(ภาษาไทย) For our Samui city tour we are going to see a good range of places including the ‘Big Buddha’, Grandma and Grandpa Rock, Namuang waterfall, mummified monk and the view point.
The half day tour we took today was complimentary from our hotel “Dara Samui”. Because there were 4 of us, we got a private tour for our group as well. It’s kind of a good deal!
The Samui city tour is one of the most popular tours in Samui…you can find the package at the hotel information desk and its about 300-700 baht depends on options (i.g lunch, elephant riding, tour guide etc.) But you can hire a private car at 1000 – 2,500 baht, it’s good for families with old folks and children.
Our tour started at 8.30am, The driver came punctually on the day with a big van but no tour guide. The driver could tell us where to go and what it is, and it’s good enough for us!
Our first stop was at Chaweng View Point, it’s a nice view but not much to do over here, it’s just a view of the Chaweng beach. Good for a few pictures, but you won’t spend much time here.
Next, we went to the Grandma and the Grandpa Rocks. Just a tip… In Thai, Rock is Hin, Grandma is Yai, and Grandpa is Ta. So the locals will call this Hin Ta and Hin Yai.
When you walk inside you will see the signs. Left is for Grandma Rock and Right is Grandpa Rock. But when you see the big rock you’ll figure out which one is grandpa?!?!?!
The Grandpa is an attraction rock in Samui and very famous over the world (don’t climb on it).
For Grandma rock, you have to know where to look! But today is very hard to see the Grandma Rock, because it’s high tide.
The Grandma Rock looked like the lower half of a lady laying down in the ocean…and if you can see it, there’s no doubt why they call it the Grandma Rock!
Tourists like to make fun and take pictures of Grandpa Rock and I couldn’t help myself… I did it too!!!
Before you leave this area, don’t forget to try the coconut caramel. This is the top dessert in Samui and the Grandpa &
Grandma rock is the original area for making coconut caramel in Samui. It’s sweet but creamy from coconut, great snack and good gift to bring back home.
They will offer you to try it for free and if you like it, it’s about 35-100 baht. Try a couple of vendors as they will taste slightly different (just remember which one you liked best).
The brown is the original taste but other colors are mixed with some vegetable (green is pandon) but they are just a little different. Try them all!
Next, we are going to the waterfall. I didn’t realize that they have a waterfall on this island!
The waterfall is Namtok in Thai, this is Namtok Naa Muang or Naa Muang Waterfall. Some tour companies offer elephant rides around the waterfall. You can also contact them over here, it’s about 700 baht (per person per ride). But we enjoyed to just walk around by ourselves. It’s not a big waterfall this month but it gets bigger in the rainy season (May – September)…
It’s fun and nice walking. It looks like we did more this trip because we got to go out to the islands and we got to see the waterfall. It’s a great little waterfall!
And next, we asked the driver to stop at the Samui Monkey theater. The monkey is the symbol of Samui. There were many monkeys in this island used to work by helping to collect coconuts and that’s a big part of the monkey show for tourists.
Unluckily, the main character was sick today…so no monkey show for us. But for your information, you can try to stop and see at Samui Monkey Theater. The admission fee is 300 baht for adult and 150 baht for children. But stay away from the monkeys that are in monkey “Time Out”… They were a little grumpy.
Ready for the next amazing stop? Because we are going to visit the mummified monk! Here is Khunaram temples claim to fame… The body of a mummified monk sitting in a glass case with sun-glasses on. Luang Por Daeng (Daeng is his name, Luang Por is how the local people call a senior monk) died in 1973 in a seated meditative position. This was actually a last request of this monk to his family, he wanted to allow his body to be seen to give people faith in Buddha.
It’s more than 30 years, his body shows a little sign of decay. The temple has the ceremony to cut his hair and his nails every month.
I went to check why the mummy monk is wearing sun-glasses. The other monks in this temple told me that he has no eye balls and it seems a scary if they are not put the sun-glasses on. See? they do care about your feelings, so don’t teas the mummy monk with raybans.
There are 2 mummy monks in Samui “Lauang Por Deang and Luang Por Reum”. But Luang Por Reum is too far. So Luang Por Deang in this temple has been seen by many more tourists.
Many Thais offer prayers, worship and also making donations or take a chance for lotto!
After we visited the mummified monk, we went to visit the Big Buddha Temple (Wat Phra Yai).
The Big Buddha is one of the main attractions in Koh Samui, the Buddha is in a brilliant gold when it’s sunny.
And when you go up to the top, you can see the beautiful views – overlooking the sea.
You can make a small donation and ring the bells at the top which is pretty cool…
There were many nice shops around the base with local items and something cold to drink.
End of our Samui City tour, it took about 4 hours to do all of this stuff. It’s a great tour of the real Koh Samui.
We had some extra time to play around Chaweng Beach (it’s right behind our hotel!). Chaweng is a long beach with fine sand and clear water. There are Thai local food and massage along the beach, and they are busy!
Chaweng is still a good stop for pubs and bars. If you like lots of 24hrs thumping loud music and things then you should stay in Chaweng Area. And it’s easy for us to find some dinner at the Chaweng Night Market. Seafood is not only cheap but it’s so fresh and delicious!
One of our favorite restaurants for this trip is Samui Seafood, you can see the big boat with fresh seafood in front.
After our dinner we always ended up with shopping. Why not? It’s night market here, find some good t-shirts or souvenirs. Great walk at night, not too hot!
We are sure to come back here again Samui but maybe we will try to stay in some quiet beach…
And thank you Timur and Azi for travelling with us on this trip 🙂
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