A while back a friend of ours had posted a picture on Facebook of a beautiful resort room where he was staying on Koh Samui. It had a massive jacuzzi in the middle of the room and looked like some high end spa. He told us that it wasn’t incredibly expensive and that we must stay there next time we were on Koh Samui. So Fletch and I got on the website and booked a room to coincide with when we would have to do a visa extension run.

Since we applied for visas ahead of arriving in Thailand, we get 60 days per entry instead of the 30 days that most tourists get. When those 60 days are up we can bring our passports to the nearest immigration office to apply for a 30 day extension. I am a little sad to say that this was our last extension; once these 30 days are up that’s all I get for my visa. But on the plus side, we had an excuse to go take a mini vacation.

So on Thursday we hopped on the afternoon ferry over to Koh Samui, an easy two hour journey. Every time we go to Koh Samui we take full advantage of the fact that they have a movie theater. That’s one thing Fletch and I both love that we don’t get to do on Koh Tao, go to the movies. I remembered on the ferry ride that Mockingjay, the third of the Hunger Games movies was supposed to be coming out in the US that weekend. Excitedly I got on my phone to see if by any small chance the release date was the same in Thailand. It wasn’t the same, it was actually a day early, that very day in fact. So we booked tickets online and I could hardly believe our luck. Later in the day I found out that one of the main cinema chains in Thailand actually pulled the movie from theaters because students were starting to use the three-finger salute as a sign of protest against the Thai military. Luckily It wasn’t the movie theater on Koh Samui.

We checked into our hotel and they showed us to a beautiful Balinese-style vila. This place was amazing. A street wound through the resort and everyone had their own gate. Behind our gate we found a courtyard with our own private swimming pool and two separate buildings. The first had a kitchen, dining area, and a living area with a large flat screened tv. The second building had another living area with a tv, an adjoining bedroom with a large curtained bed and another tv, a massive bathroom with a ceiling made out of some clear material that let in all the natural sunlight, and then an adjoining room with nothing but a large jacuzzi inside. The walls of both buildings were lined with paneled windows that opened up to make everything feel open. The place was unbelievable. We never wanted to leave.

Eventually we did leave in search of food. We sat down and looked at a map first and found an area that looked like a good place to walk the beach and find a restaurant. The area we were looking for was marked with a sign that said “Fisherman’s Village” and ended up being a really cool little strip full of bars and restaurants. We strolled along looking at all the different menus, until a place called Coffee and Starfish caught our attention with a fresh tuna wasabi special. That sounded perfect so we walked into a gaudy pink and gold restaurant and had what turned out to be a very simple meal, just a seared tuna steak with soy sauce and wasabi on the side, but it was deliciously fresh and seared to perfection.

Bellies full, we made our way to the movie theater. In true Thai fashion, the national anthem was played before the movie started and everyone stood in respect. Then an attendant came around passing out thick down comforters. I took one just for the novelty of it even though it was actually incredibly hot, so hot it would seem the a/c was broken. It turned out it was broken, because a few minutes into the movie we saw several attendants placing fans along the aisles pointed out at the audience.

The movie was amazing. The fact that we were seeing it before anyone in the US just made it that much more exciting. I don’t think I’ve ever said this before but it may have even been better than the book. The best part was at the end, as an apology for the a/c being broken, the movie theater offered everyone free tickets for the following evening.

On Friday we got up early to go drop off our passports at the immigration office. We were hoping we would get there early enough for them to have them done before lunch, but they told us to come back at 1:00 which was when they opened up again. So needing a few hours to kill, we drove around and followed signs to random waterfalls.

The first was up a winding road that dead ended after a few kilometers without any warning. We thought we had made a wrong turn and then we heard the telltale sound of water falling. Hidden beyond a bit of brush was a nice stream with a little waterfall coming down the mountain. We dipped our toes in and walked across to the other side until we decided to leave. Of course as we were leaving it started pouring rain. So we turned around and drove back to the dead end of the road where there had been a little platform with a thatched roof off to the side and sat there watching the rain.

The second waterfall was a little more touristy as it had a couple of vendors set up before the hike into the woods. We hiked a little ways and paid the 2 baht entrance fee but seemed to be on the wrong side of the stream to see anything. We tried finding a place to cross but none was obvious. So we hiked back down and visited a nice temple at the base and then headed back to the immigration office. They handed back our passports without any issues; we were good to stay for another 30 days.

That evening we went back to Fisherman’s Village, only now since it was the weekend, the strip was crowded with street vendors selling all sorts of food and tourist souvenirs. We walked the strip, stopping for drinks and snacks at a couple different stalls to munch on as we looked for a restaurant to eat at, then decided to just keep sampling the street food in lieu of a sit down meal. One lady had fried, curried rice balls the size of softballs that were a delicious new treat. We walked and ate and shopped and drank for several hours until it was time to go see Mockinjay again with the free tickets we had scored the night before.

The following day we were supposed to check out at noon and then catch our ferry home at four. We weren’t sure what to do with the hours to kill in between, but then we got a call from reception saying that since we had booked online checkout wasn’t until three. She then called back a second time to let us know that the power would be out for a few hours, and so there wouldn’t be any hot water, so now we could check out at 3:15 so that we could have a chance to shower and feel “refreshed” before leaving. Happy with that news we headed back to Fisherman’s Village for a third time and stopped at a British pub called Frog and Gecko and ordered pies and mashed potatoes and gravy. I inhaled it in a second because I hadn’t had food like that in ages. I love Thai food but after six months of phad thai, stir fried veggies, and curries, you begin to crave some variety.

Our vacation ended and we took the ferry home to Koh Tao. It’s always fun to go home to another vacation.