text: I was panting so profusely that it appeared to the naked eye that I’d just run a marathon, sweat dripping through my eyebrows as my face flushed pink. I had just successfully climbed what felt like a thousand stairs to arrive at the foot of Koh Samui’s iconic Big Buddha. Fellow tourists clung to the few slices of shade, silently mouthing the words “wow” while fanning their faces with the flip of their wrists. After sharing a moment of zen with smiling Buddha (read: sat in shade for 5 minutes, downed entire bottle of water, enjoyed a blissful moment of ocean’s breeze) I pranced back down the stairs, strapped on my helmut, straddled my motorcycle and hit the open road.
  My sunglasses rattled over my ears as I embarked on an hour long road trip across Koh Samui. It was the early afternoon, when the temperature’s on the island reach their peak and I felt like I was driving through a bakers oven. I swerved around tuk tuk’s and paraded past chaotic road side markets while zooming along Koh Samui’s north shore. After a quick chug up a steep slope I hopped off my bike and let out a heroic “yipee!” before a smiling concierge chirped “Welcome to the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui.”