Conrad Koh Samui on the cheap

[froggerADL]

I am writing this from the balcony/patio of our villa at Conrad Koh Samui. It is a little after 6am and the Sun is rising. I'm wearing my Qantas J pyjamas and the weather is perfect. My partner is fast asleep which is why I am allowed to be out here doing this! I decided to write this trip report as this is a trip of a lifetime for me and I want to document it. I also figure I owe the AFF community one as I love reading the TRs and we couldn't have done this trip without the collective wisdom of the AFF and FT communities.

I booked Qantas flights ADL-SIN via SYD and SIN-ADL via MEL on Expedia.ie for $502. SIN-USM-SIN on Silk Air was booked on singaporeair.com for ~$400.

Six nights in a one bedroom villa at Conrad Koh Samui was had for 225,000 Hilton HHonors points

 

[froggerADL]

Friday 23 August 2013. By an incredible stroke of luck today was the day that medhead, PrincessK, Jessica Tam, SFSC and Joshua were flying to SIN on QF5 for the SIN lounge crawl 24 Aug. I had booked that same flight in March. More about that later.

I was booked on QF730 ADL-SYD which departs at 6am. I had actually booked the 7am flight, timed to give me 3 hours in the First Lounge in SYD, but Qantas cancelled that and put me on the 6am flight which meant I now had to endure 4 hours in the lounge before my flight to SIN. I do love Qantas!

Medhead was also on the flight, we were both in row 4, but we didn't meet up until we were in the First Lounge. I declined breakfast for obvious reasons. Arrived on time at gate 1. This is my favorite gate at SYD when I have an international connection as the transfer lounge is directly opposite. Well it used to be! The transfer lounge has been moved to gate 15, at the opposite end of the terminal. Such is life.

After a five minute wait the bus arrived to take us to the international terminal. I don't think we went over about 15 kmh for the whole journey. Getting through security etc. was fairly quick with the express path pass. Another couple of minutes and I was in the First Lounge.

As I mentioned earlier, I was one of six AFFers on QF5 today, and we were meeting in the First Lounge. A table for six was arranged and breakfast was ordered. There were three different champagnes on offer, I think most of us tried them all. We then went to one of the private rooms where we continued to eat and drink. Roger was great and he seemed happy to provide us with a private butler service.

Our flight was called. PrincessK was convinced that I would be upgraded at the gate leaving her as the only one in Y. I said I doubt it as it hadn't happened to me before. Fortunately for me, PrincessK was right . She did however spend most of the flight up the front with the rest of us.

The food was excellent, I had the lamb cassoulet, as was the service. After dinner I was invited by the CSM to join my friends up the front, as was PrincessK. It was an unrefurbished 747 which meant it had the old First Class seating up the front, and four of those sets were already taken by AFFers, but it was soon six. A very enjoyable flight, and I apologies to the passenger in 2K for being so loud.

We landed on time. I actually think I have the opposite effect to JohnK when it comes to on-time performance. If I'm on the plane it is usually on time.

 

[froggerADL]

I stayed at the transit hotel in terminal one from 11pm until 5am on 25 August. Six hours, the minimum, cost SGD47 for a basic room. It was comfortable and I slept we'll. I got up at 4:30am, had a shower and headed over to terminal two to meet my partner and get the Silk Air flight to Koh Samui (USM). I checked in at the Silk Air transfer desk. I was asked where I had come from and if I had any checked luggage (I didn't). My boarding pass was issued. Yay! I wish it was that simple with Jetstar. They always make me go landside to check-in.

My partner arrived on time. We went to the duty free shop and bought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of Jack Daniels. This is very important when doing Conrad Koh Samui on the cheap. The 2 litres of booze cost less than AUD60, that would haven got us about 180mls at the Conrad.

Our Silk Air flight to USM boarded and departed on time. The aircraft was an Airbus 319. There were 8 J seats, we were in Y. Hot breakfast was served! I haven't had that in Y for a very long time. We were both very impressed with Silk Air. We arrived at Koh Samui on time at 9am. Immigration took about 30 minutes.

Following advice on FT we arranged for Mr. Samui to drive us to the Conrad. Return transfer cost is 2200 baht which is about the same as a taxi and about one third of the price of a Conrad transfer. We stopped twice on the way to the hotel, once so I could get some Thai baht (I got 28.18 baht to the A$) and then at Tesco so we could stock up on supplies (mostly beer and mixers). We arrived at the Conrad at about 10:30am.

 

[markis10]

I stayed at the transit hotel in terminal one from 11pm until 5am on 25 August. Six hours, the minimum, cost SGD47 for a basic room. It was comfortable and I slept we'll. I got up at 4:30am, had a shower and headed over to terminal two to meet my partner and get the Silk Air flight to Koh Samui (USM). I checked in at the Silk Air transfer desk. I was asked where I had come from and if I had any checked luggage (I didn't). My boarding pass was issued. Yay! I wish it was that simple with Jetstar. They always make me go landside to check-in.

3K are happy to issue boarding passes at the transfer desk near C1 in Singapore (directly underneath the EK lounge), never had to go landside.

 

[froggerADL]

3K are happy to issue boarding passes at the transfer desk near C1 in Singapore (directly underneath the EK lounge), never had to go landside.

Last time I arrived at SIN on Air Asia and was transferring to a JQ flight to DRW I was refused and told I had to check-in landside. I went to the Qantas lounge when it opened and a very helpful person there was surprised that I couldn't get a boarding pass and rang the transfer desk to sort it out for me. He apologized and I went landside!

So maybe 3K do it but JQ don't. Or maybe it's just me.

 

[froggerADL]

We were about 4.5 hours early for check-in. We weren't worried if our room wasn't ready as we would be quite happy to sit by the pool until 3pm. We were told that it would be ready at 12:30 and we were welcome to wait at the pool.

The Conrad is built on a very steep hill so the only way to get about is to be driven in a golf buggy. We were driven down to the pool and shown around. We made ourselves comfortable on a king size bed. Fruit juice arrived followed by constant water top-ups. A very enjoyable way to wait for our room.

At 12:45 we were picked up and taken to our room. We have our own ten metre infinity pool and a magnificent view of the five islands.

I am a Diamond Hilton HHonors member and that gets some valuable benefits at this property. We were given a one bedroom retreat villa on level three, which are the best available. We also get complementary full buffet breakfast each day. We were given four complimentary drink vouchers which include coughtails. The Five Island Iced Tea coughtail, with five shots of spirits I think, is very nice and at A$20 each is a good use of the vouchers.

We shared a Thai pizza by the resort pool for dinner which was very nice and cost about A$18.

The rest of the day was spent drinking by our own pool and watching the sunset.

 

[froggerADL]

Sunday 25 August. I woke up at 6am just as the sun was beginning to rise. The temperature is beautiful at this time of the day. I sat by our pool and began this trip report.

At 8am we went down to breakfast at Zest restaurant. Zest is not far from our villa but it is down a fairly steep hill. We walked there and back. It is one of the nicest buffet breakfasts I've had with a la carte items brought to the table. They do a very nice English Breakfast and Mandarine juice.

The beach at the Conrad is quite rocky so they do complimentary trips to an island by speedboat three times a day. We booked to depart at 2pm and return at 4:45pm. Just as we arrived at the boat a storm was brewing. There was one other couple with us. We were told it may rain for fifteen or twenty minutes and were asked if we still wanted to go. We all said yes. It was a nice ride over to the island but the storm hit as soon as we arrived. We sheltered in a hut for about twenty minutes until the storm passed. Another storm was approaching so we were told that we had to return. We had a very rough ride on the return journey but we made it alive.

After a couple of hours drinking by our pool we headed out for dinner. We went to the Green Talay which is rated number one or two on tripadvisor for Koh Samui. It is a Thai restaurant just a ten minute drive from the Conrad. We used the resort car service which cost 500 baht (A$18) for the return trip. We started with sun dried beef followed by fried fish with tamarind sauce and rice. The food was very nice. One of the reasons this restaurant is rated so highly on tripadvisor is due to the American owner Dave, who was obviously having a night off, which was a shame. Total cost for the food plus five Tiger beers and 500 mls of white wine and tip was 1700 baht (A$60).

We arrived back at our villa at about 9pm to find that we had no power and the phone didn't work either so we couldn't do anything about it until the morning. So we spent the evening having a few drinks by the pool watching the amazing stars. And then we went to bed. Such is life!

 

[froggerADL]

Monday 26 August. Went for breakfast at about 9am this morning. Very nice again. The concierge desk is next to Zest so I popped in there before breakfast to let them know that we had no power or phone. They apologised and said they would fix it while we were at breakfast. They did. At 12:30 a bottle of chilled red wine was delivered and we received a phone call to say that the wine was to apologise for the power outage. I thought that was very nice. We have just finished the wine.

We went to Azure for dinner tonight. This is the bar/cafe by the resort pool. I had a Five Island Iced Tea (which I have just found out is the same as a Long Island Iced Tea but with a view of the five islands) with the last of the complimentary drink vouchers. We shared a Thai pizza again. My partner had a couple of paid drinks so the bill was about 1250 baht (A$45). As you can see, she is not into the "doing it cheap" thing like me!

We are now back at our pool watching another sunset and drinking the cheap alcohol. I am happy again. Thanks to Amaroo (see post below) I've taken some photo's which I will post as soon as I work out how to do it.

 

[amaroo]

Enjoying the TR. Haven't been to Koh Samui since 2005.....the change since then must be massive.

Any chance of some photos?

 

[froggerADL]

Tuesday 27 August. Had a strawberry smoothie at breakfast this morning which was excellent. I had the English Breakfast for the 3rd day straight but I also have a different type of Sushi every morning just to mix it up a bit!

We got the complimentary boat to the island again today. No storms so all was good. Nice enough but if I had to pay for it I wouldn't be happy. The boat ride there and back is the best part of it. When we got back to shore we had to wait for 5 minutes for the bus to take us back to the Conrad so we shared a small Leo beer at the bar on the beach. That cost 80 baht (A$3). Leo is a very nice beer and I bought 12 large bottles at Tesco on the way here for 40 baht a bottle. That is really doing it on the cheap .

As per amaroo's request I have attached some photos, I am learning all the time. I hope all future attempts will be the right way up!

 

[PrincessK]

Are you sure the bath is big enough?! Loving the trip report, look forward to the next instalment!

 

[froggerADL]

Here is my second attempt at posting photos.

 

[froggerADL]

Are you sure the bath is big enough?! Loving the trip report, look forward to the next instalment!

Yes, and here it is again! And notice the TV on the wall. That really adds to the romance.

 

[froggerADL]

OK, still on 27 August. We went back to the Green Talay for dinner. We went for a walk along the beach to work up an appetite and to give me a chance to practice being romantic. The beach is directly opposite the restaurant but across the road.

We really enjoyed the sun dried beef last time so we had the sun dried pork this time. It too was delicious. For the next course we had the BBQ Tiger Prawns. These were amazing! Two massive prawns, so one each, cooked to perfection. My partner chose the next course, stir fried beef with red curry and rice. Another excellent dish. The whole meal, including a bottle of Chilean Sav Blanc and tip was 2400 baht (A$86). The wine was about half of the cost! Did I mention that my partner is not really into the "doing it on the cheap" thing . Fortunately she is into paying for her share.

The return ride to the restaurant was 500 baht (A$18) so A$108 all up but the bottle of wine would have cost that at the Conrad.

 

[froggerADL]

Sunset tonight:

 

[froggerADL]

Wednesday 28 August. I chose the Egg Benedict this morning. The menu called it EggS Benedict but there was only one egg, so I've renamed it . It was so good that I will be having the English Breakfast tomorrow!

We booked Mr. Samui for six hour tour of the island today. Total cost was 2500 baht (A$90) We got Mrs. Samui which was fine as she is much more attractive than her husband! But seriously, they are both lovely people and I would highly reccomend them. We did a complete lap of the island with the highlights including Waterfall number one (there are two waterfalls on the island, guess what the other one is called), a monkey show where you watch a monkey climb up a coconut palm and remove four coconuts, and then you get to take a photo with a baby monkey sitting on your arm. That was all for a tip and we gave 100 baht which he seemed very happy with. Next stop was Lamai beach, then Chaweng. We went to a temple, saw a fat Buddah and also a mummified Monk (that was both interesting and weird).

We had lunch at Fisherman's Villiage. That was nothing to write home about but that was mainly our fault for drinking so much the previous night. Total cost for lunch was 660 baht (A$23) including tip. We then had a look around Nathon which is the Capitol of Koh Samui and is also the ferry terminal for mainland trips to Surat Thani.

We stopped at a Seven Eleven to grab four 630mls Leo beers. Total cost 192 baht (A$7) to keep us going until check-out. Next stop was the Conrad for the sunset above. No dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch will do. I'm trying to convince my partner (let's call her M from now on as she works for a spy agency!) to go back to Green Talay for our last night tomorrow.

 

[froggerADL]

Here are some more photos:

 

[froggerADL]

Today will be the last full day at Conrad Koh Samui. We will e checking out quite early. We have been offered the complimentary breakfast box which we have accepted.
We had a very cheap day today, the only spend was 200 baht for an in-room movie.

 

[amaroo]

Nice digs.

 

[froggerADL]

August 29th, 2013. This was our last full day at the Conrad Koh Samui. We decided to have a very relaxing day by our pool. They have a games box in the room so we played 4 games of Scrabble. Final score was 2 all.

We had great weather for the whole 6 days, except for the couple of hours when a storm hit while we were on our island speed boat trip.

Tomorrow we go home.