Fisherman's Village

I’ve been in my place now for almost 2 weeks and am loving it!  I’ve been trying not to use the air conditioning since I have to pay for electricity and the owner suggested that I just “learn to live with the heat”.  It’s been going pretty well so far. There are ceiling fans in all the rooms but still sleeping at night is hard especially since the overnight temperature is in the upper 80’s! 

This town I live in, Fisherman’s Village, is exactly what I was looking for.  There are 2 streets and one of them runs along the ocean.  Along this street there are upscale boutiques and gourmet restaurants with seating on the beach.  With my budget I will never set foot in one of these places but I still enjoy looking at them.  The actual town consists of wooden and original Chinese shop houses which were build by Chinese immigrants who flocked to Samui in the previous century.  The whole place has a really laid back and friendly feel to it.  There are a lot of expatriates here from the UK and France and most of them own the restaurants, hotels, and boutiques.

Every Friday from 5-10pm they shut down the 2 streets to cars and scooters and have “Friday Walking Street”.  Around 6pm the streets are full with people, both Thai and foreign, but the majority are Thai from other areas in Koh Samui.  There are lots of street vendors selling all kinds of interesting thai foods (grilled meats, quail eggs, ceviche, thai curry and noodle dishes, grilled corn on the cob, coconut ice cream just to name a few).  There is also live entertainment like Thai dancers. 

So what do I do with my time…

Those of you who know me well will not be surprised to hear that I have joined a gym.  I actually splurged and am paying more per month than I was paying in the US and for a lot less gym.  The gym is a tiny little room (the owner lives upstairs with his entire family) with NO air conditioning.  There are 2 treadmills, 2 bikes, and a rowing machine along with a few dumbbells, and several pieces of weight lifting equipment.  There are also 2 saunas.  I’m baffled at who would want to use a sauna when it is like a sauna outside every day.

Another favorite pastime of mine is visiting the market.  I pretty much go every day and here you can get Thai dishes really cheap (under $1).  Plus there is air-conditioning which makes for a nice break from the heat. Walking around the market is a very interesting experience.  They have so many different kinds of meat for sale.  I have seen frog meat and wild boar just to name a few.