Scott and Chez’s Wedding

Hey we’ve had a few people mention that they’re going to be travelling with friends, lovers, family, cousins, random strangers, etc - just wanted to confirm that anyone you’re travelling with* is welcome at the wedding, we want everyone to enjoy themselves. So bring your grandma, bring your best mate, bring your kids, etc.

*disclaimer  - we mean anyone you’re travelling with who isn’t a total knob.

We have just returned from a “research” trip and we’ve found a perfect venue on Koh Tao. We’re holding the wedding at Charm Churee Villas, in Jansom Bay on Koh Tao. It’s a gorgeous little spot, it has a palm-tree lined beach with great snorkeling, really nice villas (with airconditioning) to stay in, and a beautiful restaurant. It’s only a 10 minute stroll into town as well, so it’s really nice and central.

Charm Churee are giving everyone 25% off their accommodation, which is a really great deal. Accommodation ranges from about AU/CA $80 per night up to about $500 a night for a 3 bedroom apartment. We’ve seen all of the rooms, villas and apartments they have, click here to see photos and a price list. For those backpackers amongst you, there are also a lot of other options around if this is out of your price range.

Please give us an email or call if you are thinking of staying here. We have checked all the rooms out and can advise on the best villa locations, or perhaps who can split up into which shared apartments. We checked them all out while we were there…

There is a backpacker’s bungalow next door , and they have beachfront villas from about AU$20 per night. They are very very basic, and if you haven’t backpacked before then you should not even consider it – it’s just a bed with mosquito net, fan and toilet. There is also a mid-range complex within 5 minutes walk, and their villas looked really gorgeous as well - their prices start from AU$40 a night for a basic double room with fan.

We also found an amazing boutique hotel in Bangkok called the Davis Hotel. It’s a gorgeous oasis in the chaos of Bangkok, they have a beautiful pool with loungey deck chairs, great bars and restaurants, and they are very central to everything. Rates here start at about $100 per night. We also have recommendations for cheap backpacker places as well as more mid-range hotels.

So what’s next?

February is high season in Thailand so everyone should book their accommodation in Koh Tao by September. You need to leave a 30% deposit when you book, however you get it all back if you cancel the booking more than 10 days before you arrive. For all those people that are a “maybe” on coming, I suggest that you book soon anyway, and then you can cancel with no penalty if you decide you’re not coming. When you book, mention that you’re coming for the wedding and they will apply the discount.

So the plan at the moment…

Arrive in Bangkok on the weekend of 22nd February. It would be great if everyone stays at the Davis as it’s such a lovely hotel, however you can stay wherever you want to. All meet for dinner and drinks on Sunday night 24rd at Vertigo, the nicest bar in Bangkok.

Monday 25th
Fly from Bangkok to Samui, a 50 minute flight. We’ll try to arrange to all be on the same/similar flights. We will organize a private boat to take us from Koh Samui to Koh Tao, a 2 hour boat trip. We’ll then be picked up and taken to Charm Churee. Depending on which flight we take out of Bangkok, we should get there about 2-3pm.

Spend the rest of the day settling in, relaxing and enjoying Koh Tao. All meet at sunset for cocktails and beers.

Tuesday 26th
More relaxing and beach time if you want it. We are organizing a thai cooking course for anyone interested in learning thai cooking, and they will also run a massage course for anyone interested in learning Thai Massage (no happy finish, Justin). Possible other activities are: scuba diving, wakeboarding, snorkeling, a longboat tour of the island, scooters around the island, day spa/massage treatments etc. Again all meet at sunset for dinner and drinks.

Wednesday 27th
Morning activity – elephant trekking to the next beach. Totally voluntary as you won’t catch me on an elephant - but I’m happy to take photos for everyone. Alternate activities are as before – massages, scuba diving, longboat trips, snorkeling.
Afternoon/evening – wedding at sunset.

Thursday 28th
We will probably stay on Koh Tao for another night after the wedding, but if anyone wanted to go to Koh Pha Ngan or Koh Samui there are ferries that leave between about 9 and 2pm. Koh Pha Ngan is about an hour and a half away, and Samui is about 2 hours. The ferry is 500 baht (about $15-20) and includes a transfer to your hotel/airport if you’re going all the way to Samui.

If you’re going to stay on Koh Tao, it will be more of the same… drinking beers, eating great food, snorkelling, scuba diving, etc. We’re still not sure how long Scott and I are going to stay or where we’ll go next, but will be staying in Thailand for another week or so after the wedding, probably staying in the islands.

We’ll just be chilling out and hanging around so definitely feel free to stay where we’ll be staying. I know some people are planning on going to Angkor Wat in Cambodia after the wedding, and I’ve heard some people are going to go to Vietnam or other parts of Thailand. It’s very easy to get around Thailand, there are always ferries, flights and buses so you won’t get stuck anywhere.

Click here for prices and photos of Charm Churee
Click here to see other options instead of staying at Charm Churee - nearby resorts

Click for larger version

Release your inner Mad Max

Chill by the beach

sunset cocktails

Vodka lemon shake goodness

There is a backpacker option called Jansom Bay Bungalows, next door to Charm Churee. They have beachfront bungalows with fan and bed with mosquito net, they are very basic but only 600 baht per night (about AU$20). The only problem is you can’t book in advance so you just have to turn up and hope they’re not full. They don’t have a website or email address, or even phone as far as we could see. A better option is below this, the Sensi Paradise.

There is a beautiful resort a 5 minute walk from Charm Churee called Sensi Paradise and they have a wide range of bungalows, ranging from simple bed with fan villa, through to “romantic seaview villa with air conditioning” to Presidential Villas. We walked through Sensi Paradise to get to town and it’s a really nice place. You can see their website here so worth checking out.

You can see from the map here how close the Sensi Paradise is to Charm Churee - it’s about a 5 minute walk.

Click the map for a larger version

Charm Churee Villas are in Jansom Bay on Koh Tao. They are gorgeous rustic villas and there is a range of accomodation from basic rooms up to 3 bedroom apartments. They are giving wedding guests 25% off their rates.

We stayed in a Superior room last time and it was nice - it has a great view (they’re up the hill so a jungle/ocean view), a nice deck with chairs, big bathroom, etc. We’re going to stay in a 1 bedroom sunset villa for the wedding. The 2 bedroom sunset apartments were all really lovely too, so if you can get one of them then definitely do it!

To reserve, email Leka at reservation@charmchureevilla.com and say you’re part of the wedding.

If you want to see the official website from Charm Churee, there is a flash version here or an HTML version here (this site has more images of the rooms).

Beachfront Bungalow
View from a superior room

The beach - Jansom Bay. Gorgeous snorkelling

The breakfast restaurant

View from a sunset villa

View from a 2 bedroom villa

The beach at sunset

Superior room

Awesome bathrooms built into the rock.

Restaurant for reception

Well actually the invites are only going out now so we don’t know what sort of questions you’ll have. Either comment on this post or email us if you have any questions and we’ll put up a post with the answers.

If you do want any advice on hotels in Bangkok (or even Cambodia, Vietnam, etc) drop us a line and we can give you some recommendations.

We’re going over there in June and we’re going to do a few hotel inspections to see what sort of quality they are so we’ll post here and put links and prices.

Once we get down to the wedding destination, I imagine everyone wants to stay in the same place. We’re going to pick a venue with a variety of accommodation styles and costs as we know not everyone is in the same boat financially - some people only like to travel 5 star wheras some people are happy with just a bed and a mosquito net. We’ll make sure we’re catering to everyone’s travelling styles and budget. The place we have in mind has a range from AU$80 to $300 a night, so it varies from beachside apartments to little private bungalows. There’s also more “backpacker” style accommodation a few doors down.

We’ll keep you updated.

Here’s some information on Koh Samui if you haven’t been there before.

Koh Samui has an airport so we’ll all be flying here, whether the wedding is here or on Koh Tao. It’s quite a nice island, although it is quite developed. It has some gorgeous beaches and it’s loads of fun to rent scooters and ride around the island.

Our first choice is to have the wedding on Koh Tao, if it’s logistically possible. It’s a really undeveloped island - they only got electricity quite recently, and you used to only be able to stay here if you were scuba diving. It’s become a bit more developed in the last couple of years so Scott and I are going to check it out in June and see what it’s like.

We’re hoping that this place works out as it looks gorgeous. We’ll let you know by mid-June whether it will be this one or not…

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the site - if you’re here you probably received an invite to our wedding and you’re wondering what all the details are.

The wedding is going to be in Thailand from 26-28 February 2008. At the moment we don’t know which island it’s going to be on but we’re pretty sure it will either be on Koh Tao or Koh Samui. They’re both great places, we’re going over there on the 8th June to scout it all out and make sure it’s going to be somewhere amazing.

We’ll put some links up so you can have a look and get familiar with the islands, if you haven’t been there before.

If you have a pretty good idea of whether you’ll make it or not, can you please let us know so we can start to get an idea of how many people may come.

You just need to tell us if you’re:

a) Definitely coming
b) Probably going to make it
c) Maybe - there’s a possibility
d) Definitely won’t make it

Click here to RSVP Scott & Chez

Thanks heaps!

We have a more finalised itinerary now that we’ve been back to Thailand to check it all out.

Feb 22-24 - Arrive in Bankok and de-jetlag by going shopping at the Chatuchak Weekend Markets, see some Thai boxing, go shopping in Asia’s coolest mall MBK, the geeks can go to Panthip Plaza (6 storeys of counterfeit software and cheap hardware), go and see the Grand Palace if you want culture instead of cheap software, and go and see the floating markets. Alternatively you can hang out and drink cocktails by the pool bar…

Sunday 24 Feb - meet the group at the Banyan Tree. They have a gorgeous outdoor bar on the 61st floor and there is an amazing 360 view of Bangkok. We’ll probably be hosting sunset drinks there.

Monday 25 Feb - all fly down to the Islands. It’s about an hour flight from Bangkok, then we transfer to the ferry dock and take a private boat to Koh Tao. The boat will take about 2 hours.

25, 26, 27 Feb - you choose what style of travel you want. You can either lie on the beach and drink cocktails and read books, or you can be active and ride scooters around, hike, take a Thai cooking course, scuba dive, snorkel, elephant trek, and the rest.

Wednesday 27 Feb - Wedding at sunset

Thursday 28 Feb - Hangovers and more lying on the beach, snorkelling, scooters, etc etc. After that some people are heading to Angkor Wat in Cambodia (highly recommended if you can do it), and Bangkok is only about an hour’s flight from Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, and Borneo. You can also take the chicken bus like we did, but this is only recommended if you are 5 foot tall and enjoy taking 24 hour bus rides with goats. Or hardcore like Scott Harwood.