One final Adventure

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With our final exam completed and two final days left of our trip to Thailand, a group of us decided to get out of the city and spend some time relaxing on the beach. After much research and debate we settled on a small island in the Gulf of Thailand called Ko Samet. The island itself is only about 4 square miles in size and has actually been designated a wild life refuge/national park, although many illegal resorts and bungalows still scatter the island (chalk that up to the relatively corrupt government). So about an hour after the final was complete, our group of 5 piled into the buss that we chartered to take us down to the shore (about a 3 hour drive south of Bangkok), and from there we would hop on a ferry to the island.

The bus ride was rather uneventful and we arrived at the ferry docks around 6:30pm Wednesday evening. Getting out of our buss we were a little surprised to find the area relatively deserted minus of course a plethora of stray dogs milling around. Bill and Brian stayed back to talk with our buss driver (who spoke no English) to try and communicate when we would like to be picked back up on Friday, while Marcy Chandra and I went off in search of the ferryboats. Fortunately for once we stuck out a little bit and were quickly approached by the ferry driver who was just about to leave for the island. So we quickly paid our 200 Bhat round trip fare and piled onto the boat. The Ferry consisted of an old wooden boat that was probably older than all of our combined ages, and I could tell it made a few in the group a little uncomfortable. But it was the request by the captain for all of us to put on life jackets before leaving that sent us a little over the edge. As we pulled out of the harbor and into the dark and wavy waters of the Gulf we all felt like we were heading out on the last voyage of the USS Minnow on our way to Gilligan’s Island. But after 40 minutes of bouncing around and praying, we safely arrived at the landing on Ko Samet.

When we got off the boat it was completely dark, which added to the desolate feeling of the area around the dock. There was a small sketchy restaurant, the resident 7-eleven, and a collection of locals sitting around leering at us from the backs of their pickup trucks. Needless to say this did not exactly resemble my vision of paradise, but we all decided to keep our hopes up as we started down the road in search of a place to spend the night. I don’t think we got much farther than a few blocks before we all started to second guess our plan of aimlessly walking into darkness, so we took a vote and decided to head back to the leering locals to try and get a lift. You could see they were all amused as we re-appeared from the road. But this time several of them we quick to offer us a lift to wherever on the island we wanted to go. Of course the requested fare was a whapping 200 Bhat a person (granted that's only $5 a head, but considering our hour long fares into Bangkok run about 300 Bhat total, this was clearly highway robbery). But the drive had a point when he said “what else are you going to do”, so we climbed in the back of his pickup and headed down the road towards Jep's Bungalows.

Once we made it to the official entrance to the national park we all started to feel a little better as we could see there was actually life on the island. Within a short distance from there we arrived at the cove that is home to a half dozen bungalow establishments. When we got out of the cab at Jep’s my whole opinion of the island immediately changed. The water was about 30 yards from the road, and on the beach were dozens of tables where you could hang out and have dinner and drinks while listening to the waves under starlight. To our right was a hill, which was lined with the little Bungalows we’d read so much about in our books. After inquiring about at room at reception we were pleased to find out that they had one larger bungalow with three double beds that would fit all of us for the next two nights. We confirmed that it had both a bathroom (as some of them don’t) and AC, and then paid our 2100 Bhat (roughly $11 a piece, including breakfast). After dropping off our stuff we immediately made it back down to the restaurant where we spent the rest of the night eating fresh seafood and drinking Thai beers in the sand.

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day, so we all threw on our swimsuits and headed down for a quick breakfast before spending the rest of the day on the beach. The price of our bungalow included breakfast, but I don’t think any of us were expecting much more than your typical continental fare. To our surprise however we were handed a big menu containing several Asian dishes and a whole section devoted to “American breakfasts”. We all excitedly opted for the later and even got to select a freshly made fruit shake to go with it, so it was definitely a great way to start the day. During breakfast we also noticed some signs we hadn’t seen the night before, listing out prices for various things you could rent. In addition to the usual beach fare, you could also rent scooters for a mere 100 Bhat an hour or 300 Bhat for the day. While tempted by the ridiculously cheep idea I opted out, but Bill and Brian jumped at the chance. So after breakfast they took a pair of scooters out on a tour of the island while the girls and I headed to the beach next door to find a place to camp out for the day.

While still on the same Cove as Jep’s, the resort next door had a much larger beach and local ladies that were renting out two chairs and an umbrella for only 50 Bhat a day. So we grabbed a cluster of chairs and started in on baking in the sun. And it wasn’t long before the entrepreneurial beach venders started approaching us. For the most part there were three groups: about half a dozen guys selling cheep screened sarongs, guys with binders of pictures peddling tattoos (both Henna and the real thing), and several groups of women offering Thai massages on the beach. So in addition to our sunbathing, much of the rest of the day was spent politely saying no thank you to the passers by (you’d think after the 10th “no” in a row the sarong guys would leave us along, but they sure were persistent). But by about 4 o’clock in the afternoon I had finally had my fill of just sitting in the sun and decided to take one of the nice ladies up on offer for one last massage on the beach. I was pleasantly surprised to see the prices on the beach were considerably cheaper than those in the big city (an hour Thai massage was only 200 Bhat) so I decided to upgrade to the Thai Oil Massage for only 100 Bhat more. All afternoon it had been sunny and calm, so I figured this would be the prefect ending to my day at the beach. But sure enough about 5 minutes into the massage (and after my back and arms had been coated with oil) the winds started picking up and I became an instant sand magnet. So by the time she was finished, not only had I received a great massage, I also got full body exfoliation thrown in for free.

After a quick post massage rinse in the ocean it was time to head back to our bungalow to shower and change before dinner. And after all the hard work beaching it for the day, we all were ready for another seafood feast on the beach. This time when we approached the BBQ we pretty much selected at least one of everything that came from the sea (and ended up ordering 8 entrees among the 5 of us). But with three guys among the group we weren’t about to let any of the grilled mackerel, shrimp, mussels, etc. go to waste. Of course when we were finished, between the full day of sun and the food coma, I think we all could have happily called it a night (and it was only around 8 o’clock). But we persevered and continued down the path to explore a few of the bars we hadn’t made it to the night before. It was not long however until we all called it a night, not knowing quite what would be in store for us on Friday…

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Photos

Leaving the Harbor
Ferry boat to Ko Samet

First night at Jep's
Dinner and drinks on the beach from our first night on Ko Samet

White Sandy Beaches
Early morning picture of the beach (we're camped out under the green umbrellas)

Even Stray Dogs Want to have Fun
The Stray dogs were everywhere on the beach. But this one was pretty cute to watch as he inturupted this game of frisbie and started playing keep-away.

Table Side View
View of the beach from our table at dinner on Thursday