We know the sound of being stuck on a tropical island doesn’t sound too horrible, however, the flooding in South Thailand caused many hardships and killed many people. Being a tourist in a region that’s declared a disaster area can be an extremely difficult place for tourists since they rely on hotels, restaurants, and stores for their necessities. The electricity on Koh Samui was out for several days, restaurants and shops were closed, and roads & hotel rooms were flooded. A man was electrocuted outside of a 7-eleven when a power-line fell in the water he was standing in. It proved to be too dangerous for us to leave our hotel. In addition, a family of 7 Thai’s died when their home was washed away in a mudslide were just some of the many negative events happening on Koh Samui. No boats could get to the island and we started to fear that water & food could be running out soon. The weather forecast was predicting another bad rainstorm was coming which could last another 4-5 days.
After raining continuously for 3-4 days, the rain finally stopped on Tuesday night. This gave us some hope that we might actually make our Wednesday morning flight off the island. As we were leaving our hotel the next morning for our 10am flight, it started to rain again. It wasn’t a heavy downpour like the past couple days but the rain dampened our spirits. Knowing our flight could be cancelled we asked the hotel to not book our room to anyone else before 2pm in case our flight was cancelled. A lady agreed and even took our credit card number to reserve the room. When we arrived at the airport, it was packed to the gills. People were everywhere; people were sitting on their luggage, sleeping on the floors, standing in lines that wrapped around the entire airport. The beautiful Koh Samui airport was littered with garbage; papers & cardboard on the floor, plastic bottles and empty cups. No flights left the island on Tuesday and only three flights left on Monday so the airport was full of people who showed up to be put on standby by Wednesday. The standby list was over 500 people long.
After much confusion at the airport, we figured out we had to wait around until they announced our flight was arriving before we could check in. The 6am and 7:30am flights to Bangkok left the island around 11am so we were hopeful our flight would eventually come in. Late that morning, we heard an announcement that a military ferryboat was going take 200 people off the island. As the day progressed the rain increased and a few more flights came and went. People in the airport would cheer every time a plane landed and took off.
Finally, in the early afternoon our flight became the next flight to Bangkok on the departure schedule. Next came some bad news. The military ferryboat was cancelled due to the 4 meter waves. Flights scheduled to depart after our flight were being called and we found out our flight was delayed until 4pm and may leave around 6pm. (with a cancellation still possible) Fearing a cancellation, we called our hotel to confirm our rooms for the night and learned that the hotel gave away our rooms to someone else. The only hotels left were extremely expensive.
As the day progressed, the airport got more and more crowded. Frustration levels increased and patience dwindled. We witnessed people yelling at airline employees, people crying, people pushing, and even heard about a couple fights. Around 3pm we heard good news that our flight 271 was in the air and heading towards the island. When they called our flight, Russ ran to the front of the line and Lee-Anne, Scott, and Renee follow-up with the luggage. We had missed our connection flight to Chiang Mai and in the chaos the airlines didn’t have the tools or time to find a new connecting flight for us. We happily collected our tickets to Bangkok and knew we’d have to figure out how to get to Chiang Mai once we were there.
Our flight took off and landed without a problem. Fortunately there was a 9pm flight to Chiang Mai that got us to our destination, the Tao Gardens Health Spa, just before midnight. Boy, were we exhausted and relieved!
Despite our horrible situation, we were actually extremely lucky things weren’t worse for us. The thing we were most thankful for was not being stuck on the small island of Koh Tao without an airport, minimal accommodation that was mostly budget and therefore flooded. All the ferries on and off the island were cancelled for 4 days (we took the last ferry off the island) and a military warship finally picked up hundreds of stranded tourists on Thursday. Since our Monday morning flight off the island was one of the first flights cancelled, we were able to book a room at Bhundhari, a luxury resort that was on high ground and near the airport.
On our first night at Bhundhari, both couples decided to stay dry by staying in their room and ordering room service. Awh…nothing like delicious food and a bottle of red wine while we watch a movie on our laptop. The next day we stayed at our resort; enjoyed several buffets, played some pool, hung out at the bar, and played a game of San Juan. We knew things in the resort were getting bad at dinner when we ordered a bottle of red wine and they could only sell us a glass of Rose wine. So...yes we didn’t have it too rough – however - that doesn’t mean we didn’t appreciate seeing a sunny sky with no clouds on our first morning at the Tao Gardens!
Sadly, our stay at Tao Gardens was reduced to only 2 days. The quiet, pristine environment of the health spa was the perfect environment for us to relax, unwind, and enjoy the last of our trip. We started the day early with Tai Chi then signed up for our series of spa treatments. Since we only had two days there we filled our days with treatments and massages. We were actually a bit overwhelmed by our busy schedule and found ourselves wiped out and depleted at the end of the day. Lee-Anne was actually sick to her stomach after a particularly detoxifying massage.
On Friday night (our last evening before our 3 flights home) we took a shuttle to Chaing Mai’s night bazaar. Renee, Lee-Anne, and Russ spent several hours meandering through the endless stalls of goods. After a while it seemed like there were dozens of stalls that sold the same things. (Same Same but different)
Now we’re in Hong Kong on a layover and we’re not looking forward to our long flight across the pacific. This trip has been filled with extreme ups and downs - it tested our fortitudes; provided moments of relaxation in tropical paradise; allowed us to discover new underwater worlds; and much more. Another hardship for Russ during the trip was finding out he lost his great Aunt Clara and knowing he’d be unable to attend her funeral in North Dakota and took some time to mourn her passing. It’s amazing how traveling can remove oneself from their normal life.
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