Back to the beach

Guests at Mojito Island float bar lounge on white sofa beds. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Manmade attractions

A typical itinerary to Koh Samui involves a visit to one of its many beaches, but a few manmade attractions emerging on these shores are also drawing attention, including a trend of inflatable operations on water.

The Aqua Park, located near the beach of Ozo Chaweng Samui - a hip and tech-savvy beachfront property by the ONYZ Hospitality Group at Chaweng Beach Road - is no exception. Along the shores of this new resort lies a medley of giant green and white inflatables of different shapes and sizes, designed for climbing, playing and jumping into the island's crystal clear water.

As a result of the drop in visitors to the island, only a handful of swimmers can be seen making the most of having the Aqua Park all to themselves.

Eccentric water activities elsewhere include the island's only floating bar. Mojito Island, at the middle stretch of Chaweng beach, offers a different take on the concept of a beach bar.

Snelson conceived this one-year-old venue to offer an alternative to the island's two most popular activities - dining or swimming by the beach. The floating bar is surrounded by a number of floating white sofa beds in lieu of bar stools, allowing guests to lounge on these platforms and soak up the ocean panorama.

The bartender supplies heavily sweet mojitos while reggae music completes this atmospheric tropical hangout that moves in tandem with the gentle ocean currents.

Snelson, a sailing aficionado, visited many beach destinations to anchor this idea, including beaches in the Philippines and Indonesia, but he found this stretch of eastern Koh Samui best for his concept.

"I picked this place because the reef here protects the boat from the big seas," explains the British national. Post-summer, the winds and waters on this side of the island are calmer - hence the stability of his operation.

The popular venue sold around 4,500 mojitos at its peak in March, but since Thailand's political turmoil, many bookings on the island were canceled. Now, however, the patrons are trickling back again, particularly younger travelers who can be seen lounging on the bar's novel beds with cocktails in hand.