Koh Samui 2015 Day 2 – Aquarium and Tiger Zoo and Bophut Fisherman’s Village

As sunlight peeked through the shades, I awoke at 640am to find cloudy skies, supposedly typical of off season weather. Went back to sleep.

A few more hours and we woke up and the day’s activities were quickly starting, first with feeding the baby. Then we proceeded for breakfast at the breakfast area situated just under our villa. There was a small buffet table but quite a selection of cooked food all for free. There were even fresh juice! We ate till we were very full and returned to the room.

Then it was off to the pool and after a light passing shower, it was a little cold for a dip. Baby K didn’t move for a while once he was in the water until he warmed up. Spent some time out in the pool until it was ready for food (had to bring him out to bath in the warm tub in the room and change him out to PJs but he didn’t sleep). Then he became really cranky, not wanting to sleep even though he looked tired. Tried to feed him some porridge and gave him Cartoon Network which calmed him down a bit but he puked after not being able to swallow some porridge. I guessed it must be some mouthful of water that made him felt unwell.

Afterwards when baby K was feeling better, we brought him out to the Aquarium and Tiger Zoo. The reception got us a taxi for 500baht which felt was very expensive. It was a 15mins short journey and baby K fell asleep in the common brown with yellow top taxi. Upon arriving, the driver asked when we would finish the visit and he would return so we told him 3pm. There weren’t many taxis around the area though.

The tickets for the visit was very expensive, 750baht per person. We paid and went to the sea lion show first which was at 130pm. The show lasted 30mins of which baby K only managed to watch the last 10mins. Immediately after the show was a photo session with one of the sea lion, for 100baht. The show was entertaining but not the best I have seen.

Next we proceeded to walk to the tiger and bird show which was at 230pm. Bought some banana Nutella and banana vanilla pancakes from a makeshift stall and ate at the eating area just outside the show entrance. Fed baby K porridge while we have our dessert-lunch. The show began soon after and there was quite a crowd comparatively. The bird show started mild with some parrots performing tricks then it was the tiger show and the leopard. Then it was back to the bird show with the toucan and the eagle. This was definitely more entertaining than the sea lion show and baby K loved the birds flying around.

Similarly, there was a photo opportunity but we didn’t go for it as there was quite a crowd waiting in line. We went to take photo with a tiger instead. Wanted one with the baby tiger but was advised against it by the trainer who said it was easier to control the bigger one, as we had a baby in tow. So we went for the bigger tiger for 600baht where the helper used our camera to take 5 shots consecutively.

We proceeded to walk through the aquarium (2 of them) and the zoo. The aquariums were a little run down and not as big as the ones we have in Singapore. There were some open top ones with sharks and rays which was interesting as one of the sharks actually splashed some water out when we were standing nearby.

The zoo was also small and we could see some toucan, monkeys and tigers and leopards. There were actually pretty close behind the fenced up areas which was kind of scary.

We left with the same driver who was already waiting for us outside even before we left for the zoo and aquarium. It was another 500baht back to the resort.

 

Back in the resort, I brought baby K to walk on the beach that was getting high tide waves crashing in while wife went for a Thai massage on the streets outside our resort. Walking northwards, there were quite a couple of resorts at the beach. The beach was not crowded, just a couple of people trying to jump into the waves taking photos. Baby K was soothed into a sleep by the sea breeze and sounds of the sea waves and after taking a few selfies with me, I brought him back to the room.

Fed baby K dinner before heading to Bophut Fisherman’s village, which was only opened on Friday nights. This time the taxi cost 700baht, which sounded more fair then the earlier one where we travelled to an attraction not too far from our resort. 30mins later, we were dropped off at the entrance of the walking street.

The initial street towards the main street was not too busy. Once we hit the Main Street that was parallel to the beach, we could see many people around. We had bought some food, since our purpose was mainly to have some dinner but instead of going to one of the many restaurants available there, we ate burgers and satays and drank fruit juices. Bought baby K a Tweety bird balloon that he liked for 50baht. There were some fire dancing show and some fireworks out in the distance, not bad.

After walking to the end of the street, there appeared to be a lot more food stalls but we were already full. We asked the personnel at the entrance (another entrance different from the one we entered) to this walking street for a taxi back and was quoted 600baht. I accepted without bargaining (which I should have tried) and a private vehicle picked us up instead. Not a bad deal.

Back at the room, some 30mins later, we fed baby K again. It was then cleaning up the baby and the milk bottles and our bathing time while one of us had to take care of him. He wasn’t getting much sleep in the day and so when we fed him milk again, he felt tired enough to fall asleep. Fell asleep rather quickly from the tiredness of travelling with a super active 1year old.