On this day of August, 20, 2013, we have a 9:00 am meeting! We are to meet in our hotel lobby with Pascal, our guide for the day, to go on a discovery tour around the island on scooters. Our girls will stay at the hotel today, and so, for François and me, it is our day of freedom. And well, I suppose, for the girls as well!

Pascal is originally from Britany in France. He came to Koh Samui some years ago on vacation, and decided to settle here. He never looked back and created Koh Samui Scooter Passion to offer tours of the island on scooters, taking his clients off the beaten path to discover the less-visited places.

After a few minutes of the usual nice-to-meet-you conversation, we head for the scooters parked not far away and waiting for us. The plan for the day had been agreed upon the day before, and now we do not want to waste time!

We decide not to put on a helmet, which of course is not a good idea. But today, we feel adventurous and reckless! François will be driving our scooter and I hop onboard right behind him on the passenger seat. Off we go. I am excited, but not totally relaxed. We follow Pascal, and I ask François to be careful and not go too fast. I am not sure he paid attention, though. The traffic is dense, but fortunately, the trucks and cars passing us appear to leave a reasonable distance.

We are driving down the main road of Koh Samui. My hair is floating in the wind, and we are feeling happy and free like true easy riders on route 66! We cross Lamai, a nice little town with lots of bars, gift shops, and massage parlors. It is not yet the authentic Koh Samui we are looking for. But we will get there! We notice a good number of bakeries, displaying the colors of the French flag, and selling nicely baked baguettes and warm and fresh croissants. As it happens, a large number of French people have come and settled down in Koh Samui to enjoy their retirement under the sun of Thailand or to work in the tourism business. And so you can find here pretty much anything you like when you crave a little bite of French food and stuff.

Pascal had promised to take us to the less-travelled places of Koh Samui. We make a right turn off the main road, and head inland on a narrow little road. Soon the scenery turns into lovely hills with abundant greenery, exotic trees of all sorts, among which the more familiar coconut trees. Few houses, more like shacks actually, made of wood and tin. No car in sight. We continue our nice little ride on this quiet road and then head back towards the ocean where we will visit the small fisherman village of Hua Thanon, the only town on the island to be predominantly Muslim. Upon entering the town, we find this nice green and white mosque:

The fish market is open. On the usual day, women sell the fish which the men caught during the night. The atmosphere is easy going and friendly. Sometimes the backrooms of the stalls are actually the homes where people live. Often hanging on the wall is a picture of the Royal Family. And almost always an old-fashioned television set which is turned on some soap operas or some B-series movie. In the market, every one shouts loudly, of course, as I suppose it is customary in food markets all over the world. As you would expect, it is noisy, busy, lively, and colorful. A feast to the eyes, not so much to the ears!

Walking around the village, we encounter nice little houses with bright colors, a good number of which have bird cages hanging on the front. As it turns out, the residents of this village have a true passion for singing birds. They train their birds for the numerous singing contests which are regularly organized in the village. And luckily one contest is taking place as we walk by. It must be noted that this pastime is reserved to men exclusively. Not a single woman in sight in the large gathering of contestants. We watch the spectacle with much interest and curiosity, even though we do not grasp a thing about the rules of the game, and more importantly, we cannot tell the difference in the singing of the different birds competing for the trophy! Not a surprise, needless to say. We promise ourselves not to quit our current jobs to try and enter these singing-bird contests. The spectacle is rather poetic and amusing, even though the birds are locked into cages.

A little bit further down we find the fishing harbor where beautiful boats are anchored, waiting for their captains and their turn to go out fishing at sea. But the fishermen are on a break watching a football match on TV. There is a time for everything!

We find the usual lot of the tiny yet indispensable petrol stations, so typical of South-East Asia: whisky bottles filled with petrol and lined up on small shelves, in front of small stores. Set up right by the road, they provide a convenient service to the numerous scooters which stop by.

It is now time to get on board the boat which Pascal has reserved to take us across to the island of Koh Tan. The tide is low, but the crossing which takes about 45 minutes is somewhat wavy and agitated. Before reaching the mysterious island, the boats stops so we can jump into the water and do a little snorkeling. Nice multi-colored fishes, though this is nowhere as spectacular as the waters off the coast of Bali for example. But we are not complaining. The water is clear and refreshing, the swim is quite pleasant.

We reach our destination and set foot on Koh Tan, a small island which is 12 km long.

A wooden sign points to the one restaurant on the island, and to some bungalows which one can rent for the night. Next to it, we are amused to notice a poster which informs the visitor about the latest book by Charlee…actually Jean-Charles Courcot by his real name. This author came to Koh Tan some years ago, settled down here and became the 26^th inhabitant of the island. The character is a bit unusual. Very calm, he speaks slowly, and clearly has insulated himself from the stress of the developed society.

It is lunch time. We sit down at the restaurant and over a meal of delicious Thai dishes, Pascal tells us about the mysterious legend of Koh Tan. There is no dog on the island. Not a single one. The few dogs which were brought over to the island have disappeared. But why, do we ask. According to the legend, this unusual situation is due to a large community of huge bats, the ‘Roussettes’ of Malaysia, which emit ultra-sounds that are unbearable to dogs. It is rumored that there are about 20,000 of these creatures on the island. Their wing span is 160 cm wide, which is so scary to me. I still have the shivers just thinking about it. Legend has it that the island also houses the smallest bats in the world, and that somewhere on the island a magnificent treasure has been hidden for a very long time. Fortunately, we will not see any bat today as it is full daylight and we do not intend to wait until dark to find out whether the legend is true.

We decide to go for a walk inland and visit the mangrove.

On our way towards the mangrove, we encounter some of the inhabitants of the island: water buffalos, a wild pig, a huge spider the size of the fist. We enter the mangrove and make our way on a boardwalk made of wood boards a few feet above the swamp. We are surrounded by an almost perfect silence, only disturbed by the occasional sounds of air bubbles bursting. I enjoy nature and the sound of silence in deep nature, but nevertheless I feel a bit relieved as we make our way back to the sea front and its few houses.

A storm is coming.

The crossing back to Koh Samui is a lot less calm than this morning when we came here. We will arrive totally soaking wet, but happy about this visit to Koh Tan. With Pascal we get on our scooters and head back to Chaweng. On the way, we make a stop in a small village to take a look at a temple dedicated to the sea.

Thank you dearly, Pascal, for this great day of sightseeing and discovery!

Back at the hotel, our girls are waiting anxiously as we are about 2 hours late. Ooops. Sorry, girls. But they had a great day themselves, enjoying the beach and some newly-found friends at the hotel without parents supervision. So everything is fine and we will cap the day with a family diner where we will exchange on our adventures of the day. Then it is good night, and see you tomorrow.