E Loves Coco

As the title of the post states, I do love fresh coconuts. For those of you who are into such things as adorable babies drinking from coconuts and eating fruit, enjoy as you stay warm/dry during Winter Storm Saturn.

The Kohs in Pictures

For the past 11 days, my parents and I have been relaxing in Koh Phangan and Koh Samui, enjoying beautiful sunrises, even more stunning sunsets, impressive island mountain landscapes and eating pretty well also.  I don't think I have enough commentary for a standalone post, but I'll just try to capture my favorite moments with photos.  Hope you Americans/Europeans are enjoying your February weather!

If you didn't figure it out by now, "Koh" means "island" in Thai.  And if you thought the Kohs were an Asian family, then you're a racist.

Buri Rasa Koh Phangan

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: Buri Rasa Village Koh Phangan
Dates: February 17-22, 2013
Rate Paid: $106 / night (including taxes)
Total $ Savings: $0 
Points Earned:  2,303 United Miles

For once, my father booked away from Starwoods Hotels and instead picked an independent boutique hotel.

Buri Rasa was located on the northeast end of Koh Phangan along Thong Nai Pan Noi Beach. Being a small child, I loved it. There's a beautiful pool with a separate section for little kids. Free WiFi. A delicious breakfast buffet each morning. Samples of local desserts brought to your room each night. A small village right next door with a lot of local restaurants. And there's an amazing beach right on the property.

Our room at the Buri Rasa (#1 or #2 ranked on TripAdvisor, depending on what day you look) was about $90 USD/night + another $16/night for taxes. For the island, it was a bit on the higher end, but still very affordable for most American families. Further, it was built in 2012 so everything was new and fresh, unlike some of the more dated bungalows we passed along the way here.

The room we had was a garden view King bedroom with a terrace. As you can see, it was very clean and nicely appointed with some colorful tropical pillows that made me happy to look at.

The bathroom was very modern and very environmentally friendly - no plastic, refillable soap/shampoo/conditioner bottles and small hand soaps (enough for a family to use for 5 nights).

We were here for 5 nights - which is a bit long for my parents. Given there weren't many active things to do in Koh Phangan for families (apparently babies can't rock out at the Full Moon Party or ride around on motor scooters or scuba dive in the coral reefs - Thanks Bin Laden), we just enjoyed our time at the pool and the beach.

The pool wasn't that busy during the day, but since my mother doesn't want me tanning too much, we opted for late afternoon/evening swims where we had the entire pool to ourselves.

Despite being born/raised on an island (Manhattan), I still haven't mastered my swimming skills so I'm still confined to the bright yellow floating device that really doesn't flatter my baby skin complexion. Thank goodness it was dark!

Yesterday, however, my parents took me to the beach to work on my sandcastle building skills. But apparently, beaches aren't my thing, because I HATE sand. From the moment my little baby toes touched the grainy stuff, I started screaming my head off like my father just dropped me into a pot of boiling water (not that he's ever done that to me before, but I can imagine).

Nevertheless, my mother just put me to sleep in the shade on one of the beach recliners, and I passed out quickly with the ambient sound of the actual ocean waves instead of the lame sleep sound machine that my father bought for my crib at home.

Now, despite the hotel not being a part of a Loyalty Program, that didn't stop my father from earning frequent flyer miles.

Through the website Pointshound.com, he was able to book the reservation at the Buri Rasa (similar to Expedia or Travelocity) and earn United Airline miles (or Hawaiian Airline miles, if he so chose). They offered him 2,303 United miles for the $450 booking for 5 nights - so about 5 miles/$ spent.

And since he was paying with his Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, he would earn 2 Chase UR points for the travel spend as well, earning a total of 7 points/dollar. Pretty great points earnings for something that he would have done anyway.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here.

• As you might expect, unlike the Caribbean, we were the only Americans at the hotel, though not the only Israelis. Mostly the crowd was European couples on a romantic getaway as well as families taking their toddlers to get some sun in February.  
• Food was quite good and very inexpensive and the beers (at the bar and the mini fridge) cost the same price as you'd find in the small markets outside the hotel.  
• The checks didn't even have tip lines on them for drink service on the beach/pool - just at the dinners at The Beach Club.  
• The staff/service was great and they still followed the old policy where "the customer is always right." Anything we wanted/needed, they were there ready and waiting.  To be fair, it wasn't not as quick/efficient as the service you get in a New York City deli during the lunchtime rush, but when you're in the islands, you're not in any hurry.

The only negative was that it's in the middle of nowhere.  You really have to commit to get here.  For most of my New York area friends, that would involve a long flight to Seoul/Hong Kong, a medium flight to Bangkok and a short flight to Koh Samui, then a ferry ride to Koh Phangan and a 30 min drive to Buri Rasa Village.  But for those of you who accept the traveling challenge, your efforts will be rewarded!

Jip Shop

My mother and father really love seeing the local people when they travel abroad and prefer eating outside the hotel as much as they can. And no, it's not because it's cheaper, though that is a nice side benefit.

The tiny village in Buri Rasa is only 1 street long but has probably 10 shops/restaurants on each side alternating between a small store, a massage parlor and restaurants.

Since we were here for 6 days/5 nights, my parents took me to a new restaurant for each meal.  My father enjoyed the higher end Luna Bar at the far end of the road (it had a very polished European style dinner experience), but my personal favorite was Jip Shop shown above (you'll see why later).

Jip Shop was pretty well regarded by TripAdvisor Nation.  As we walked by the night before, it was packed with couples and families enjoying a very serene dinner with soft music playing in the background. Not the ideal place to bring a teething 15 month old baby, so my parents opted for another place instead, but promised to take me here the next day for lunch when it wasn't so busy.

So on Wednesday, around 2PM, we went to Jip Shop for a late lunch and met the infamous Jip, the charismatic woman who owned/ran the place. She welcomed us in and suggested the best seat in the house (since it was dead at 2PM). Jip brought over a fan to keep me cool and clapped her hands, a signal to her wait staff to bring out the menus.

We asked for some fresh coconuts as our beverage (did you know that babies love coconuts?) and took a look at the wide selection of Thai (and Western) offerings.

At Jip's recommendation, my father ordered the Fried Prawns in Tamarind Sauce (180 THB) and my mother ordered the Duck in Orange Sauce appetizer (140 THB) and the Hot/Sour Seafood Soup (140 THB). Total 460 THB (or ~$15 USD).

While we waited, I drank all my father's coconut water because I had missed breakfast on account of acting my age up. I don't know what it is about this magical fruit, but I can't get enough of it.

The appetizer came out and it looked like it was served in a fancy NYC restaurant (the kind that doesn't have high chairs). The presentation was beautiful and only matched by the unique citrus/spicy flavor of the crispy fried duck. We were told to put a little of the dried chili and some dried nori (seaweed) on each piece, and it was amazing.

The next course was the Fried Prawns and the Seafood Soup. They came out about the same time and they smelled/looked delicious. But these dishes were a bit spicy so my parents opted against feeding me any of their meals, instead choosing to give me a bland plate of steamed white rice. Phone number for Child Services, anyone?

The food was great (or so I've been told) and I'd highly recommend coming here if you're looking for a good meal. They also have a massage area in the back in case you wanted to get a quick 30 minute foot rub while you waited.

But the best part of Jip Shop is their little mascot, Koon (no judgement here), a tiny baby rabbit they keep in the restaurant for the guests to play with. As my long time readers know, I LOVE LOVE LOVE animals, especially baby ones.

My parents let me hold Koon for a little bit before I went all Lenny* on her.

*Reference to Steinbeck's Of Mice & Men.  Sign off the internet and go read a book once in a while.