Garland so special is not the amazing food, but perhaps Samui’s best host. Owner and manager Anun believes his restaurant’s success relies largely on word of mouth, a form of advertising that doesn’t lie.
Samui locals, expats and tourists alike flock to the restaurant each night for Thai food and Anun’s speciality dishes that - pardon our cliché - are quite simply to die for.
Anun is the kind of host who will offer up his own umbrella to patrons leaving in the rain. He cares - and it shows.
Garland is a family affair
Its warm and attentive service rounds out a totally tasty picture.
Located just next to the White House Hotel in Choeng Mon high street.
Perfect for couples, families and big groups.
Read more praise for Garland, featured in our Koh Samui restaurants: top 5 review.
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Thursday, January 28th
4:21 pm
Are you packing for Koh Samui and find yourself stuck for a good book?
Last summer, NPR compiled a list of the 200 best beach books of all time - which the voting public then whittled to a tidy list of a hundred.
Here are the top 10:
1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
3. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
4. Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding
5. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
9. Fried Green Tomatoes, by Fannie Flagg
10. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
Read the rest of the list at the NPR.
Second-hand bookshops abound in Koh Samui and we’ve got plenty of our own beach books with which to stock the shelves of our not-quite-finished villa.
Might that irritating boy wizard be less so when read poolside, in our cushioned, shady sala? Quite possibly.
As for the rest of your suitcase
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Monday, January 25th
5:44 pm
Sitting just across the water from our Samui villa are the little islands of Koh Som and Koh Lum Mu Noi. In the sunset photo atop the page, Koh Som is the larger island on the far right and Lum Mu Noi is slightly to the left.
Koh Som
‘Koh’ - as in ‘Koh Samui’, ‘Koh Phangan’ - means ‘island’. So Koh Som means “Orange Island” (or “Orange Tree Island”). Though uninhabitated, its big stretches of white sand beach are very tempting.
Just 700m from shore to shore, it looks close enough to swim to. Scary, strong undercurrents mean the journey is better made by boat.
Som is just 1 square kilometre in total and is just a few minutes’ boat ride from Samui’s Plai Laem Pier. So it’s a perfect destination if you want to explore another island but haven’t much time - or get seasick. Longboat rides can be arranged to make a visit to the island. The snorkelling is said to be fantastic.
Koh Lum Mu Noi
This is the smaller of the two islands and both are often referred to, collectively, as Koh Som. While Som has a few basic beach bungalows and a small restaurant, Lum Mu Noi is uninhabited. Dense mangroves and rocky cliffs ring the island’s perimetre and, within, live all sorts of native tropical birds.
Sound good?
Visit Plai Laem Pier just a few minutes’ walk from our villa, or Fishermen’s Village to arrange a boat trip.
Want more good ideas for days out? See things to do on Koh Samui.
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Thursday, January 21st
5:21 pm
Your holiday on Koh Samui will present some of the best photography opportunities imaginable. Food photography, elephants, orchirds and maybe even your family, too.
All over Samui, but particularly at sunset, are bright sights you’ll want to remember, to show off on Flickr - to keep forever.
Consider our series of sunset photos, used above and throughout our site. We took them ourselves after lots of practice and - we think - it was absolutely worth the effort.
While Koh Samui sunsets are a subject worthy of lengthy study - a few quick photography tips will make a big difference between mediocre snapshots (that disappoint) and the money shots (the ones that get enlarged and framed).
To help bridge the gap - a few useful links to the wonderful, perpetually helpful Darren Rowse at Digital Photography School:
And, of course, a subject to which we’re rather partial:
Subscribe to his blog and find yourself, magically, a better photographer in no time. (And while you’re at it, why not subscribe to ours as well?)
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Monday, January 18th
5:07 pm
We saw an endearing and very Thai ploy the other day on Choeng Mon beach.
Beach vendors often patrol the shore with all sorts of yummy things: fresh corn on the cob, ice cream, meat sticks….
As a tourist family - a mum, dad and small toddler - played in the waves together, Ice Cream Man walked right up to the toddler and began his transaction - totally ignoring the parents.
Very cheeky, very funny - very Thai.
No wasted time with “would you like an ice cream?” The parents would have said no.
Instead?
“We all agree that she wants it, we all know she’s going to get it, so let’s get on with it.”
Can’t say no to that.
Cheers to the man who truly knows his target audience.
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Thursday, January 14th
1:59 pm
Sit outside for an evening meal or cocktail in Thailand and you’ll quickly spot geckos darting across the walls. They eat mosquitos and other small insects, so they’re very welcome company.
Are geckos’ feet sticky?
No!
Pure magic or straight science? Here’s what to tell the kids.
The bottom of a gecko’s foot has millions of tiny fibres - they’re microscopic - that, together, create a very small electrical charge. This force helps a gecko adhere to any surface they choose, even when upside down.
This discovery is relatively recent - read more and see photos of gecko feet under a microscope on BBC’s Science & Tech.
3 more gecko facts:
- Worldwide, there are more than 2,000 types of gecko
- Almost all types of geckos lack eyelids
- Geckos can stick to any surface except Teflon
We think you’ll enjoy watching geckos’ antics during your visit to Koh Samui. If you have a reptile fascination and a strong stomach, the Samui Snake Farm might pique your interest. Read more on our Koh Samui things to do page, under Samui excursions (”Things That Bite”).
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Wednesday, September 30th
3:38 am
Check it out! A fantastic video from lovely Esme in Singapore teaches all you (and we!) need to know to get started composting in the tropics.
We can’t wait for our baby trees to start producing - mangos, papayas & bananas are coming, as are our dragon fruits!
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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Wednesday, September 23rd
11:21 pm
Are you amongst the plan-ahead crowd? If so, help yourself to our new 2010 Koh Samui events calendar - it covers Thai national holidays, festivals and anything notable happening on Koh Samui in 2010.
(Not included? Our opening date - that’s a save-the-best-for-last type of baby). Enjoy!
With love,
Koh Samui Sunset
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