Ko Samet

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What can I say about Ko Samet? It's a small island just 200k from Bangkok and can be reached in 15 mins from the mainland, but it's so far removed from the hustle and bustle of mainland Thailand.

Considering the journey down to Pattaya which I mentioned last time, the next leg to get here was relatively painless. We got a cab (which was a squeeze) to take us to Ban Phe pier and then hired a speedboat to take us across to the island. It's so simple here, the speedboad literally just backed up to the beach we wanted and we had to get off into the water and carry our bags ashore. Glad I had my sandals on!

The beaches are fab, all dazzling white sand which is really unlike anywhere else I've been before. And the water....it's so warm at all times of the day and night. It really is like bathwater, you can swim without having to brace yourself and even when you've been in the sun for hours, it doesn't feel cold going in the sea. Amazing!

We've been pretty much doing nothing over the past few days here. Arrived on Thursday and wandered down two beaches looking for somewhere to stay. We checked two places out which weren't too good before finding somewhere called Silver Sands which has some quite nice bungalows. It's also got what has turned out to be the liveliest bar, which wasn't planned.

It's certainly been a real change of pace coming over here and was just what we all needed after the manic episodes in Bangkok and Pattaya. Days consist of getting out of bed around noon and then grabbing a late breakfast before spending the afternoon on the beach, dipping in and out of the sea. Evenings have been pretty lively too, with the aforementioned liveliest bar being our home for pretty much the whole 4 days.

We've now returned to Bangkok as the others are leaving tomorrow night and I'm heading off to Singapore on Wednesday. I've changed my plans slightly and am heading out to Oz sooner than originally intended. I'll definitely be back to Thailand though, maybe next year sometime. It's been an eye-opener, but a real treat also. And met some really interesting people along the way - it's quite staggering how many people are doing exactly what I've just done, i.e. quit my job and gone overseas.

I've finally got around to extracting some photos onto a CD so have added a few to this entry. Hope you like 'em!!

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Photos

Nice sunset in Ko Samet
It's a hard life, I know...

Comments

[Lettice Leaves]

ladyboy
see you found a ladyboy in a hat after all!!