Day 89: Koh Samui island living

Claire: On a map Lipa Noi looked about 20mins away by scooter. It actually took us 45 but we were greeted with a beautiful sleepy beach and a breakfast spot at Think Cafe.

Heading off the main road further south down the island we rode through local villages and get to see some of the local day-to-day Thai life we love. Samui is a really developed island (which has its pros like decent roads, great transport, good coffee & excellent WiFi) but when you’re surrounded with that and hundreds of other western tourists you really could be anywhere in the world. I think it’s safe to say we love going a bit off the beaten track.

Our friends Hayley and Nick had spent 3 months out here last year and today we were on our self guided scooter tour with some recommendations from them. They’d mentioned this shallow bit of beach SW of the island that you could walk all the way out to. Nobody else was there (apart from one elderly sunbathing nudist) so Gav throughly enjoyed himself running on water.

We’d loved the mountain jungles yesterday so had lots of fun driving round some other parts today, with an immense lunchtime pitstop view. Well, it was fun until we realised the scooter brakes weren’t as responsive as we’d first thought so going downhill was a little nerving. We may need to replace the soles of Gav’s trainers too.

Friday night in Fishermen’s village is market night. After a quick shuffle through we perched up in a bar to people watch which ended up having a live band on too so that was ace. We shared a table with a Swedish family (the third lot of swedes we’ve befriended in the past week) and had a very hilarious night. The band was an eclectic bunch of musicians including two amazing saxophonists, which are my favourite!

Gav's day 89 takeaway

• Later that night a hippy Pat Sharp look-a-like strolled into the packed bar we'd perched at. He flicked off his sandals and began loitering in awkward positions behind people. As the band continued to get into full swing, so Pat Sharp's hips followed suit. And I wasn't the only one who had noticed this disturbing addition to the ambience, others began watch in both amusement and bemusement as his cropped white linen figure began to sort of prance in a hippy, peace and love kind of way across the sand filled floor. He swayed over here and there, pausing in between before he swayed in front of an older gentlemen who was sat on a low stool with a large group of pals and proceeded to stay there within what might be classed a reasonable distance. This in itself wouldn't be too bad, except the older gentleman was facing the stage watching the band and Pat had parked his gyrating Shakira-like rear end in front of this poor blokes face.
• But the best was still to come. Pat had entered the arena as an inconspicuous caterpillar, crawling around in the shadows of a busy bar. But shit was about to get real as Pat suddenly emerged from his cocoon to announce himself on centre stage as chief queen at his own beauty pageant! His white linen outfit could barely contain his slightly podgy frame as he leapt gracefully-ish across the dancefloor in front of the band who jammed away undistracted by their new found superfan. Pat was now in full swing and began pulling out all the stops, busting shapes the like which I had never seen before. Part disco diva, part spiritual leader. His long blonde hair danced in sync with his long flailing arms whilst his closed eyes and wide grin suggested he'd consumed enough booze and/or other stimulants within the past hour to not really care where he was, what he was doing, or who might be finding all of these highly amusing. And by now, there was a fair few of us.
• Others however, seemed unmoved and untroubled by this comedy  dad-dancing meets Swan Lake performance. It turns out, he's a bit of a regular and does this most Friday nights. Rumour has it he owns a big house up the mountain and is some sort of healer. But there was no evidence given to support this theory.
• Anyway, he did eventually finish off his margarita cocktail and relent from the dancefloor so he could attempt to chat up some girl up at the bar, but I think he was too far gone! Either way, we had a blast watching the whole thing unfold, especially as the band and the rest of the bar got increasingly drunk to the point I thought it might have turned into some free-for-all Reggae-Funk karaoke meets X-factor kinda night. But we didn't stay to find out and left just as some other random lady challenged Pat to a vinyasa flow dance-off.
• Get me outta here!