We spent the last week of our Thailand trip on Ko Samui (or Koh Samui).  The choice was between Ko Samui or Phuket.

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Hansar resort on Bophut beach (lying on the northern shore of the island) was our home for the week.

The lobby area (if you can call it that) is open, a library on one side and a reception on the other.

In the middle is a small atrium-like space dominated by a set of wooden pillars standing on top of a small stone fountain. The hotel was apparently a finalist of the 2012 best beach hotel according to Boutique Hotel Awards. Never heard of this award before.

Surrounding the atrium is a massive wooden sculpture/structure. Its irregular block pattern (a motif repeated throughout the property) was casting all kinds of shadows and bright spots onto the lobby area.

An unusual feature of the rooms of the hotel is the size and location of the shower.  The shower is really designed for exhibitionists as there is no privacy whatsoever, glass walls on two sides.

 There was no door, except a stone ledge on one side where one can sit while showering.

It cannot be any easier to take a shower.

One evening a lizard (the kind that loses its tail when threatened) visited our room and hung onto the glass wall of the shower. It was not on our bed as this picture may suggest. If it were on our bed and scaled according to the length of the bed, it would have been 2-3 feet long!  It was actually about 6-8 inches before the tail came off.

A little bit later.

Nightfall.

H-bistro is the hotel restaurant – the chef was apparently the ex-personal chef of the king of Jordan.

We had breakfast there daily. We  tried dinner one evening and it was indeed very good – European and Thai dishes alike.

The beach in front of the Hansar resort is more suitable for water sports because the water was not the clearest and the beach was steep. The sand was yellow and coarse. After one of our tours of the nearby islands (see later posts), the speedboat dropped us off on the beach right in front of the hotel. We just hopped off at the nose of the boat onto the beach and did not even get our feet wet!

Before the tourists came, coconut export was the major business of the island. We watched a tree caretaker climbed up these three coconut trees on his hands and feet without any safety equipment, up to the top and down all within five minutes.

 The pool was nice – it had a couple of “seats” with jacuzzi jets.

Overall, a recommendable resort.