Ko Samui (means Island of Coconuts) is Thailand's third largest island. It is known for its coconut plantations (produces 3 million coconuts a month!!), rubber production and, of course, tourism. There are beautiful beaches here.
The name of our excursion today is "Ko Samui Highlights" and it leaves at 8:55 AM and we are tendered across to the island.
FYI: Temperature is: 81°F/27°C -- chance of rain
It is day # 73 of our world cruise
Our first stop is the Big Buddha Temple, or Wat Prha Yai, and it is a 36-foot gold statue at the top of a staircase (70 steps) decorated with dragons on the railing. It rained on the way to this temple. We also did some shopping here.
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| Big Buddha |
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| View from the top. |
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| Walking up the 70 steps -- look Ma, no hands! |
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| Me & Hirsch @ the top...don't you love my outfit? |
Next we went to a temple -- Plai Laem temple. Here we saw a large white laughing Buddha and also a large white statue of Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy, and bunch of other deities that I don't know the names. Really interesting.
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| Laughing Buddha |
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| Goddess of Mercy...Her, with the arms, not me! |
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| Great dragon at the base of the statue |
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| Here she is ... Goddess of Mercy |
We then went to Chaweng Beach, where we stopped for refreshments and bathroom. Of course, it poured rain here so we couldn't really appreciate the beauty of the beach.
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| Raining!! |
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| Thai beer, Chang |
Then we went to see the monkeys. The monkeys are trained over a 6-month period to pick coconuts. They are taught how to pick out the ripe coconuts and the monkeys then proceed to twist the coconuts off the branch and throw them to the ground. Very cute.
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| On his way up. |
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| He had to use his feet to get this on off. |
We then head back for our tender to the boat. This excursion was supposed to be 4 1/2 hours and it ended up being about 6 1/2 hours. Long tour.
We decide to wear our new clothes to dinner tonight. We are meeting in the Stars Lounge at 5:30.
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| Our jackets & Barry's purchase from Ko Samui |
After dinner, we go up to the Galileo Lounge as there is a "Beatles Dance Party" starting a 9:30 PM. When we get up there it is packed. There is not a seat to be had. So, we just danced to a couple of songs and went to our cabins.
Tomorrow is a sea-day so we can sleep in.
The statues are fabulous & so are your new outfits. Having way too much fun!❤️
ReplyDeleteWe always have too much fun with Mike & Wendy. There was a lot to see on Ko Samui for such a small island.
ReplyDeleteB & M..xx