HORRAY! DESERTED BEACHES

Yesterday I got the local bus (it is a great system you just flag a bus down say where you want to go, barter the price then hop on with the locals, who are paying far less, but I felt like I got a good deal)to the next big stretch of beach along called Lamai beach. A friend of mine has been to a spa there and says it is beautiful. I was heartened when I saw signs on the beach asking people not to buy from beach vendours, so that deters them from coming along to harrass everyone.
And there were hardly any people on the beach. The places to stay were mostly nice little bungalows. I walked along and found Spa Samui. It was fully booked over Christmas. Amazingly I bumped into Tilly who used to work on Inside out in Tunbridge Wells, before she move to Inside Out in London, she has just arrived. She is staying nearby but having treatments at the spa. I managed to find a lovely bungalow next door for over Christmas at just 600 baht a night ,that is about nine pounds! And it is so quiet I cannot wait. I get the local bus from here in Chaweng tomorrow. And I am going to do one of the fasting treatments which should be an experience.

Today I decided to be more pro active and I hired a motorbike and set off very early in search of places where the tourists do not venture. Again I saw Tilly, she was just cycling along from her accommodation about fifteen minutes along the road from where I am staying. I pulled up alongside her on my motorbike and had a chat. But then ventured off in search off my solitude. And after six hours on the bike I found so many secluded places that I plan to come back to.

I also ventured into the hills, just taking the little tracks as I saw them, getting into the villages. And I came across lots of oxen tethered up in the fields next to their shacks.(i know someone is going to tell me its not an ox!!! but it looks like one to me)



I was fancinated to see the bannanas growing ( sorry do not know how to turn the photographs round..Sammie if you can work it out your end feel free to do it!! love you!!)


and there are coconut trees everywhere the villagers were collecting them and cutting them open.

Then I went to see the big Buddha..

Big Buddha is the one at the back!!! I had to make sure I had my shoulders covered witha sarong to show respect. It is the most amazing object. You had to climb up lots of steps to get to it and there were worshippers ringing bells in a circuit at the top. It was very moving, but I am not sure why. Buddhism is something I really want to explore more during my trip. There had been a rainstorm early in the day and I nearly came a cropper on the steps back down again, It really made me scared , so I decended like an old lady for the rest of the way down. I thought I do not care what I look like ,as long as I get down this thing in one piece!
I had lunch at the BBC




No not that one, The Big Buddha Cafe, but they play on the initials being BBC and have a naff studio in the corner.But the food was good. I had curried crab. And to my surprise ( I know, I just expected the crab meat to be on the plate for me) It was in its shell, I have never tackled a crab before. I tried to recall the cookery programmes I have seen, telling you what to do, but that was no good. Eventually I had to summon the waiter and he gave me a few tips. It was such a performance getting to the meat in the shell, but well worth it!