Koh Samui, Thailand

 

Good morning, Thailand!

On Sunday, we took an excursion to one of the famed, beautiful Thailand beaches. Our boat was anchored offshore, and we took a tender to the island of Koh Samui. 

Tender

Then we boarded minivans and took a half hour drive to the beach. When the minivan dropped us off, a Viking tour guide walked us through an open-air mall and through a hotel lobby, where we took a pathway that took us down to the hotel’s private beach area. Apparently Viking has a deal with the hotel where they let us use their private beach.

The Koh Samui beach was beautiful: white sands, palm trees, clear green water, and perfect weather. We found a spot under a coconut tree where we could lie out in the shade of the tree or right next to it in full sun. We went into the water and enjoyed its warmth and the soft, gentle swells of the waves. What a nice, enjoyable change of pace.

 

After some relaxing time on the beach, we decided to go get a bite to eat and then do some shopping at the open-air mall. The part about get a bite to eat was easier said than done. We had been told by Viking that most of the places will take either a credit card or US dollars. We did not bother to get any Thai currency (which is the bhat) since it didn’t sound like we would need any.

We found a food court in the open-air mall and after ordering, we learned that they do not take credit cards, they do not take US dollars, and they don’t even take Thai bhat. All they take is a special card that you have to purchase in a corner of the food court. Okay, simple enough. We went over to the desk where you purchase the special card that allows you to purchase food. The only problem is, we couldn’t purchase this special card with a credit card or US dollars, so we still needed to buy some bhat.

The kind lady at the counter where you purchase this special, magic card gave us instructions on what we needed to do, but she must have noticed the confounded look on our faces, because she then offered to accompany us to the place where we could buy some bhat. We had to go to the second floor of the mall and take about a 10-minute walk clear across the mall. Eventually she pointed us to a foreign exchange currency desk. Fortunately she stayed with us, because her services were going to be needed again before we were done.

We walked up to the desk and told the lady that we would like to purchase 500 bhat. Apparently there was a problem, but we couldn’t understand what it was because she spoke to us with a mask on, behind a glass partition, with a strong accent. We were clueless. Cue the “interpreter”, aka the lady who had walked us here. She came over and relayed the information to us: it was not possible to purchase 500 bhat, we had to purchase 524 bhat. Okay, not a problem. Tell the nice lady with the mask and the accent behind the glass to give us 524 bhat. Given the exchange rate, we were informed that the 524 bhat would cost us $18 US and they didn’t take credit cards. No problem, we had $18 in cash. I gave the lady a $10 bill and 8 ones. She counted the money and gave me back one of the bills. I thought maybe I had counted wrong and given her too much, but apparently that wasn’t it. Time to bring back the “interpreter”. We were informed that she could not accept that particular one dollar bill, because it had a small (and I mean small, as in tiny, like miniscule) tear in the upper left-hand corner. We were floored. Really???? Okay, now what I did next I’m not proud of, but my patience had been tested, and I failed the test. I pulled out another bill from my wallet, and with some drama, held it up to the light, turned it over and inspected each side carefully before handing it to the lady behind the glass. My bad. Fortunately for us, the dollar bill passed the stiff Thai requirements, and we were given our 524 bhat. We returned to the food court, purchased our special card, and then finally were able to obtain some food.

The whole process from learning we didn’t have the proper currency to purchase food, until we returned and were sitting down to eat took about an hour. However, once we ate, we realized that despite the hassle, we did end up getting a bargain. We had two bowls of soup, two plates of cashew chicken, two smoothies, and an iced coffee – all for under $18 US.

After walking around the mall and making a purchase – Joe bought a shirt with elephants on it – we returned to the ship via minivan and tender. 

Mall

Tomorrow: Bangkok. Tuesday: a grueling day of travel home which we learned when we returned to our stateroom begins at 2:30 a.m. Travelling is great; getting from here to there is not.