A very eventful stay (Gecko Samui Resort)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Gecko Samui Resort
Date:	14/04/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Directly on beach, boat to full moon parties, wonderful staff and animals, lovely and relaxing place

Disadvantages: Owners not very friendly, loud music sometimes throughout night, rooms very basic, not for kids

My aunt and uncle recommended the Gecko Resort for our stay in Ko Samui as they had previously stayed there on a trip to Thailand a few years ago and they knew the owners and said that the place was nice. The resort is in Bo Phut which is the nicest area of Ko Samui island. Due to the fact that it is the nicest town, accommodation isn't cheap here and mostly consists of 5* resorts. Gecko was one of the cheapest at 800 Baht a night for a double standard room (approximately £15). The resort itself isn't primarily for accommodation. It was originally opened as the Gecko Bar and was well-known as the place to be for parties, especially around the time of the famous Full Moon Parties. The owner is a DJ from England and, with his Thai wife, he created a great party venue and the exclusive 9 bungalows were simply made to act as a resting place for the wicked after a long night out. Now that the owners are older, the place isn't so much a party venue and they only hold these on special occasions such as Full Moon Parties and New Years Eve.

Although on the website the bungalows look very exotic and like a little slice of paradise, they really are not. From the outside they do look gorgeous - a little hut with a straw roof, a terrace with a hammock and all sitting directly on the beach. But don't be fooled! Once you get inside they are very very basic - a cement building with two twin beds pushed together (not at all comfortable), a desk and a wardrobe. The bathroom had a toilet, big sink and just a drainpipe as the shower which had no hot water, but this is usual in Thailand. Because of the drainpipe as a shower, certain insects were able to creep though and we had a couple of cockroaches in the bathroom (even though the place wasn't at all dirty) and we also found a gecko lizard asleep in my left over Archers and lemonade! The bungalow was very big and you had lots of space to move around.

The resort is all open air, nothing is inside. There is the main bar, which is also reception, a living area where there are a few sofas, a TV and a pool table. This is all undercover and when it rains there are plastic covers which come down around the area. There are lots of sun beds, some undercover some on the beach, and this is a lovely and relaxing place to enjoy the sun. The staff were the most wonderful thing about this resort. They were so lovely and friendly and we chatted and played pool with them and they gave us advice on what to do in Ko Samui. There were also 9 dogs and a cat living in the resort. We were a bit shocked at this at first but the animals were such fun - they'd play in the sea with you and run up and down the beach and even fall asleep next to you while you were sunbathing. They were all small dogs and all very well behaved so they didn't get on your nerves and weren't too loud.

Although I said that the staff were great, I was not including the owners in this category. The DJ was hardly ever around as he often still DJs away at other venues but his wife was usually there and the only word I can think of to describe her is the queen. She would lay around on the sun beds all day with her favourite little dog always by her side and would order the other staff to do stuff without even raising a finger to do a single thing herself. She literally acted like the queen of the castle and she wasn't at all friendly. When the DJ was at the resort you knew about it because the music was continuously playing. The first time we saw him he was shouting at an old German couple telling them to get off his property because the guy was wearing Speedos. There was a sign declaring 'No Speedos' but we had presumed this to be a joke! He then called us over and offered us some champagne at 9 am in the morning. We asked what the occasion was and he said it was Wednesday morning! Oh well of course, we had forgotten about that special occasion! Every time we saw him after that he was either completely drunk or high on something else and they didn't hide the fact that they took drugs and would just start sniffing away in front of you! A couple of nights we hardly slept as the music was so loud and continued through the entire night. Definitely not a place for kids!

The resort has a restaurant, which I think is now its main source of income. The menu was great and they had some wonderful choices for cheap prices and all the food was delicious especially the sweet and sour chicken with rice, pad thai and the pancakes for desert which are the thickest and yummiest I've ever had and we ate here almost every night. You can either sit on the resort's deck or you can sit down on the sandy beach with candles which makes for a romantic meal.

The resort is a 5 minute walk from Fisherman's Village, the main road where all the shops and restaurants are and you have to actually walk across the beach to get to it. You can organise trips through the resort and can book a speed boat to take you to the Full Moon Party which leaves from the resort next door.

We had a bit of trouble booking a room here - no one got back to us when I sent them an email and when we called up they told us they had no rooms available. I eventually asked a local Thai man to call up and ask for us and he managed to book us the room we wanted. I simply think that the staff weren't too brilliant at English and hadn't understood me and I don't think they really check their emails so don't try and get in contact with them this way.

We stayed here for 8 nights and, although not everything was great about the place, I did miss it a lot when we left. We made some great friends who were also staying here and this, along with the staff and the animals, made our stay.

Summary: If you don't mind loud music & want a cheap & basic place here is lovely - I'm still glad we stayed!