Saturday, April 19, 2014

Koh Samui Part 2

As usual, we are behind in finishing up our posts from our last trip.  Wanted to get this one done as we will be starting a short trip at the end of the month to Taipei and Hong Kong and would like to be caught up before that happens!

In our last Koh Samui post I mainly talked about the amazing villa we stayed in at the Conrad.  We found the rest of the resort equally amazing! We started every morning with breakfast at one of the restaurants, which was included for the four of us since Joe is a lowly Hilton Gold member, which comes simply by having the Citi Hilton Reserve credit card.  It was buffet style but they also offered a menu with different types of egg dishes you could get made to order.  I ordered eggs benedict every morning, something I've never had before and it was delicious. The buffet had a great selection or fruit, salads, baked goods, an omelet station, Thai dishes, freshly squeezed juices and smoothies, etc. But perhaps the best part of breakfast every morning was the view. Like the rest of the resort, the restaurant sat on the side of the cliff looking over the ocean. Joe and I could have sat there for hours leisurely stuffing our faces, but of course our two fellow travelers didn't like that plan. 


Eggs Benedict 3 mornings in a row? Don't mind if I do
Oceanfront dining
I gave Annie my phone and told her to take some pictures to keep her occupied
One downside to the resort is that it didn't really have a proper beach.  Not a big deal to me, since I usually prefer the pool over the beach, but the girls really love it.  To make up for this, the resort offered daily excursions to their own private island where you could enjoy the beach.  The ride was a little longer than I expected (15-20 minutes) and it was fast and bumpy; I don't think any of us were big fans of the journey.  Once at the island the staff set up some mats for us in the sand under some trees and we were free to explore.  You could also order a picnic lunch to take along with you but we never stayed at the island long enough for that.

She's on a boat
View of the Conrad from the boat on our way to the beach
Pit stop on our way to the beach to feed some fish

Feeding the fish. Alternate caption: Destroying the ecosystem?


Exploring the island with Dad

Really, really wanted to swim all by herself
The boat drops you off about a five minute car ride from the hotel.  There was a local family there with a little boy who came up to the girls and gave them a candy.  Luckily we had a package of fruit snacks on us to return the favor.




Between the extravagant breakfasts, boat trips to the beach and enjoying our private pool in our villa, there wasn't a whole lot of time in the day for other activities, which was just fine by us! We did spend a little time at the main pool where Lizzy downed multiple complimentary mocktails.

Steep golf cart path down to the pool
Main pool, loungers sit in the water
Main pool at night
Lizzy taking a dip at the pool in our villa. Hard to tell where the pool ends and the ocean begins!
Dad and his girls taking a ride back to our villa
There was a kids club (Turtle Club), but it wasn't heavily advertised and I had to call to ask anytime we wanted to use it as it was kept locked up.  Apparently you can leave your kids here pretty much all day for FREE but we really only used it twice as a place to take a break with the girls.  We weren't really clear at the time what the "rules" were and we didn't feel it necessary to leave them.

Turtle Club
Relaxing in a cabana by the pool
There was also a fitness center that I used a few times, and an amazingly challenging morning Yoga class.
Morning Yoga poolside
It was also fun trying to do some yoga with the girls back at the room.  They have lots of work to do.



One of my free drinks! Mojito mocktail, so yummy
Unlimited juice, this place is off the hook!


It's hard to be on vacation
We spent 3 nights at the Conrad Koh Samui and would gladly return to this resort again if we had the opportunity!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Looks so amazing!

Unknown said...

love re-reading this! i want to go so badly