Chilling on Koh Samet

Today is the day when I finally arrive in Thailand. Not Bangkok, but Thailand. With all the information I gathered yesterday Udo and I head to the Eastern Bus Terminal at Ekamai. In the Taxi there we decide that this time we will go to Koh Samet, Koh Chang maybe another time. Talk about being spontaneous. The bus to Banphe, from where the ferry leaves to Koh Samet, leaves exactly the minute we get there and is kind enough to wait for us. There’s not enough time to look around but the connections seem fantastic. Pretty much every hour there are buses leaving to the major Southeastern destinations, making traveling around cheap and convenient. Our bus ride is only 157 Baht – one way, with another 100 B return for the ferry to Koh Samet. The bus is comfy and we even get water and cookies for the 4 hour scenic ride. The roads are pretty good and it’s practically not bumpy at all, strongly depending on what you compare it too, though. The bus stops in Banphe 2 minutes walk from the ‘ferry terminal’ a wooden shack and pier from which ferries and speedboats leave from. They scare us that we won’t be able to get accommodation on the island, since it’s a long holiday weekend – Friday Aug 12^th is the Queens birthday and a holiday in Thailand. We pay the 200 B entrance fee, since the island is a National Park and get on the ferry anyway. The ferry is essentially an ancient wooden boat, access is terrible and I salute the people that got on there with heavy luggage. An adventurous 45 minute ride later we arrive on Koh Samet. Crawl over 4 other boats to get to the Pier where’s some Taxi pick up trucks waiting to get everyone into the tourist areas. The pier is full with boats bringing items to the islands and bringing trash and other things back to the mainland. Good first impression, the rubbish is not just dumped in the water. And you can see that on pristine beaches and crystal clear waters.

On the boat I asked a girl for recommendations on where the go to look for accommodation and she was spot on. We walk about 15 minutes along the beach and check out 3 places and Tok’s is the nicest and cleanest. Prices are a bit higher than usual as its Holiday weekend but paying around 23 € a night for our private bungalow seems ok. Mosquitos here are fairly bad and while waiting to be shown to various rooms I got bitten a few times already. So the first purchase of the day is a bug spray which is being put to good use.

The temperatures here are wonderful and there’s a breezy wind but the humidity is terrible. The only thing helping is a dip in the bathtub warm ocean where one could just stay forever. Later there’s heavy rains so not much happening tonight. There’s loud music outside later once the rain stopped, indicating a big party. Earplug blocks it out, there’s always another party night somewhere, after all I AM on vacation right now.

Friday, Queen’s birthday today. Full day on the beach is planned. No excursions, no activities, no nothing. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! And it’s the first day I am actually having a real breakfast since I am in Thailand. They call it Thai Omelet but it’s just a regular omelet with tomatoes and onions. The menu is so extensive here they have everything, staples from around the world. Only the coffee could be better.  From the breakfast table we need to walk a whole meter to a beach spot, that I don’t intend to leave for quite a while.

The usual hawkers, like food and drink vendors, clothes sellers, henna tattoers and massage ladies approach but are by far not as pushy as on other beaches around the world. After a loooong swim in the ocean we go for a Thai massage directly on the beach. This is fantastic. For roughly 6 € you get spoiled for an hour in a setting that could be from the movies. Not much more to report here. Tanning, reading, swimming, tanning, reading, swimming. Relaxing to the music from the speakers. 80s and 90s classics are blasting in a just loud enough volume. Just before sunset my massage lady mentions that it was a very bad day for her, since it’s not busy yet and I was her only customer. Seems like I just have to get a massage again tomorrow to ensure the lovely lady can get food on the table. It’s supporting the locals just like all the conservationist want you to do ;-)