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Published: January 9th 2024
Our beach hut
Far nicer than we'd expectedI've been to Thailand many times..... but never actually had a beach holiday there. I thought it wasn't for me. Ha ha!
It's been so good to really relax, eat, drink, sleep , watch spectacular sunsets and hear the gentle swish of the waves on the beach just ten paces from our room, and enjoy the good company and conversation of my fellow travellers, Susan and Lisa.
We arrived on Christmas Day and left on New Year's Day. And every day is just a day and doesn't need marking on the calendar. In fact it's really cathartic for me not to know what day of the week it is and not to be bothered by that!
Every morning we had a breakfast of fresh local fruit, yoghurt and muesli and then the day stretched ahead until sunset. Most days I found a shady place under a tree (obviously NOT a coconut tree!)by the beach and read. So I finished off Natalie Haynes 'Stone Blind', Robert Harris 'Act of Oblivion' and Helen Dunmore'The Siege'. Susan and Lisa were a bit more active than me and hired bicycles to explore the island one day and a kayak to explore the
Map of Koh Mak
We're at Koh Mak Resort , top of the island bay another day.
It was a delight to see cascades of bougainvillea flowers, purple , pink and orange and the delicate dark pink hibiscus with gently swaying stamens.
One day, late afternoon we set off in a songthaew to another resort - Island Huts. There to meet up with Mirjam and her friend Babette and to have dinner and drinks on their beach. I met Mirjam a few years ago at the guest house we both love - Baansong Jum in Chiang Mai. So dear Nui, our friend and guest house owner, had put us in touch when she realised we'd both be on the same island during the same week. Mirjam is an artist and teacher in the Netherlands, and her friend Babette showed us photos of the most wonderful sculptures she creates- serene female figures sitting up with very straight backs ..... I'll have to get her to send me a photo. Their menfolk were both happy for them to escape to Thailand for a few weeks over the winter. The huts they were staying in were right on the beach, very basic but delightful and rustic. They are raised just off the sand and Babette
The beach
View from our hut said that they can hear the water under he floorboards when it's high tide at night. They first came here 12 years ago when the huts were right on the sand and the waves actually swished over the floor at night and they had to pile their belongings onto the bed!
The sunset that night was delicious and the light constantly changed from one moment to the next. We walked along the beach until we found a quiet bar/restaurant with comfy chairs and chit-chats(geckos ) on the lampshades waiting for their supper to arrive. Lovely and very generous cocktails, very good food and lots of chat and laughter. I'd like to go back there again.
I also enjoyed a gentle oil massage another day. And dare I say it? I haven't had any back ache or foot pains since I've been here.The humid warmth is definitely good for my bones.
In general the other people staying there were extended families with young children and an international mix of people looking for gentle and quiet relaxation. We had a bit of a jolt when we realised that a five day round-the -island party would be arriving on our
Koh Mak Beach
View from our hut beach one night. The party consisted of extended doof-doof music late into the night and an influx of party goers from elsewhere.Earplugs and tiredness were the antidote. And that was a few days before New Year's Eve. Staff at the resort assured us that the 'Fly To The Moon' party goers has now moved on to the other side of the island, so the rest of our stay was peaceful.
On New Year's Day we took the speedboat back to the mainland. Then we took a songtaew from the port to the bus station and picked up a mini bus for the one hour journey to Chantaburi, a small town further inland where we would spend the next few days before Susan left us to make her way back to Bangkok and a flight back to Kazakhstan and Lisa and I would travel overland and over the Cambodian border.
( And I'm way behind in writing this blog so in real time I'm just about to fly to Singapore..... so I'll catch up with writing about a few days in Cambodia when I'm there)
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