We woke up and had breakfast at Fisherman’s Village Café again because it was so delicious! With their extensive coffee selection, I wanted to try something new and exciting and went with a large cappuccino. For breakfast we shared a cinnamon roll and scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. It was just what we needed to jumpstart our morning of of traveling!
We planned to drop off our scooter after breakfast, around 10am, and head out to the Nathon Pier to catch our 12:45pm ferry back to the mainland. Our scooter rental wasn’t open on time or even an hour after it was supposed to be, so we had to break into the locker to get Joey’s passport. The whole ordeal took nearly an hour, so we were unable to take a songthaew as planned and had to take the more expensive option, a dreaded taxi.
Taxis in Koh Samui (and Koh Tao) are notorious for refusing to use the meter. They state a set price to specific locations and often refuse to negotiate. Luckily, our hotel owner called us a taxi that he has a relationship with and was able to get us the best deal possible, though it was still significantly more than a shared songthaew would have been.
We got to the pier around 12:15pm, just in time to check in and head down to the end of the pier. Our boat arrived and we boarded right on time. I immediately fell asleep (luckily the seas were calm) and Joey caught us up on some blogging. We arrived at Donsak Pier in Surat Thani and Lomprayah had an included coach bus that connects you to the city, which was extremely convenient.
We got into the city of Surat Thani around 5pm and had dinner at a really awesome cook-your-own restaurant called Shabu Shabu Nangnai. We ordered shrimps, vegetables (carrots, baby corn, and morning glory), fried dumplings, fried garlic rice, and cellophane noodles. Sweet chili sauce, peanut sauce, soy sauce, and green chili sauce were also included in order for you to customize flavor. It was all done over a boiling hot pot of delicious broth and we successfully made our own unique and delicious dish! It’s worth mentioning that they do offer a set meal for 390 baht, which includes way more variety than we had, but our meal was 195 baht and customized just for us.
After eating too much, we decided to walk it off to our hotel, which was about 15 minutes away. It’s a good thing we decided to walk, because we passed some beautiful temples along the way. Wat Tham Bucha is one of Surat Thani’s main temples and its City Shrine is absolutely stunning in all white. As we crossed the bridge we saw a picturesque view of the small islet, Ko Lamphu Park, which lies right in the middle of the Ta Pi River and has a small footbridge that connects it to the mainland.
We got to our hotel around 6pm and decided to relax for the night, as we have an early flight from Surat Thani to Don Mueang Airport in the morning. Joey went to a nearby 7-eleven to grab some Chang beers and snacks, which we enjoyed while watching a Netflix documentary in our room! We’ll be spending the last week of our trip exploring Bangkok, so stay posted!