Saturday was our last full day in Ko Samui and our second to last day in Thailand. We had one more sight to see on the island and then back to relaxation on the beach. Latanya wanted to see the Big Buddha which was about 15 minutes north of Chaweng and about a half hour drive from our hotel.
After our usual breakfast we hailed a cab to the Big Buddha. We told the cab driver as well as the bell hop and a front desk person exactly where we wanted to go. The taxi driver and I decided on a price and we were off. We were driving through Chaweng when the driver kept asking us what hotel we were going to. We responded with, no hotel, just Big Buddha. This is where the communication got rough. He ended up stopping in downtown Chaweng and said here you are. We said, we wanted to go to Big Buddha and he said Chaweng. After a couple of minutes of back and fourth conversation he finally said, oh Big Buddha with a thick accent that we obviously did not have. We said yes Big Buddha, trying to replicate his exact pronunciation. He then told us double the fare. I said no way. I said, we told you Big Buddha and decided on a price we did not want to come to Chaweng. We argued back and fourth pretty calmly as a matter of fact for a good five minutes. It got to the point where I said we will not pay because we did not want to come to Chaweng. He then pointed at the traffic police stand and said, I will call the police. I then said, go ahead I will explain how you are trying to rip us off. Once I called his bluff and attempted to get out of the cab he said, ok. After another 15 minutes or so we finally arrived at the Big Buddha safe and sound with the original accepted fare.
We looked around the site and made our way to this Big Buddha, which better have been amazing looking after the whole cab fiasco. It most certainly was worth the trip. A giant statue of a Buddha was atop a stair case. We took some pictures and walked around for awhile. We then took a Tuk Tuk back to Lamai beach to the spot we were the other day.
We did some more relaxing and just chilled out on the beach for most of the day. The weather was amazing. It was hot and sunny. The water was so refreshing and we were starting to get sad about having to leave.
After the beach we walked the Lamai strip. We had some street eats for a late lunch/dinner or lunner as I call it. Latanya had some more Pad Thai and I some more curry. We stopped by a Tattoo shop, I wanted to get a battleship done on my chest. I thought it would be a great way to send us off....Just kidding. No, actually Latanya wanted to get a tiny star on her right foot, just between the strap of her sandal and the big vein that runs through the top of the foot. She got quoted a price and we made the appointment for later in the evening.
We then went back to the hotel to do some late afternoon/early evening swimming at the pool. We had fun just swimming around. After saying goodbye to the pool we freshened up a little and headed to the tattoo appointment.
The guy was really nice and friendly. He was also very patient with Latanya. Not to say she did not handle it like a champ...well...actually she handled it ok; With the exception of her screaming after the needle barely touched her as well as every time after that. It was really entertaining for me to watch. The tattoo artist used all sterile equipment for those worried moms out there. It took a whole 15 minutes, when it should have taken 5. After it was all said and done Latanya loves it. I think it looks good as well. It really is small. It's smaller than a square inch.
After the tat we headed back towards the road and stopped by the local Family Mart to get our last two beers in Ko Samui. We had to call it an early night. We needed to wake up at 3:30am to catch our flight. Ko Samui was great to us. We will definitely be back, but our vacation was not over yet, we still had a full day in Bangkok.
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