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!

Operation Koh Samui, Part I

We took a short flight on Bangkok Airways from Krabi to Koh Samui, which was one of the more expensive flights of the trip at $337.47 all in for the four of us.  Bangkok Airways bills itself as a small "boutique" airline and had a lounge at the Krabi airport that was open to seemingly anyone on the flight, although it wasn't very crowded.  It was small, but had fresh made popcorn which the girls liked.

It was an uneventful flight and we were quickly at the Koh Samui airport, which is beautiful and mostly outdoors.  Joe had arranged for transportation via a private company called "Mr. Samui."  He had read about it on some message boards and it got very good reviews. Although a few minutes late in picking us up, a very friendly female driver took us in a nice SUV to the Conrad Koh Samui. It was about a 45 minute drive from the airport and the island of Koh Samui (just Samui to the locals) was a bit reminiscent to me of Hawaii. From what I understood there was basically one main road around the island and the driver said it would take about an hour and a half to drive the whole thing. 

The driver asked us if we wanted to stop at a convenience store before getting to the resort, so we stopped at a 7/11 and grabbed some snacks.  The final 5 minutes of the drive to the Conrad were up the STEEPEST hills we have ever seen, and our driver told us that the Conrad sat on the highest point on Samui.  We saw a few little shops and restaurants before starting the ascent to the Conrad and naively thought we could do a quick walk from the hotel to check them out. The crazy hills, plus the roaming wildlife (buffaloes and wild dogs!) were enough to deter us.  The road was also so narrow that there was only room for one vehicle to pass at a time, so we had to wait for an all-clear signal before proceeding.  

When we finally arrived at the lobby it felt like we were on top of the world and completely isolated. The expansive ocean views were breathtaking and the layout of the hotel was unlike anything I could imagine.  Pictures don't do it justice and we arrived on an overcast afternoon, so the best views were ahead of us.

Breathtaking lobby

We had two free nights at any Hilton from the sign up bonus from the Citi Hilton Hhonors Reserve credit card and were very excited to be able to use them here since it is one of their top properties.  The third night was reserved using a fairly reasonable cash and points redemption of around $180 and 38,000 Hilton points.  For the three days we were there, the cash rate would have been over $3,000, so this was a great redemption.

Having that credit card also gives you automatic Gold status, which at this property was nice because it gave us 2 free drinks at the pool as well as daily breakfast, which was worth a fair amount since there really weren't any other accessible options.

After completing the check-in formalities, the four of us were taken on a golf cart to our room.  Given the layout and hills, most areas are only easily accessible via golf carts, which always seemed readily available. 

Underside of a hillside villa - they all looked out over the ocean

Golf cart path

Home sweet home for the next three nights

We were assigned villa 213 on the second with wide open views of the water and the five small islands off the coast.  It was one of the nicest rooms we have seen, made more incredible coupled with the views.  All four of us were happy to see they had the Disney Channel.

They had the Disney Channel

The room was well thought out, spacious, and great for our family.  The bathroom was gorgeous and it was great to have a giant bathtub to put the girls in once it got a bit cooler at night after swimming.

Even the bathroom was designed to give you an ocean view while you used the sink

The girls ate most of their room service meals on the couch, which we turned around at night to make a sleeping area for Lizzy.  She loved it.

Room service lunch and TV, common theme of the trip

Ocean front dining

The infinity pool off the living area was the highlight of our time in Koh Samui, and maybe the entire trip.  The girls loved it so much, and since Annie had just learned how to swim on her own earlier that day in Krabi, we got lots of use out of it.  The backdrop was stunningly beautiful and we definitely felt lucky throughout to be able to be there with the girls.

A Diet Coke I brought from a Malaysian 7/11

Annie got more confident by the minute, and worked for hours on perfecting her belly flop

Annie loved being thrown, while all Lizzy wanted to do was put her head in and look at the bottom

Lots of night swimming

We had them bring in a roll away for Annie which worked out really nice.  Everyone was always so tired by 6pm that bed time never was a challenge, even when sharing most of the common spaces.

There were numerous things to do around the resort, which we hope to update on soon!