Yet another great tour with Travel Authentic Asia, we started the tour with a visit to the Samui Elephant Haven, which has 11 rescued elephants, 3 of them were there for us to feed and take photos of. Once they had exhausted the bananas, watermelon and pineapple, we were tasked with combining some rice, green leaves and bananas to form small balls, which we then covered in ground meal. Then the heavens opened, torrential rain, which didn’t bother the elephants, who ambled off to play in the water holes! They called them back, for us to feed them the rice balls, only one was interested, but not for long. Great experience despite the rain.
We then did a highlight tour of the island including:
– Big Buddha Temple: known as Wat Phra Yai, it is the tallest Buddha at 12m, on the island and was built in 1972, from here you get panoramic views of the island’s coastline.
– Plai Laem Temple & Baby Budda Jaidee: known as Wat Plai Laem, is a blend of Thai and Chinese architecture, including a large seated Buddha, the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin, surrounded by a large pond and numerous statues and temple buildings.
– due to the rain we couldn’t get to see the rock formation of Hin Ta & Hin Yai (Grandfather and Grandmother), too slippery and dangerous.
– Fabulous lunch at Samui Islander including Tom Yum Soup, Sweet & Sour Seabass, Penang Chicken Curry, Chicken with Cashews, Prawns with vegetables, steamed rice and Tropical Fruit for dessert, accompanied by a bottle of Chang Beer. Normally you can see the Grandfather Rock from here, but the high tide meant we couldn’t, unless we fancied a dip in the sea!
– Wat Kunaram, the mummified monk temple, where you can see, encased in glass, the undecomposed body of a monk who died in 1973, who requested if he decomposed to be cremated, if not to be displayed as a reminder for people to follow Buddha’s teachings.
– our last visit was the impressive Namuang Waterfall, which due to the rains was in full flow.
Returned to the pier for our local tender back to the ship, we were on the last tender!