If you look around and all you see are sea of tourists, you’re definitely in one.
They’ve got you with the promise of convenience and comfort: clear instructions in English with prices clearly stated, abundant information and (occasionally) time table, air-conditioned rides, menu with recognizable food names, English-speaking staff, directions in large bold letters and (again) English name of the place you are going to. There’s not much to figure out because most of the details have been taken care of. You just need to sort of follow along, see where the other tourist-looking folks are going. Easy.
There’s nothing wrong with easy. Easy is a fine choice when you want to switch off your brain. Easy was what I thought we wanted after spending two weeks at the monastery. Easy meant picking Ko Samui from a list of other islands we could go to in Thailand, because… Well, because there are abundant information on how to get there, where to go, what to do, and so on. “It won’t be so bad,” I assured myself. “It just means there’s more options for food, transportation, entertainment, night life!”
Except that I should have known better that easy is rarely the kind of experience that we enjoy. Easy often means you get the ersatz version of the experience: a diluted rendition of the original that has been “adapted” to make it as convenient and as unoffensive as possible to your palate; you might as well never leave home. Easy means you’re there with thousands other tourists looking for a unique local experience that is effortless, so you get a sterile mass reproduction of the real deal instead.
To me, that’s what Ko Samui felt like. An island that has been dolled up to serve tourists’ needs that it’s lost its character. Now it’s just another resorty island undifferentiated from other touristy islands.
From the moment we took the ferry to the island until we left the island, I feel like I was being shepherded along with other tourists to have the picture perfect beach vacation. They’d take us there in an air conditioned fast boat, transferred us to a van that would take us directly to the hotel and we would get the beach, bars, nightlife and and food that wouldn’t upset our stomachs. On our way to the hotel, I saw so many resorts and hotels and bars, with plenty of signs and directions in English – not Thai.
When we got to the hotel we walked around to find some food. But all we could see were Western restaurants serving hamburger and pasta and pizza. On the map we saw a night market by the hotel and thought, “Great! We’ll eat some real Thai food.” We walked over to find a food court with 8-10 overpriced seafood restaurants, all serving pretty much the same menu: grilled or stir-fried seafood. They just name the food court “night market” to lure tourists!
We later found out that the real night market is by the ferry terminal – a town that is described in the guidebook as:
“a frenetic half-built town that most travellers use only for stocking up with supplies en route to the beaches“
Doesn’t sound that appealing, does it? Well except that this is actually where the locals live, eat and hang out because they’ve been overpriced out of the east coast of the island where all the resorts are.
Oh well, live and learn I suppose.