Twas the morning after the Bodega night before and the bus driver dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, charged us 200 baht, and asked us for an extra 500 to take us to our campsite. Being too stuck up to accept this surprise request, we alighted and decided to walk.
Our destination was, we soon realised, 5.6km away.
I was actually in a walking mood, and didn’t mind this hot trek through Koh Samui countryside. It was quite peaceful. But Andy was very hungover.
We eventually came across a shop. The lady could speak no English. After a while, a taxi approached. We flagged it down and he wanted 800 baht. We managed to haggle it down to 500. We should have stayed on the bloody bus.
(Btw I should add, that buses out here are not the buses you’re thinking of. It’s more like a pickup truck with a cage on the back).
This is where we spent the majority of the day. This is also where I realised I had left my swimming trunks at the Bodega. I sacrificed a pair of boxers as Andy and I aren’t at that stage in our relationship where we skinny dip together.
Yet.
We had tea at the campsite. It took AGES to come out, as it seemed there was only one person in the back. We were harassed by some feral cats with manky tails and annoying meows. Andy was spooked by a spider that had wandered too close to him. He was then mortified when it leaped across the bar. Andy is not a fan of Thailand’s Jumping Spider.
A nice day turned into a not so nice night. First off, sleeping in a tent in the tropics is a sweaty ordeal. Secondly, canvas is not very soundproof – you have to enjoy sleeping to the roar of the jungle, the footsteps and chatter of other campers, and the loud music played at the bar by some dickhead European and a drunk member of staff. I had to go over and leave them with a very sarcastic comment so they’d turn it down.
And finally, tenting here means waking up with ants. There was a tiny hole in my tent and a fair few of them were crawling around my things. Andy had the same issue in his tent. I’ve had better camping experiences, but I suppose “experiences” are what you look for on a holiday like this… for example…
We booked out a bike. 200 baht for the day. Andy was not a fan to begin with, but I loved it. It was time for a mini road trip. First up, a waterfall…
Na Mueang Waterfall. The pool below was inviting but I didn’t have a pair of trunks. Andy went for a dip and his report included the words “cold” and “deep”. I watched from the rocks. Alas.
There were a few shops by the waterfall, but none that sold trunks. There were also some elephants.
A week earlier and I would have been ecstatic just to see some of these incredible animals. But instead I felt sad to see them with benches tied to their backs.
It was time to bike further into the hills to find the “Magic Garden”. Andy had decided he hated being a passenger on a moped and wanted to drive. Begrudgingly, I swapped seats with him and came to hate it myself.
Being on the back of a bike on these roads is not fun. The route up the hill was long, steep in places, and had more potholes than a teenager’s face. It was an ordeal, and I mean a genuine ordeal; peering over Andy’s shoulder and continually bracing myself for the slopes and the bumps and the bends. My legs were starting to cramp from having them tightly squeezing the bike to stop myself tumbling off the back. It was an absolute relief to finally come across a garden of supposed magic.
Entry to Tar Nim & the Magic Garden cost us 80 baht each.
It’s also known as the Secret Buddha Garden.
This is Tar Nim, a waterfall that is usually more impressive than this. Thailand is currently experiencing a drought.
Can you spot Cox?
The garden is a unusual array of statues, rocks and buildings. It’s very easy to imagine an ancient community that lived here, but work only began on this garden in 1976, by an eccentric local farmer named Nim Thongsuk.
Spot Cox Round 2:
An elegant dismount.
The garden isn’t that huge, but there is a LOT to see and photograph. It’s like being in an ancient jungle jumble sale. We head back up to the entrance where there is also a small cafe. After a cup of tea, purchasing some cookies and stroking a dog, we jumped back on the bike and headed to a restaurant on the map marked Mountain Grand View Sea View.
Tbf, it was a grand sea view, but for the cloud. I imagine on a totally clear day, this is an awesome place to have your dinner.
There was a swimming pool here which Andy wanted to go in. Apparently it’s one of those pools where there is a side missing so you can enjoy the view/get a good photo for the Gram. However, it was 100 baht to go in – and I would have to pay as well despite the fact I had no trunks and couldn’t go in. And it was cloudy. So we headed to the beach for some free relaxation.
Samui Caravans Hill Camp has a sister site on the beach, and we were allowed to come in and use the sun-loungers. And the wi-fi. And the hammock.
Annoyingly, the water was really warm and I was again annoyed at not having any trunks. All I could do was relax in a hammock on the beach. Poor me.
A few hours later we were back at the Hill Camp. The guy at reception tried to charge us for our day of using the moped, despite the fact we’d paid him the day before. Language really was a barrier and tempers were starting to bubble. Eventually the guy accepted that we weren’t going to pay him again, and that he must have lost his receipt. I don’t think he was trying to con us, but it’s worth being aware of issues like this.
That night the ants returned, and like Tusken Raiders, in greater numbers too. I thought I had blocked up the hole so felt comfortable leaving the cookies in my bag. I woke up and immediately looked around. No ants. The night before a handful had been all over the tent, searching for scraps. Then I noticed a line, just one line, of LOADS of the bastards. I opened my bag and it was like a horror movie. It was infested. They’d gone for the cookies – the fiends. I took great pleasure in grabbing the ant killer aerosol and committing genocide.
Dinner rounded off an annoying stay at Samui Caravans, as once again it came out late and they got our meals mixed up. Andy was furious. Their one last saving grace was that they gave us a lift around the island to Lipa Noi Pier, where we would depart Koh Samui for Bangkok. Our time in Thailand was coming to a close…
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