Samui Island Ko Samui or Koh Samui (เกาะสมุย)

Samui Island, Ko Samui or Koh Samui,( เกาะสมุย) is an island off the east coast of the Kra Isthmus in Thailand, close to the mainland Surat Thani town(เมืองสุราษฏร์ธานี). It is Thailand's third largest island, with an area about 228.7 km².
Samui was an isolated self-sufficient community, having little connection with the mainland of Thailand. The island was even without roads until the early 1970s, and the 15km journey from one side of the island to the other involved a whole-day trek through the mountainous central jungles.
Today, Samui has a population of about forty-five thousand, and lives on a successful tourist industry, as well as exports of coconut and rubber. It even has its own international airport, Samui Airport, with flights daily to Bangkok and other major airports in Southeast Asia.

Koh Tao(เกาะเต่า)
Koh Samui Geography
Samui is located in the Gulf of Thailand, about 35km northeast of Surat Thani town. It is surrounded by about sixty other islands, most of which comprise the Ang Thong National Marine Park, but also include other tourist destinations Ko Pha Ngan(เกาะพะงัน), Ko Tao(เกาะเต่า) and Ko Nang Yuan (เกาะนางยวน).

The island is roughly circular in shape, and is about 15km across. The central part of the island is an (almost) uninhabitable mountain jungle and the various lowland areas are connected together by a single road, that covers the circumference of the island.
The old capital is Nathon, on the southwest coast of the island, and remains the major port for fishing and inter-island transportation. Nathon is the seat of the regional government, and the true commercial hub of the Samui locals. It has a charming pace, and is almost small enough to walk everywhere. The old Chinese shop houses along the middle street wisper of an exotic history.Each of Samui's primary beaches is now also nominally considered a town, due to the number of hotels, restaurants and bars that have sprung up in recent years.

Tourist attractions

Big Buddha is a twelve-metre high statue of the Buddha, which lies at the top of ceremonial dragon-steps at the Wat Phra Yai. Samui also has a number of other impressive temples, including Wat Khunaram, where the mummified body of Loung Pordaeng, a monk who died in a meditating position is on display.

The Grandmother and Grandfather rocks on the south end of Lamai beach are an occasional source of amusement for tourists due to their striking similarity to a vagina and penis.
The mountain jungle in the interior of the island is an excellent day out, and is home to a number of impressive gardens built by legendary Samuian farmer Nim Thongsuk, the impressive waterfalls at Na Muang(น้ำตกนาเมือง), real working rubber plantations and the most amazing views over the Ang Thong archipelago. The roads in the jungle are an adventure in themselves, and tourists normally take a tour with an experienced local Samui driver/guide.

Muay Thai boxing(มวยไทย) takes place regularly at the island's stadiums in Chaweng and Lamai.
Numerous animal attractions are dotted around the island, including a crocodile farm, monkey theatre, elephant trekking, a snake farm, an aquarium and a butterfly garden.
Most visitors to the island take a day trip out to the beautiful Ang Thong National Marine Park(อุธยานแห่งชาติ หมู่เกาะอ่างทอง) at least once on their stay in Samui. Boats leave Na Thon several times a day. Ko Pha Ngan has a full-moon party at the appropriate time each lunar month, and tourists in Samui often hop a slow ferry or speedboat to the nearby island to join in the dusk to dawn high energy dancing and drinking marathon.

Ang Thong National Marine Park(อุธยานแห่งชาติ หมู่เกาะอ่างทอง)