Relaxing in Koh Samet

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August 30th 2013

Published: August 30th 2013

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el salvaje

pad Thai in Ban Phe

koh samet trip

August 21-24, 2013

After a couple of days in Bangkok, we wanted to go to the beach, take in some sun, and enjoy some nice waters. We decided to head to Koh Samet, a popular destination among local tourists because of its close proximity to Bangkok. Though the estimated time of the trip was two and a half hours, it took us over four hours to reach the beach bungalows we had reserved.

The bus ride from Bangkok left us at Ban Phe. We waited around the ferry terminal for an hour and ate some local pad Thai. The boat ride from there to the island took just under an hour. Once we got to the port at Koh Samet, a truck taxi took us to our resort. We stayed at Le Blanc on the Ao Phai area. Our first evening was spent swimming, eating food, and having drinks. Most of the restaurants and local spots were empty that first night.

The second day we decided to rent scooters (300 baht a day) and ATVs. We rode from early morning to the early evening. We rode on mostly unpaved roads, saw beautiful outlook posts,

fishermen

koh samet

swam at many amazing beaches, ate wonderful seafood, and enjoyed riding throughout the whole island. We got caught in a rainstorm that night, so we ate an early dinner. After the rains, we went on a late night ride once again. I met a wonderful couple who owned their own store and spoke about the island in general.

Our last full day on the island, we spent it at Ao Phai and enjoyed the beach all day. We took in the sun, drank local rum, read on the beach, swam, ate amazing seafood (once again), and relaxed. That evening we enjoyed our resort’s bar, while playing with the resident dog, Vodka—that little pug was awesome.

Prior to leaving for Koh Samet we heard that there had been an oil spill on the island. We thought about going elsewhere, but in the end we decided to support the tourism there. The island was beautiful, and all of the places we went were amazing. There was one area of the island closed, and I believe it was due to the ongoing cleanup and to keep people from crowding the cleanup process while taking pictures.