Tourists chill out on Hat Chaweng beach

What would you call a place that has an airport that looks and feels more like a 5-star tropical island resort than a concrete/steel structure with an airstrip? Where hotels are so Green that they are built around the colours, textures, sights and sounds of nature?

Where the calm waters sparkle aquamarine and designer shopping is zilch? But where the spas are top rate, the fruit is über-crunchy and hot curries super-high on fragrant herbs? And, of course, where coconuts give orchids stiff competition...

Well, I call that place Koh Samui, a hideaway in the Gulf of Siam, and the third largest island in Thailand’s kitty of 80. It’s easy to understand why the island is a new hottie on tourist itineraries.

Landing in Samui (as it’s also called) by air is a dead giveaway of what lies ahead. You transfer from the aircraft to the terminal building by hopping aboard cheerfully painted electric wagons. Everything about the building itself is open plan — no walls, no doors and certainly no air-conditioning — with Frangipani trees dotting the property... sorry, airport. This is one award-winning airport that you must check-out.

(From top) The spa at the lush Zazen Boutique Resort; a food market in Koh Samui; a display of colourful orchids

There are multiple ways to chill on this tiny island. You can take a gastronomic journey or effectively use it as a balm for an exhausted mind, body and soul. Or then again you can combine all of the above. The island is so small that if you get on to Loop Road that rings it, you can circuit the 50km of Samui — breezing past some lazy fishing villages, its beaches, modest waterfalls and grooves of coconut plantations — in a couple of hours flat.

But life’s clearly a beach in Koh Samui — so we don’t expect to do any flying visits of hectic touristy hangouts. High on a diet of undefeated Thai signature yummies — that’s the Tom Yam Goong (it’s spicy shrimp soup), Som Tam (the papaya salad, yep, spicy again) and of course Pad Thai (the fried noodle preparation with its dance of bean sprouts, shrimp and tofu, fish sauce, tamarind juice and much more besides), we head out languidly for one of Samui’s two main beaches — Lamai (the other being Chaweng). The beach promises a rib-tickling photo-op on the side.

The beach is filled with cheesy travellers who come to furiously click away (mostly in risque poses) at its rather famous rock formations. That’s the Grandfather and Grandmother rocks. The Grandfather Rock is a massive phallic symbol rising from the rocks on the beach and the Grandmother Rock is… well, you get the picture.

The run-up to the beach is the meandering Beach Road flanked by kiosks that sell everything from tees that simply say ‘Koh Samui’ to the local speciality — the gooey, coconut-milk based caramel. And if you really want to get up and close and personal with this amazing sweetmeat then — like us — you can visit a caramel ‘factory’ where the stuff is prepared. However, the factory is probably a local’s home where the caramel bubbles on massive cauldrons in his own backyard. But then, it’s very Koh Samui.

But the island does have its share of significant others. So you do inevitably make your way to the Wat Khunaram Ko Samui — a temple famed for its mummified monk who’s on display. The mummy is massively worshipped by the islanders as he sits bolt upright in his glass box (sporting Ray Ban Wayfarers, no less), overseeing the ritualistic offerings of flowers and incense by his devotees.

Then there’s the delightful monkey training centre. Our time-slot has been booked through a travel agency and we arrive to witness pig-tailed monkeys swiftly scale coconut trees, adroitly pluck the fruit and send it crashing to our feet.

But perhaps the jewels in Koh Samui’s crown are its amazing spa resorts. And we stop by a select few. They ramble over lush acres and quite inevitably end up in private, white-sand beaches that offer uninterrupted views of the shoreline and outlying islands. And if you are lucky you’ll come by when the evening entertainment on the menu includes kaleidoscopic and graceful Thai dances performed right there on the beaches!

We drop by one evening at the Six Senses Hideaway Samui, up north of the island. It’s built around natural vegetation, has lemongrass growing in a carelessly artful way throughout its 20 acres (the herb is known to act as a strong but natural mosquito repellent), and offers a restaurant that’s won several design awards. Dining on the Rocks is all about leisurely dinners on the terraced decks built in weathered teak and bamboo. Each gives you a 270-degree panorama of the islands beyond Samui. For die-hard romantics we recommend Table 99 that’s set up solo on one of the nine decks.

A visit to Zazen Restaurant at the Zazen Boutique Resort will in fact turn out to be an excuse just to explore the lush property. So too Baan Taling Nigam Resort & Spa where we end up slurping coconut-based cocktails on the beach with the masseurs working the pressure points on our feet.

If its spas are its comfort zones, Koh Samui’s food markets are perhaps a well-kept secret. But they are a great way to get a first-hand experience of the freshest stocks before they morph into ingredients for some Thai delicacy. And yes, here’s your chance to snap up not just street food at its best but also to carry back your stock of dried mushrooms, the delicious Thai tamarind, its fiery peppers and chillies and more — at rock bottom prices. A different kind of shopping this!

It might just remind you of beauteous Bali and in a flash there’ll be suddenly something of Goa, but just add Koh Samui to your list of Places to See Before You Die.

Ready reckoner

Getting there: Koh Samui is a 50-minute flight away from Bangkok, the Thai capital. It’s well-connected by air to Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Staying there: From bamboo bungalows on the beach to top-rated luxury hotels, just take your pick.