Blogs from Ko Samet, Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 5

Our first impressions of this island was the usual as before: an official travel agency that told us the accommodations are totally fully booked on the whole island due to a Thai national holiday and there is only one place where we need to pay a very high price for a hotel. Me, already outsmarted all travel agents (muhaha), didn't believe a word he said. This turned out to be a good idea as we did manage to find several options, and ended up staying at the National Park's bungalows for half the price, of course. This is another place where Health and Safety rules are not known to anyone. There were electric plugs hanging outside my bungalow in the rain, the sockets inside were sparkling every time i plugged in something - so Im just ... read more

Weekend Island Getaway - July 16-18 This was trip number 12 to Thailand for me and the bug to travel all over the country side has decreased and now I am happy to relax near the beach in Pattaya/Jomtiem. I have made a lot of new friends in the last six months in Thailand which means that I am never lonely in the Land of Smiles. In the future I would also like to go to the surrounding countries of Laos, Myammar, return to Cambodia and also have a look around Vietnam. Something that was planned before this trip to Thailand was a two day vist with five of my friends (four Thai and another foreigner) to Koh Samet. I had not been there before and it's close proximity to Pattaya made it an attractive destination. ... read more

On our third morning we got a 4hr shuttle bus to Rayong, then a lil boat took us 30mins across to the island of Ko Samet. Getting on the boat by jumping off the pier onto tyres did make me think, oh my god, my trip ends here. Before a Thai man/monkey took hold of my bag, which was probably twice his size, and helped me on board. We got to the island and stood there for a few minutes like lemons shrugging our shoulders. An English lady travelling for a fortnight on her own who was also looking a little lost had a list of a few recommended resorts from her friend, so we thought we'd just go to one of those with her, as they'd obviously been tried and tested so they'd be great ... read more

Kachanaburi Hello hello hello! It's been a fair while since we've written here, mainly because we've been having too much fun to sit and write for hours! We left off at Kachanaburi, where we arrived from Chiang Mai in a day via an el cheapo flight to Bangkok and some nifty work with the local buses ($2.50 for a 3 hour journey, yes please). We arrived at the hottest time of the afternoon, and having been in northern regions for the past month and a bit (almost temperate climates), we suffered slightly in our attempt to adjust! Walking around the street for an hour with massive backpacks and black pants is NOT the best way to avoid passing out. Megan was still feeling queasy from her bout with salmonella (self-prescribed), and the whole afternoon was less ... read more

Today I was going to get up early for the sunrise, but when the alarm went off, I said to hell with it, and went back to bed. By 6:30 the dogs in the area decided it was time to either fight or start choir practice so I got up anyway. I went down to the water and did see the last bits of pink in the sky. Also, the water came in farther inshore that I had guessed it would--there was very little beach to walk on! There was almost no one out except for me, a few Thais, and one guy who did get up for the sunrise with his camera and tripod. I went back to bed around 7:30 and didn't get up until 10. We ate and hit the beach. I tried ... read more