Sawasdee ka! Any guesses for which place greets you like this in a friendly, sing-song way? This is heard and said innumerable times a day, followed by a humble bow, in Thailand, the Land of Smiles. I visited Koh Samui, which is a natural, charming island in Thailand, last October with my family.

Our hotel room opened straight onto a shimmering pristine white sand beach beach, followed by turquoise blue and emerald green warm waters that lazily approached the shore with the languid humid ocean breeze. The innumerable palm trees, laden with coconuts, swayed lethargically. Strange rock formations rose from different parts of the horizon, breaking the serene straight line where the sky seemed to fade into the endless water. The occasional paraglider caught the attention of the scattered people oh the beach. There are young children playing contentedly with buckets and spades and then there are lovers, holding hands, strolling by the shoreline. The gentle rhythm of the waves washing on the shore seems to relax everyone.

Genial vendors dotted the beach with various vibrant Thai souvenirs, you could say. There were colourful sarongs, different kinds of hats, a kaleidoscope of beaded jewellery, shirts with floral prints of the local frangipani flower, keychains made of seashells - everything one would expect to find being sold on a beach. There were the most tempting succulent fruits being sold in the shade of the leafy trees - papayas, guavas, melons and the most delicious mango-steins. The fruits in Koh Samui seemed to taste like different fruits altogether. A lesson I learned on my very first day in Koh Samui was that negotiation was the mantra. Everything was negotiable. From fruits to massages and bags to shoes! We managed to get things at less than half the price quoted!

Thailand is known for it’s massages, and very well so. The Thai massages transport one to a different zone altogether. The masseurs have nimble fingers that ease out every knot in every muscle. You emerge reborn! And with a currency exchange rate that doesn’t knock the breath out of your lungs, I indulged in either a typical Thai massage, or at least a foot massage, every day. I was really overwhelmed at the generosity of the masseurs and vendors in Koh Samui. Almost always they would give me a parting gift. Usually it would be a ripe banana but nonetheless, it was heartwarming. After having received my 5thcurious to know if this was a tradition. On enquiring, I understood that the people in Thailand believe in the goodness of bananas and just as a gesture of goodwill to foreigners, they often gift it to them.

I over-indulged in all the exotic foods in Koh Samui, almost to the point of being embarrassed! I just couldn’t stop eating. From street food, like satays dipped in a bewildering mix of spicy and sweet sauces, to the exquisite food in restaurants, the food was unbelievably good. The red Thai curry and the pad thai noodles were my favourite. We sampled many different versions of various Thai dishes. A restaurant called “Poppies” served a salad of winged beans! A vegetable that I had never heard of or seen, it tasted incredible.

The first thing that pops into most people’s minds when they hear Thailand is shopping. Living up to the cliché, we most definitely shopped till we dropped. Street shopping in Koh Samui was potent cocktail of pleasure and pain. Weaving through tiny alleys filled with eager tourists wasn’t an easy feat, but finding excellent stuff for great deals proved to be worth the tiresome travel. We bought some really nice clothes, bags and shoes at very affordable prices (that become even more affordable after a couple of minutes of bargaining). My sister and I loved every second thing, it was very difficult for us to make choices while shopping.

As our luck would have it, we were in Koh Samui at the exact same time that the Full Moon Party was to take place. This is considered to be the wildest and biggest beach party in the world! But of course, we weren’t allowed to go. Walking around the island, we saw that several shops had idols similar to those back home, in India. Growing up, we had heard the great epic- Ramayana, and seeing idols from the epic that we considered to be exclusive to India was very exciting.

One night, we went out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant, whose name seems to be slipping my mind. That night was somehow the highlight of my stay in Koh Samui. On vacations, everybody is relaxed and nobody is thinking much of what they’re doing. The place is unknown, the people are unknown, you can let lose. A group of Americans came into the restaurant and started dancing wildly to the live band that was playing. Every head in the room was turned and watching them. The birthday boy was wearing a sash and didn’t give two hoots about what anyone thought of him- he was having the time of his life. The band started playing Gangam Style and he galloped to the middle of the road and started doing the Gangam Style dance right there! What a way to spend a birthday!

It’s the little things that make a vacation special. Koh Samui had several attractions- treks and waterfalls and temples, the list goes on. But the true essence of a place is not felt by going only to these places made for tourists. It’s those places that are devoid of tourists that show the true personality of a place. I went on a trek to see a waterfall. Typical tourist behaviour. But what made me realise that Koh Samui was special was that it was the same, whether your were at a tourist attraction or down a dingy alley. Koh Samui oozes Thai culture, along with a mix of various cultures that are ever-evolving along with its tourists.

Explore the unexplored.