Koh Samui – My most favourite place on earth

By Thatthep Sae-Lim. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

As a Thai person, who has been living most of my life abroad, I didn’t really have many opportunities to travel around Thailand. Back when covid was still a thing, I was stuck in Thailand for 3 years and it has given me the chance to explore this beautiful country. I first visited Koh Samui in December 2020 and have always wanted to go back ever since.

Thanks to this study abroad year for bringing me closer to home and allowing me to visit Koh Samui again, in December last year. Based on my experiences being in Koh Samui twice, I can truly say that Koh Samui is my most favourite place on earth.

I normally fly into Koh Samui, but this time I decided to try something new and took a ferry. The ferry took roughly almost two hours. I really enjoyed the scenery and the peace from being surrounded by the sea.

We then drove to our resort and enjoyed the sunset by the beach.

Somehow, I personally associate a beach holiday with bad food. This is not the case for Koh Samui at all. I really love the food here. In fact, it was here that got me obsessed with Southern Thai food. You should definitely give it a try if you have the chance, although just beware of the spices.

I started the second day with a traditional Thai massage. It was so relaxing that I went there again on my last day. My back literally felt twenty years younger 🙂

After the massage, we decided to drive around the island and get ourselves some local desserts as souvenirs. They are called kalamae or dodol in English. They are thick, sticky, toffee-like dessert, made mainly from coconut milk, palm sugar, jaggery, and rice flour. You can find this dessert in many places in Thailand, but Koh Samui’s kalamae is known to be the most delicious one.

As always, we ended our day with a good traditional Southern Thai dinner.

Sadly, this was the last day of my trip in Koh Samui. I decided to swim at the beach, before checking out. Koh Samui will always be my go-to beach vacation destination and I just can’t wait to be back again soon!