Koh Samui – Ang Thong National Marine Park – Part I

On our 2nd day, we made a trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park.

Ang Thong National Marine Park consists of 40 over islands featuring lime stone massifs, tropical rain forests and deserted beaches within the vicinity of Koh Samui. To get there, we had to take an hour boat ride from Koh Samui.

Our trip was arranged by a local tour by the name Samui Island Tour. It costs around 1850 Bath (before discount. We got a 20% discount as a friend knows the boss there)

The journey started around 7am when the tour guide picked us up from our hotel. We almost couldn’t wake up for it. Who said holiday is to relax.

After a short ride from our hotel, we were greeted by a red coloured boat.


We sat by the side of the boat.


Most of the passengers are Caucasians.

Breakfast was provided but it was just light food. Shouldn’t eat so much when sitting in a boat as one can get seasick easily.


Eat Bananas guai lous!


Top deck


Bottom deck – where the toilet is…which is just next to the kitchen..uuuhh..


/(*O*)\ our boatman driving with his feet while reading papers!!

While on the boat, this song suddenly played on my head.

Mindless lyrics but yet entertaining.

An hour later, we stopped beside a cliff of an island and immediately got off our boat via a kayak. Each of us were given a life jacket which stink big time.

However, after getting into the kayak, we were not allowed to kayak on our own but to follow the tour guide.

The tour guide lead us some interesting sights including some nice limestone hills.


I hate this stuff


Our boat ditched us


Nice jugs!! Made me feel like jumping off the kayak to climb them.

To be continued…

Restoran O & S @ Taman Paramount

Restaurant O & S is another treasure trove of yummy hawker food.

The place is located in a corner shop next to Caltex petrol station in Taman Paramount.

On Hari Raya break, the xes.cx makan team made a trip to the place for lunch. It was packed with people. It was so packed until we had to wait for an empty table.


Check out their dish washing system. Communal dish washing area 😀

When this place was suggested to me, I immediately did a google search to see the recommended food.

My first hit was a blog post recommending its Penang prawn noodles. It was dubbed as the best prawn noodles in town.


However, it was just so-so. The one behind Restaurant Yut Kee is so much better. It is served with pieces of mutton in it. However, I think Timothy Tiah didn’t like it as he found a bug in his bowl. Nevertheless, NO BUGS CAN STOP ME FROM MY MEAL!!

Anyway, O&S’s Assam Laksa is commendable. The soup is sweet and not spicy. Good for people like me who can’t take spicy stuff a lot.

The best meals which tasted best so far are chee cheung fun and pork noodles.


Their chee cheung fun is served with prawn paste! Other than prawn paste, you can try chicken curry.


Pork noodles is served with generous servings of minced pork.

Map

Koh Samui – Muay Thai

Barely 4 hours after arriving in Koh Samui, we had to search for wmc Lamai Muay Thai Gym. It took us a while to find the place and got lost couple of times.

Nevertheless, this is one of the highlights of the trip. I used to do Muay Thai when I was in University and I really enjoyed it. I even ran for committee (and won uncontested cause no one was interested) in my university’s Muay Thai society. However, after coming back to Malaysia, I lost interest.

wmc Lamai Muay Thai gym is a famous gym in Koh Samui. Many fighters from all around the world travel to this place to train. This gym has no wall and no doors. Anyone can walk in to train.

The gym has two boxing rings, 4 punching bags, two separate training grounds, a few sleeping dogs and hell loads of muscular and intimidating men. When we first arrived we saw a group of muscular and intimidating men. They were so intimidating that we felt like rabbits in a lion’s den.

Initially, we wanted to give up and go away. However, we stayed put and managed to get ourselves enrolled in their 5pm class. The trainers are all Thai but the students were mainly Westerners. They may be those who took time off work to train in Muay Thai camps.

According to the website Malaysian Muay Thai Tigers (who sent their fighters to wmc Lamai to train:

I feel it’s important and interesting for you to know our ‘Malaysian Tigers’ training routine in Samui. Being here in Malaysia, I can’t help but feel that these guys have a perfect set-up: idyllic island, no worries in the world(except training), good and healthy food, no financial worries….etc……etc…

First let me point out……the training is tough………really tough. Team Tigers have to wake up an hour before everyone else(jogging starts at 6am) so as they get in an hour earlier so they can train extra with their trainers, whom may I add are at the very least ex-Lumpinee Champions.

Then I got a reality check…….I was flown out to Samui and the truth of it all hit me. On the first day, I was asking the guys, “Hey why aren’t you out at the beach(which is only a stones throw away”).Bernard Radin looks at me and says “Just check out our training routine, any free time we have, we need to rest and recover, no time for the beach”. And now I realise just how tough it all is. Hey even the 7km run would floor me, neither less doing it twice a day. And Dzhabar punching me in the head……..well I’ll update you on that one soon.


[Credits to Malaysian Tigers]

Morning Routine
6am-7km run
7am-Stretching and shadow boxing
7.30am Light Sparring
8am-Pad work with trainers
8.30 am-Sit-ups & stretches

Evening Routine
4pm-7km run
5pm-Stretching and shadow boxing
5.30pm Light Sparring
6pm-Pad work with trainers
6.30pm-Clencing

Fking 7km run can kill me anytime already!

Our training session was done together with the other participants – whether pro or amateur, we went through the same training. The trainers guided us throughout the session and even ensured that our techniques were all correct.


Although brutal looking, the chaps at wmc Lamai have a heart of gold. Donate to poor dogs and cats pls.

The 2 hours sessions were divided into a few sessions, first being the simple punches, kicks, knee and elbow, second would be the combination of those punches, kicks, knees and elbows and even clenching. The last would be sparring between partners. Almost everyone went all out in the sparring session.

In between the sessions, the head instructor, Nong would throw in some quick workouts such as 30 squats and 30 pushups. It made my legs felt like jelly.

Speaking about Nong, he is probably the last person in the gym that you want to mess with. Although at 43 years old, he could easily bring down anyone in the gym. He’s probably the Thai version of Incredible Hulk.

At the end of the session, Nong made me do various moves while he holds the pads. My legs were almost jelly after that session.

When we finished our session, it was already dark. We limped back to our hotel proudly with bruised shins and knuckles.

I finally get to train in a Thai Muay Thai camp! *strikes off one paragraph from my 100 things to do before I die*