When the time for a meal comes and you’re on an island, why wouldn’t you choose a restaurant on the beach? For breakfast, Pad Thai (it has eggs in it, so yes it counts as a breakfast item), banana pancakes, and a tea slushie at Samui Natien really hit the spot. Afterwards, we decided that it had been too long since our last Thai massage (almost 48 hours) and wanted to reset the clock. On Koh Samui, the Thailand sun and my skin quickly became acquaintances, so I opted in for an aloe vera Thai massage that had my skin and muscles feeling suppled afterwards.
As a result of the pandemic, the economy of tourism dependent places in Thailand, including Koh Samui, suffered. As a result, many of the businesses on the island had to sell their motorbikes to stay afloat. Now that tourism and businesses of highly trafficked tourist destinations are recovering, there has been a shortage of supply of motorbikes to the increasing demand from visitors. We had planned to get motorbikes to venture around the island, but due to shortages have been forced to utilize the bounty of cabs and tuk-tuks instead.
After the massages, we cabbed to Bangrak, where the island’s fisherman’s market is located, as well as the nightly moving market that night. We visited a place called Coco Tam’s that was highly recommended by a Bangkok friend. Coco Tam’s is very upscale and modern, feeling like something straight out of New York City or Los Angeles that was plopped beachside on Koh Samui. The drinks and food were exquisite, but also pricy for Thailand standards. We posted up at Coco Tam’s for about 4 hours, lightly working while enjoying a charcuterie board, various cocktails and beverages, wood fire pizza, and yet another fire show on the beach. Highly recommend Coco Tam’s to any future Koh Samui visitors!
Joseph, Morgan, and I left Coco Tam’s and wandered around the moving nightly market, seeing mostly the same vendors as the night before. There was an ice cream vendor that had a metal slab connected to a tank of liquid nitrogen underneath, and she poured liquid ice cream and toppings over it and basically prepared ice cream from a liquid to a frozen solid in a manner similar to grilling. Us three (or the throuple as we jokingly call ourselves) have gotten used to sharing our plates at meals together, so we shared and enjoyed chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and blueberries while listening to more market live music. This market had a different flower boy salesman hustling, and we laughed when he made his sales pitch, remembering the wild child flower salesman from the market the night before.
Following the market we made our way to a niche little beach front bar called “Positive Vibes Bar” where we enjoyed drinks and good conversation. Morgan, Joseph, and I share an affinity towards growth, development, spirituality, and depth, and have been able to engage in meaningful conversation throughout our time together effortlessly. I’m fortunate to be traveling with like minded individuals with similar values towards growth and improvement, who help challenge the way I think and view things and offer perspective. They had chosen an intention for their travels, like an idea, concept, or quality they want to focus on and expand while traveling. The intention they set is surrender, to surrender to things as they come and to not try to force or control situations. I really appreciate their selected intention and loved this idea of choosing an intention, and I’ve decided to come up with an intention of my own for each place I visit throughout the remainder of my journey and future trips in store. Tomorrow we head for Koh Pha Ngan, another Thai island nearby to Samui for 8 nights, and I’ve selected the intention of presence. To be mindful with my presence in each situation with my environment and people surroundings, and to remember living in the present moment as the top priority. It’s too easy to take out my phone and want to take photos and videos to capture all of these amazing moments I’ve been blessed to have so far in order to document and relive them in the future, but I don’t want to do so at the sacrifice of being fully present and immersed in each moment. Presence is my intention for the next chapter on Koh Pha Ngan.