Earlier this year, I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit one of Thailand's most beautiful islands. The island is none other than the island of Samui - third largest island in Thailand. My original reasoning for coming to visit Samui was actually very simple. I really loved the name of the island. But spending some time there, I realised that Samui had an uncanny similarity to a place i hold dearly.

Some of you might know, that I spend much of my childhood in Shenzhen. There, the weather was pretty similar to Samui. It was of tropical warmth all year round and it also had some of the best Coconut water around. Samui too has a good reputation for it's coconuts and coconut water. In fact, it is one of the main industries other than tourism still left on Samui. This is why according to urban legend, Coconut trees can be seen anywhere you look. As a person who loves coconuts, and coconut water, it's like a match made in heaven!

All across the island, I see palm tree's planted everywhere I look. Then again, a tropical paradise wouldn't be the same without it's abundance of palm trees. It's such a beautiful sight seeing the palm tree's with the blue skies and white clouds.

The land area of Samui is 247㎞² and is located about 560km south of the capital, Bangkok. Around the main island of Samui, there are 80 or so smaller islets that are mostly not inhabited by any humans.

From Bangkok, the flight time to Samui is only 1 hour. Very fast and convenient.

Immediately after landing, I was finding it so difficult to hold back my emotions. I was just too excited to land here and I couldn't wait to explore and see all that Samui has to offer.

Another thing I noticed after stepping off the plane, was the heatwaves immediately assaulting my senses. The luggage collection area makes use of a straw canopy which is obviously without air conditioning. So, the occasional cool breeze was very welcome, especially with such torrid heat.

Samui island is circular in shape and averages 15km across. At it's centre, there are alpine mountain forest ranges that are not inhabited by people. The highest point is around 635 meters above sea level.

If you take a look at the map, you'll notice the most built up area of Samui, the places with most hotels, most water activities and most restaurants is the Chaweng Beach. This crescent shaped beach runs for 6km. Quite a beautiful shape I think!

Since Chinese new year had just passed not too long ago, the airport still had all these bright red lanterns hanging below the airport sign. It's certain a nice way to welcome all the Chinese tourists that make their way here.

Every time I visit an island, one of my favourite activities has got to be taking a drive along the beach roads.

As you can see, there are quite a number of car rental companies at the exit of the airport.

Of course, making a car rental booking online before your visit is the best bet. This way you can get better pricing than if you rented a car directly at the airport. However, if you decided to rent a car on arrival (like me) then make sure you compare all the available car rental companies to see which give the best deal. Obviously, the choices at the airport will be more limited than if you pre-booked online.

As the overall cost of living is not very high in Thailand, the car rental fees at Samui are relatively cheap compared to other exotic island locations. Not only this, renting car will only set you back the same amount of money as renting two motorbikes. (Obviously a car is so much better for the air conditioning!)

With such deadly sun rays in Samui, a car really is the best option. You get the air conditioning, and also a bit more safety. Another important point is that a car really does take away the need for public transportation and does not limit you to travelling to places under unnecessary time constraints.

Sawadi Kap! Samui!

When you set off on the roads, you'll notice the many electric poles and wires hanging above. They're actually mostly really tidy. I think this is quite a distinguishing aspect of Thailand.

Knowing that Samui is a very popular touristy destination, I decided to stay my first night somewhere quiet and without much disturbance, Maenam Beach. The island is actually full of useful road signs helping a first timer like me find my way to the hotel. It's actually quite hard to get lost.

On this occasion, I decided to be daring and not skip over the hotels I usually dare not think of staying at. I decided to bite the bullet and stay at the W Hotel. On Samui, this Hotel is regarded as a 6 Star Hotel! From the airport, it was a very brisk 15 minute drive. When arriving, you can see the W hotel up on the hill side.

As you can imagine, I was super excited to stay at this hotel. As I drove up slowly up the drive way, I saw a member of security staff who stood at the road fork making sure people don't wander off to where they shouldn't be. It's small things like this that give me that extra sense of security.

I really like W Hotel's fashion conscious avant-garde style of design. The W logo uses tiny sequin like reflective silver tiles. It's like something from the future.

Aside from it's envious futuristic design language, the W Hotel also has some of the best service in the world. For instance, once I drove the car up to the front entrance, a member of staff would kindly help me unload my luggage and then drive the car off to a secure parking location. At the welcoming desk, we see some traditional Thai designs as well as a very bright and shiny head of a monkey. How odd, but ever so cool!

Of course, the staff will help you unload your luggage and then store it safely for you whilst you wait for your room.

This is probably my favourite area in the whole hotel. Alas, what you have here before your eyes is the Woobar. Check out those amazing sofa's on the water, and borderless swimming pool..

This is no doubt one of the most famous photo angles of the W hotel. Featured in so many magazines and websites that introduce this marvellous hotel.

A walk along side the Woobar promenade, you get to experience some of the most amazing views of the island.

It's really hard to put the camera away.

If you look in the distance behind me, you can make out the W Hotel's main swimming pool called WET.

It has the instantly recognisable W logo.

One of the most convenient aspects of the hotel, is their Anytime, Anywhere service, whenever you need to go from one part of the hotel to another, you can call a small transport buggy to take you. It's the quickest and easiest method of getting around.

And that concludes the first part of many blogs to come about Thailand, Samui, W Hotel and much more!
Stay tuned, and follow to not miss out!

Friendly reminder!

Steem/it is currently in the final of the poll for a potential listing at BTCChina Exchange! Sadly, we're looking quite off the pace, but there is hope! We have 5 days to go! Let's get all our friends to vote for Steem!

https://twitter.com/bobbyclee/status/865851769116475392

- bobbyclee

欢迎大家和我一起来到苏梅岛，这是泰国第三大岛屿。刚开始我选择来这里，是非常简单的原因。我觉得这个岛的名字好听，并且我小时候就是在深圳海边长大的，最喜欢喝椰子。椰子的生产是苏梅岛重要的经济来源，因此苏梅岛又被做椰子岛，听说岛上椰树随处可见，对于我这个酷爱椰子的人当然是最好的去处啦。岛上布满了棕榈树，谁不喜欢棕榈树下的蓝天白云？从曼谷坐飞机到苏梅岛，只要1个小时就到了，非常便捷。飞机才刚刚降落在小岛，我就难以抑制住激动的心情了，就想赶快跳下飞机把苏梅岛的美景尽收眼底。下了飞机就立刻感觉一大片热浪扑面而来，等行李的地方是一大片草棚，偶尔吹来的凉风也给这个酷热的天气降降温。苏梅岛是一个圆形，平均大约15公里宽，岛的中部基本是无人居住的高山树林（，最高点海拔635米。

可以从地图上看到，岛上最繁华，酒店最多，水上活动最丰富的是岛东部的查温海滩，这个月牙形的海滩绵延6公里，十分优美。刚刚过去的中国年，机场还挂着红彤彤的灯笼，好鲜艳的色彩。每次来到海岛，我最享受的事情就是沿着海边开车了，所以在机场的出口，就有很多柜台提供租车服务。当然在网络上提前预订会比现场租车便宜很多，如果没有提前预订，最好在现场比比每家租车公司的价格，当然现场车的选择要比网络少很多。这次我选择了相对游客比较少，非常安静的湄南海滩的酒店。岛上贴心的摆了很多标示牌，让初次来到苏梅岛自驾游的我能很快找到自己的酒店，不会迷路。

这一次我越过了平时旅游选酒店的界限，选择了苏梅岛的W酒店，被大家誉为苏梅岛的6星级酒店。大约开了15分钟，终于快到了，可以看到W酒店远远的在山坡上。我超级期待入住这家酒店，當車子缓缓开近，我发现道路上的转折处都有酒店的安保设施和工作人员，给人一种非常安全回家的感觉。我非常喜欢的是W酒店时尚前卫的设计装潢。W的logo用的是银色的反光材料，很有未来太空的感觉。酒店的服务也是最大的亮点，车子开到大堂门前，就有专人接过钥匙替你去停车。迎接柜台是由泰国的特色的图案。服务人员帮你把行李拿下车，为你寄存行李。这就是我最爱的空间了。Woobar终于出现在眼前了。水上的沙发，无边的泳池。这里是W酒店最有名气的拍摄角度了，曾经出现在无数杂志网站上。走过边上的长廊，风景美极了。想去到酒店的每一个空间，都会有车子接送，超级方便。今天的文章就写到这里吧，之后还有更多关于W酒店的探索等着和大家一起分享。