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!
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