Che Kurrien loses his camera, but that doesn’t stop him from living it up in Ko Samui, off the Thai coast. He also witnesses the other side of Paradise.
The Indian Express
I HAD never seen rocks naturally shaped like male and female genitalia lying next to each other, so I move in for a closer look. This is the first stop on my trip around Ko Samui, a heavenly island off the Thai mainland.
Forty years ago, Ko Samui was a sleepy space, with no roads and even less transport. To get here, travellers had to endure a six-hour ride on choppy waters. Then, tourism happened. Little Ko Samui even got an airport so that the hippies, backpackers, and these days, families, and disturbingly, solitary white men, could land straight in heaven. Everything isn’t necessarily right with Ko Samui, but still, the silver sands and azure waters offer enough compensation.
I’d made friends on the beach with a local, Pitlum (a waiter at the pricey eatery Drop In), who’d offered to be my guide. The two remarkable rocks were part of a formation that lies on a white beach called Lamai, and, at high tide, the ocean washes over them. I climb down to the large, flat female specimen and smile. The ocean collects like a reservoir against her insides and I feel a boyish urge to touch that water. I step into her and carefully inch towards the ocean, crouching low to counter the rock’s steep downward plane.
Inches away from the goal, my feet give way. In one movement I fall on my backside, slide down her smooth plane—landing straight in the water. It’s such a steep fall that my body’s instantly submerged, and my head breaks through the surface only after some serious underwater flailing. All Pitlum, who had his back turned away, heard was a gentle “ploop” from the water.
I dry off in a secluded restaurant, comforting myself with some spicy Prawn Pad Thai and Chang beer. I had lost my camera, but decided to let it go: this was Paradise and nothing could get me down.
We decide to resume our road trip after lunch. Our rented bike hugs the coastline for much of the three-hour journey. We zip past sleepy villages, Thai massage signs, monasteries, and luxury beachside resorts. There are plenty of locals zooming around on small motorcycles, including women and 10-year-old boys riding triple-seat. ‘‘If we were in Bangkok their parents would be in jail,’’ says Pitlum with a dark smile.
As dusk approaches we head to Chaweng, home to Ko Samui’s largest beach, commercial strip and the location of my guest house. We halt for a snack at a cluster of street carts on the outskirts of the touristy precinct and I buy a kilo of sweet, fleshy local fruit called Rambutan. Pitlum leads me to his friend’s mother, manning a street cart. ‘‘You like papaya salad?’’ he asks. I nod. Pitlum gives the word and the graceful lady begins pounding away at a bowl, adding onions, peanuts, sprouts, raw papaya and plenty of red chillies to the mix. As she works, Pitlum tells her about my fall, bringing a smile to her kind face. The salad’s fiery hot and Pitlum teases me about my tears.
We have dinner at his upscale workspot, making our selections from the day’s catch, displayed on a bed of ice shavings. Two large oysters, some tiger prawns cooked in soya sauce, honey and spicy vinegar, fleshy white snapper and Singha beer.
Most tourists stay grounded at Chaweng, drinking at Irish pubs, chowing down on Western food, then letting loose at clubs playing rock and hip hop. Pitlum and I head for The Green Mango, an airy club with four large sections. Females easily outnumber the men even at these mainstream venues, with local girls looking to score with tourists.
Pitlum tells me that women from all over Thailand flood Ko Samui to meet the demands of the solitary men who visit the island, including large groups of grandfather types. It’s a slightly strange scene, but everyone’s having a lot of fun.
The night before I leave, we get onto the bike and ride for an hour in complete darkness to Rocky Bay for a moonlight rave. It’s a stunning setting for a party: a secluded beach against a rocky cove lined with rows of trippy lava lamps. Hundreds of backpackers and locals sit around on the beach in small groups, others dance freely to the hypnotic sounds.
I’d been to a New Year’s rave in San Francisco but this was better—reinforcing Ko Samui’s reputation as a global party spot. At about 4 am, local law enforcement burst in and pull the plug. Yet, it’s not five minutes before the trance flows again. “Thai police,” remarks Pitlum wryly.
TRIP TIPS
• There are 15 flights a day from Bangkok (a round trip costs 7,000 baht). There are also daily flights from Singapore, Pattaya and Phuket. (1 baht= Rs 1.14)
• There’s a wide range of living options, starting with beach shacks for as low as 300 baht a night to luxury resorts costing 6,000 baht.
• Chaweng is the main tourist centre, lined with bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
• Renting vehicles is a great idea. Bikes cost 100 baht a day and jeeps rentals between 800 and 1,500 baht.
• Ko Samui has some superb restaurants serving every major world cuisine, including two Indian eateries.
• It has excellent diving, snorkelling and watersports
C J Kurrien 