Whilst we were visiting Koh Samui, lots of people had mentioned Chaweng beach was a good place to go, but the afternoon we decided to visit, was the afternoon it poured with rain! However, we did find some other things to do in Chaweng:

1. Thai Massage

   There are loads of parlours to choose from in Chaweng and Rob and I were able to have a massage in the same booth. This was a very painful experience … the Thai women were not afraid to stand all over us (it probably didn’t help that our leg muscles were pretty destroyed from climbing in Angthong Marine Park!) Half way through the massage, my lady said “excuse me” and returned wearing a surgical mask… think my feet must’ve smelt! It was an interesting experience and incredibly cheap compared to what you would pay for a massage in England, but I’m not sure I would describe it as enjoyable… half an hour of pure pain is more like it!

   ---

2. Thai boxing

   Muaythai boxing is popular in Koh Samui and we had seen cars driving round Bophut, drumming up publicity for the weekly fights in Chaweng so we thought it would be interesting to see the sport in action. Tickets cost around £20 for a ringside seat and this included 6 fights. Naively I wasn’t quite prepared for the brutality of it; we saw two guys completely knocked out, with one carried off on a stretcher. In one fight an English guy was representing GBR… but he was terrible and got a technical knockout. The local supporters totally made it, they were placing bets and getting really into it, their enthusiasm was infectious!