LESTER V LEDESMA TAKES HIS CAMERA ON A JOURNEY AROUND KOH SAMUI AND DISCOVERS HOW THE THAI ISLAND RETAINS MUCH OF ITS TRADITIONAL CHARM DAWN IN KOH SAMUI arrives the same way it has since the beginning of time – with a rooster’s crow, a brilliant sunrise and a warm tropical breeze. In this fading darkness, few are around to witness the stunning natural beauty that emerges. At the shoreline, white sand and a crystal sea flirt endlessly against a backdrop of blue. Further inland, palm trees perform a familiar dance, their arms swaying mindlessly to the rhythm of the wind. These, and other such picturesque scenes reveal themselves as the day progresses, assuring us of this small,15km-wide island’s status as one of Thailand’s favourite holiday destinations. Few would have imagined that this place would stay hidden for long. Rene Burri, a noted Swiss photographer who traversed this (then) o?-the-beaten-path island in 1965, described it as having scenery that was “more beautiful and varied than anything we have seen in this country”. The European backpackers must have thought the same when they began trickling here a decade later, eventually paving the way for Samui’s entry into the world tourism scene. Since then, this island has gained its own international airport and gone from a largely undeveloped and unheard-of province to a veritable vacation wonderland, its idyllic beaches hosting over a million visitors from around the world each year. Yet, behind the glitzy face of Samui’s booming tourism industry, with its countless luxury spas, hotel resorts, bars and restaurants, lie the remnants of a lifestyle that has survived decades of modernisation. Examples exist practically everywhere on the island, sometimes in plain view from one’s beach chalet window, and at other times, hidden in corners bypassed by regular tourists. For here is a place with a story that goes far beyond the package tours and the cultural shows, where everyday life occurs on a postcard-pretty stage – this is the Koh Samui of old.

Raising songbirds is a very common pastime in Southern Thailand, as these neatly arranged rows of birdcages in a local pet shop highlight. The shop owner notes that most of her customers are Thais. She says, “Sometimes, we do get to see an occasional farang (foreigner), but they only stop to take pictures or look at my birds.”

Despite the presence of more modern printing methods, a sign-maker in the town of Lamai, on Samui’s eastern coast, persists in doing his job the time-honoured way – by hand.

Carvings made from coconut wood – Koh Samui’s most plentiful resource – await final sanding and varnishing at a One Tambon One Product (OTOP) factory in Taling Ngam. THE SOUL OF SAMUI Sometimes it manifests itself in ways as subtle as a mystical tattoo peeking out from a monk’s robe, and at other times, in a manner as grand as a hilltop shrine overlooking the nearby landscape. However, despite non-stop modernisation and the creeping westernisation of values, Theravada Buddhism continues to wield a strong influence on Koh Samui’s residents. This is most evident in the countless wats that dot the island. These gilded temples serve as beacons of faith to devout Buddhists – and as dazzling photo opportunities to legions of sightseers.

a staff member at Kamalaya Spa Resort offers a moment of worship at a Buddhist shrine in front of the hotel.

the massive sitting Buddha statue at Wat Phra Yai rests atop a hill, watching over a nearby shoreline named in its honour – Big Buddha Beach. OLD MEETS NEW On Koh Samui’s west coast, a lone fisherman in Na Th on secures his boat for the night while a cruise ship ambles lazily across the horizon. Such a scene characterises the presence of two worlds on this so-called paradise island. “We have gotten so used to seeing tourists – they’ve become part of our lives that we can’t imagine this place without them anymore,” says a local guide. Thankfully, it seems that the Samui of old (or at least, parts of it anyway) can still co-exist with the new Samui today – for how long, only time will tell.

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