As I had told you above, two friendly Bulgarian families had occupied Samui for a month and were enjoying their time there. When we landed in Samui after an hour's flight on Bangkok Airways, the men in our party were waiting for us at the airport to take us in their rental car to the "Lamai Bayview Resort" which was about 40 minutes from the airport. We picked up our suitcases and started looking around for our people. It wasn't long before we saw the two of them, having acquired a great tan in the two weeks they were there before us and with a sign that read "For Two Lovers". It was a very sweet welcome that touched us and our time in Samui began in true romantic style. We were already travelling in our friends' car and casting curious glances out the window. The initial information of the place one visits is always accompanied with unprecedented curiosity. Although it was dark and getting late, the movement and emotion on the faces of locals and tourists alike looked promising. We approached the turn off for the compound with our thatched cottages in Lamay. Our initial impressions as we turned were that we were entering a dirt country road where the car tires, besides leaving tracks, were leaving incredible dust. 500 meters further in, after two small other turns, we were now in front of the reception. As we filled in our paperwork, burning with curiosity, we rushed over to our assigned cottage to see its location. "The Lamai Bayview Resort had 26 private cottages built on a 6,000 square foot area with a private beach. Our cottage happened to be on the beachfront, last one on the left, looking across the complex from the reception towards the sea. We were surrounded by 3 metre high vegetation of banana trees, which looked a bit intimidating if you think about what was going on in that vegetation. I'll interject here that snakes are the most unpleasant animals I can think of and I feel an unprecedented sense of fear even just when someone mentions them, let alone seeing them in person. Anyway. We filled out the paperwork, our friends helped us get settled and left. There was a new fun part for us. We walked into our new home, dropped off our suitcases, and the home inspection began, which when I tell you about, be sure to stay somewhere so you don't fall over laughing. The front desk gave us a flashlight because the lights in the cottages were dimmed so we could get a feel for our surroundings for starters. I remember taking that flashlight in my hand and literally measuring that cottage multiple times with it, looking...for snakes. Yes! My phobia for these creatures is indescribably great. After a meticulous inspection, we calmed down and adjusted for sleep, which was not easy at all after such an emotional check of all possible holes, under the mattress of the bed, in the closet, on the terrace, around the house, in the bathroom rosette, in the toilet bowl. There might not be anything, but the very feeling that there probably was was terrifying. I forgot to tell you that my wife's profession is pharmacist, and a quarter of our suitcases were taken up with heavy artillery against mosquitoes and hacks for all manner of ills. As she always shared "To have to help in times of need and random people around us". Mosquitoes are inevitable on an island, so the idea of having lots of options to counteract them wasn't a bad one at all. From patches for the wall in the house, body sprays, an ultrasonic device, to arm and leg bracelets. We also had gels to dab on if and when a mosquito already managed to break through that shield of ours. Back to our first impressions of the house and sleep time. Just in case, we got up to close our suitcases, lest some reptiles get in there and give us an unpleasant surprise when we picked up a new piece of clothing. And the mini lizards, which I called crocodiles, crawled all around the houses. No matter what we thought, fatigue prevailed and we made an attempt to fall asleep, accompanied by much spinning and nightmares. The bed was stuck to the wall and I was on the outside, which in turn meant terrible discomfort for my mate, who felt like she was in a prison, and in our worst thoughts...in a terrarium. Okay dear, we came alive after the first night, got up and looked at what was happening on the terrace of the little house. It was a fascinating sight - sunny weather, a gentle breeze, white sands under our windows, green sea waters, an open air massage studio with Thai women around it, a small pool under the restaurant, which in turn had tables set up with a great view from up high of all this wonder. We were in heaven. Although our midnight thoughts had us casting an eye frequently to the tall vegetation next to our little house, which had taken us over emphatically on one side. As I told you above, we were the last house, but we were on the waterfront. We took a quick shower and headed to our awaiting breakfast buffet. Following the momentum from Bangkok, we continued on to fried and boiled eggs, baked bacon and lots of fruit. We also took our pick of the beautiful view from up there in the restaurant and literally flew to the beach. You can't imagine how much we enjoyed the fact that the private beach for the resort was divided into two parts, a small and a large one. The small one was right below our cottage, like it was just for us. Or so we wished and imagined. There were exactly 4 lounge chairs in the area, and we were also the first ones on the beach. A unique idyll. The sun burned us with its intensity and very soon we were in the water. As it turned out, just like at Patong beach, here the same could go for a long time into the sea, and the water was below our knees. Here the distance was even longer, probably over 200 meters. However, there was one huge additional problem. In 2016 there was a warning about small and deadly Irokanji jellyfish, which didn't allow us to relax as it should and we were looking around at every moment, and this took away a lot of the pleasant feeling. After a couple of hours on the beach, which was accompanied by a veritable beer cannonade and a variety of nuts, at some point we got bored, got dressed and went for an exploratory walk in the area. I'm going to open a parenthesis here somewhere and point out that when it comes to alcohol, just imagine me, as my wife showed no interest whatsoever, but chat pat sipped a dram for company. By early afternoon we were on foot along the dirt road leading to the main street that circled Lamai Beach and connected to central Chaweng Beach. We were happy to find that there was a small "Family Mart" store available right next to the T-intersection formed between the aforementioned streets. We quizzed the store employees about transportation logistics so we would know later how to get to downtown Lamai or that of Chaweng. I told you that Thai English is a nightmare, but with a smile and a little more improvisation, we managed to get along just fine, even becoming friends. We clarified these issues and took a basket to stock up for the home fridge. I'll try to recall what our purchases contained, which were usually the same - mineral water, kegs of beer, lots of nuts and chips with different flavors of seaweed, roots and vegetables. We couldn't miss the fruit and whisky and coke. I used to buy the local Hong Tong because it brought an extra local atmosphere. Wherever one travels, it is always nice to test as much as possible of all the local brands, immersing oneself in the traditions of the country and locality one has visited. We took our bags of market to the lodge, stocked the fridge and somehow felt reassured that we had satisfied all our initial questions and desires. It was time for a short break on the terrace. At this point I thought something and shared it with my wife "We are in heaven during the day, hell at night". For a long time we could not stop laughing at the said remark. To keep up the tone of the conversation, my thoughts continued with a short story that I had heard that snakes fall asleep in trees and when they dream and lose their balance and fall where they happen to be. More laughter broke out, and in the meantime a few kegs of Singha Light beer went down. In all the mess of talk and laughter, despite the not-so-good quality Wi-Fi, we contacted our friends to meet up in the central part of the island, in the Chaweng area, and have dinner somewhere. After another hour or two of beach time, we were ready for our first relaxing night, sans suitcases and transfers. Remembering the instructions of the locals, we stopped one of their shuttles on the main road and for 5 euros per person, set off to our friends. They, in turn, were staying in Boput, but having a rent-a-car and daring to drive with the right steering wheel, it wasn't difficult for them to turn up at any point on Samui. At the appointed hour we all gathered and got a nice surprise. They had made a reservation at the same restaurant chain I love from Patong, namely "Wine Connection". Yes, you're probably wondering that we opted for European food and Mediterranean cuisine the very first night, but I had told my friends so much about the restaurant that they had already visited it many times before our arrival, and it was no coincidence that they had booked seats for dinner right there. I still can't forget about those incredibly delicious ravioli accompanied by New Zealand wine. After dinner, we were taken on an educational tour of all the goings on in the streets of Chaweng. We were left with very pleasant impressions. When the mainstream tourist has come to the island for the sole purpose of having fun, we couldn't help but share the positive vibe of everyone around us. After a nice walk, we headed to the tourist offices to waste no time and plan our first excursion, which we would all go on together. We unanimously decided that our first starting point would be Ang Thong National Marine Park.