Ko Samui, Smile House Resort,

Have just come back from two wonderful weeks in Koh Samui, OK the weather sucked a bit but sadly there is nobody to blame for that one other than myself for not being more on it when it comes to looking into the weather at this time of year in Phuket rather than Samui, its different by the way.

Smile House is a fantastic place to stay, great value for money, ultra friendly staff, awesome food, lovely restaurant, we ate on the beach the nights the weather permitted and it was fantastic. 2 great pools, one right up the back that we didn't actually discover for a few days, really child friendly staff and we have every intention of going back next year. One hint though, the heater for the hot water in the shower is actually outside the bungalow at the back so if you want to have hotter water that is where to find it, bit sneaky we thought but there you go. Highly recommend Bophut. Had some wonderful Thai food just outside the village on the main road to the right of the traffic lights, and some excellent steaks in a fab bistro called the Shack. The owner Larry is a colorful character! Some great places to drink, Mosquito is excellent for a child free evening, Billabong for live music and The Pub for expat banter, very friendly locals. Down sides to the village were only two really, a lot of building going on in the middle that was a bit noisy and dusty and the Frog and Gecko pub was very disappointing, had read a lot about this place but found the place to be grubby, the quiz was a bit of a joke and the owners were quite frankly rude and unprofessional. We might have just caught them on a bad day but I don't think we would risk going in again and the food was awful.

Everyone here very friendly and willling to help, but a bit of the manana attitude to fixing things. Great location, suited us well, safe for our 9-yr-old son to go out to the supermarket, etc., on his own, good choice of places to eat. We tended to eat out where the locals ate, and had some excellent cheap local food. Beach is OK, sand rougher here than at other places but still OK. The pools here are good but the area around them to walk on needs updating as it's a bit rough and ready. Overall, in our 24 days in Thailand (inc. Bangkok) we did not have ANY stomach upsets as the food and hygiene were excellent (unlike Turkey & Egypt) everywhere. Chaweng and Lamai too busy for us but good to go shopping. Hire a car as it's great to drive around the Island exploring, cheaper than taking taxis everywhere (agree the price up-front). The South of the Island is quieter and less developed.