Author: jfbemanuelorguk

East of Suez, 2025 – Nearly the last of Thailand

25th February to 3rd March, 2025

You would be forgiven for wondering if we are in Thailand or East Bergholt in the light of the radio silence from the blog. Well, we are still here on Koh Samui and as I am sure you don’t want a list of our Scrabble results, the current situation in the games of Yahtzee or what we have eaten every night, I thought I would spare you.

The good news is twofold – one is that Val’s feet have improved somewhat and two is that we have found a table tennis club at our big supermarket (Big C). It is not actually positioned between aisles 3 and 4, it is downstairs, but it does make it convenient if you have a bit of shopping to do. It has only recently opened, funded by one of the many Russians here on KS, the quite large, friendly Kirill (Cyril!). Apparently table tennis is big in Russia. They are all very friendly – and most are very good at TT, as I am discovering to my cost. One nice chap called Maxim reminds me of the Russian character in Killing Eve. He is there with his 14 year-old son. I asked him if he is on holiday and his reply was ‘not exactly’. I thought I had better leave it at that! (More Fawlty Towers – ‘don’t mention the war!”).

We continue to discover good eateries and our new favourite is ‘Oh My Bowl!’, which does wonderful salads and Poke (pronounced, I am informed, ‘Pokeh’, not Pokee or Poke – like Bouquet and not Bucket!).

Val’s salmon Poke bowl
You can design your own Poke. I decided to go all out and chose the largest size with mixed salad leaves, 7 toppings and 4 add-ons and a Caesar dressing. It was huge – but delicious!

We are going to go back there on our last night.

We have found a place with a bit of live music. Nice music, rather indifferent food….

The Meeting Bar & Restaurant. This chap put in a sterling effort, playing non-stop for at least 2 hours.
Val celebrating life with a cocktail…
Me enjoying a beer!!!
They even have a snooker/pool table!

It occurs to me that I have not shown you much of our hotel. It is decidedly quirky at times, with very variable service, though the staff are trying hard for the most part. It is, however, very pleasant as long as you have a degree of tolerance. A few photos…

There is a pub/restaurant on the right with Reception on the left.
We have not fallen in yet!
The swimming pool is massive – it takes me about 5 minutes to swim all the way around. I have only managed 3 circuits in one go so far.
The sea is to the left…
The pool is to the left. A nice sitting/lying out area…
On the beach. If you zoom in a bit you can make out a heron(?) and some people riding horses.
Our balcony – with Val…
On reflection….
A bit of manipulated photography of the tiles in the pool…
Val enjoying the sunset…

Not much else to report. The rain has stopped, the sun is out and it is a good deal hotter, but it is still absolutely fabulous. Hard to think that we will be back in good old Blighty in a week’s time.

I will send a final post after Dubai…