Koh Samui

Wat Phra Yai’s 12 m (40 ft) golden Buddha on its own islet at the northeast corner, reached by a causeway, with a stair of nagas up to the terrace. Planes from the airport pass low behind it.

Five minutes on from the Big Buddha and the better temple: an eighteen-armed Guanyin and a laughing Budai standing in a lake, in bright Chinese-Thai style.

The grandfather and grandmother rocks on the shore below Lamai, two formations whose shapes need no explaining, with a folk tale attached. Silly, brief, and part of the island’s furniture.

The mummified monk: Luang Pho Daeng, who died meditating in 1973 and sits in a glass case in sunglasses, hair and nails still visibly grown. Genuinely striking rather than macabre.

A hillside of statues built by a durian farmer in the 1970s, up a steep track into the interior. Take a proper 4WD or a tour, not a scooter, and go for the jungle as much as the sculptures.

Two falls in the middle of the island: Na Muang 1 is a short walk with a swimming pool at the base, Na Muang 2 a steeper climb to a taller drop. Skip the elephant rides sold at the entrance.

Forty-two limestone islands an hour and a half northwest, with the Emerald Lake in a collapsed crater and a hard climb to the viewpoint on Koh Wua Talap. The best day trip Samui has.

Old teak shophouses on the Bophut waterfront, restaurants over the water, and a Friday night walking street. The island at its most pleasant after dark.