A new and improved white Christmas? With some planning and a measure of good cheer, a Koh Samui Christmas could become your family’s default holiday preference. Breakfast on the beach, followed by presents? A beautiful day together, then Christmas dinner – that someone else cooks and cleans up? If you distill ‘the important bits’ – whatever that might be to your family – you can have your Christmas pudding & eat it too. Here’s why a Koh Samui Christmas is a feature of our island events calendar.
What’s Koh Samui’s weather at Christmas? While November is Koh Samui’s rainy season, by the end of December Koh Samui Christmas weather should be hot days and lots of sun. (“Should“. Christmas Day 2011 was rough seas and a big breeze – no swimming off the mince pies). If you’ve come from somewhere cold, you might not care – “bad” weather in Samui still means shorts & T-shirts.
Christmas Eve hotel galas? If you’re staying in a hotel, you’ll likely be invited to its gala dinner (included in your reservation). Resorts do a really nice job of decorating for Christmas – they look great. The gala dinner formula tends to be an enormous buffet, Thai cultural performances, flowing champagne and a Filipino band. Verdict? Not that painful if you like drinking and/or other people’s children. Otherwise – might we suggest renting a private house?
Can we eat a proper Christmas dinner? Yes! At every budget, island hotels and Western restaurants offer a full Christmas dinner – some go all out with home-made eggnog and brandy butter. Perhaps bring from home any particular Christmas foods that you can’t live without (if transportable) – we pack cranberry sauce & mulled wine spices. Otherwise be a glutton and have two Christmas dinners: one at home and one Thai-style.
Candy canes? Tesco.
Where can we buy Christmas alcohol? Tesco is well-stocked – but go in the morning. You can’t buy alcohol between 2pm and 5pm, nor after midnight. (Also on religious days and Thai national holidays – though this is not the case with Christmas). Wine is expensive but the strong stuff comes cheaply. Champagne is available here but – if you can spare the luggage space – is best brought yourself (add it to your Thailand packing list). For a local touch, stock up on island rum from Magic Alambic distillery – one of our favourite Koh Samui attractions.
Pressies? Tell your family how lucky they are to be on holiday in such a nice place – see how that goes. Otherwise – how about a Thai cooking class, sailing school, or a tour of Samui by private sunset cruise? Or, if material goods are called for, Samui’s shopping options or some good books about Thailand might suit.
Wrapping paper? Gift wrapping is available through Christmas Day or Boxing Day at Tesco. You can choose between “festooned with bunnies” or “festooned with rainbows and puppies”. If artful wrapping is your thing – bring paper from home.
Mince pies? Angela’s Bakery in Maenam makes them fresh – phone ahead to avoid disappointment. Samui Ring Road, Mae Nam, Tel: 077 427-396
Things to bring from home: If you’ve never travelled over Christmas, you might be concerned that it becomes an anti-climactic non-event. Not so! It just takes a little planning, and a tiny bit of luggage space. Santa fills a sled with goodies; you have a suitcase. Here’s an idea of what’s not available on Samui (or is hard to find), keeping in mind what’s light to pack and within customs regulations. We distill our Koh Samui Christmases to key sights, sounds & smells.
Easily transportable Christmas sights
- Santa hats and other tat – to take a family beach photo on Christmas Day to email to friends & family (they’ll hate you)
- Light & easily packed Christmas decorations, particularly if they require assembly & you have small children.
- DVDs of Christmas movies: Home Alone, Love Actually, etc.
Favourite Christmas tastes & smells (as allowed by customs)
- Cranberry sauce or Christmas chutney (or whatever your “crucial” Christmas food might be)
- Mulled wine spices (or whatever your packable poison preference)
- A candle that smells like… Christmas pudding? Or how about edible Christmas pud? Worth the luggage weight?
- Any traditions particular to your family – e.g. always eating/drinking a certain kind of chocolate/alcohol…
- (Double-check customs allowances if in doubt, and never pack any meat/dairy/fruit/vegetable products. All foods should be packaged, unopened & clearly labelled).
Importing Christmas to Koh Samui
- an iPod full of Christmas music
- Christmas gift bags & tissue paper: leave presents unwrapped in your suitcase (in case customs has a look), then put them in gift bags on arrival – no need to find tape or scissors.
A Koh Samui Christmas will be different, memorable & – we hope – your best yet.
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