pakdoktergolfblog: July Celebrations....

1st July 2009

No, this is not about the July 4th Celebrations.....who cares about the Independence Day of the USA anyway.....

Every July 2nd, pakdokter celebrates his partner's birthday as well as our wedding anniversary which happens to fall on the same date. And we decided to sneak out to the southern Thai island of Koh Samui.

We can now fly to Koh Samui on FireFly, who tagged themselves as the 'Malaysian Community Airline' - whatever that means. They fly the brand new ATR aircraft which could accomodate 72 passengers and took off from the old airport at Subang which was quite a convenience for us, city-folks. Although the new Subang Skypark Terminal looks impressive, pakdokter cannot say the same about services at the food outlets. How could such a terrible operator run the kopitiam.

the orange-coloured Fire-Fly, 'the Malaysian Community Airline...'

The check-in was easy, there was no long queue and the flight had about 40 passengers. A bunch of international school students who were obviously very excited about their holidays irritated some of the senior passengers who were looking forward to a quiet holiday and one of them had to shout at the kids to not make too much noise.

Otherwise pakdokter must admit that it was a pleasant and smooth flight and the two hour journey at a lower altitude ( of about 18,000 feet above sea level) gave the opportunity to have a great aerial view of the Malaysian peninsula and the Koh Samui island as we made the approach.

the coast-lines of Koh Samui.....

The Koh Samui airport was another plesant surprise. Pakdokter felt like we were landing onto the 'Fantasy Island'. The airport, owned and run, by the 'Bangkok Airways' whose tagline is ' the Boutique Airline' - was built to look more like a 'resort' than an airport. The terminal buildings are of wooden structures standing on timber poles with thatched-roofs in between swaying coconut palms. We were fetched from the aircraft and ferried to the terminal on trams which made you feel like you were on a disney-park ride.

And at the waiting lounge there is a 'courtesy counter' which serves you free cold or hot drinks and cookies. Well.....pakdokter must agree that this fits pakdokter's idea of a 'boutique airport/airline..."

the 'Boutique Airline plane of Bangkok Airways' taxiing into Koh Samui..

being ferried on a tram to the arrival 'cabana'....

'courtesy counter' where free drinks and cookies for you to take as you wait..

waiting for our 'free' transfer..

the rows of duty-free shops and restaurants line a wide boulevard as you drive in or out of the airport.....it feels like you are at one of the massive factory outlets mall in Nevada...

At the airport pakdokter was cornered by Nadia, a pretty Thai girl, who was a marketing agent for the Marriot Vacation Club. She was so determined to sell to pakdokter her vacation package promising free vouchers for a game of golf at the Royal Samui or a spa-package, should pakdokter and partner agree to attend a 'presentation' at her marketing office in downtown Koh Samui on Saturday. On top of this, she also offerred a free transfer to our hotel!....Pakdokter thought 'what the heck!...no harm in listening to 90 minutes of a sales talk...after all pakdokter can sit for hours in a day to listen to all sorts of things...'

So off we went on their 'free transfer' in a Ssangyong SUV to our hotel, the Mercure Samui Buri, in Maenam beach, which was a 30-minute drive from the airport. Pakdokter was quite reliefed to be at the hotel at last.....