Paradise Found: Koh Samet

On Thursday I set off along with my roommates in search of a relaxing beach. We had researched a bit more than last time and chose a small island fairly close to Bangkok that came highly recommended by our coworkers. After a three hour bus ride and a 40 minute ferry ride we arrived on Koh Samet.

Koh Samet is a national park and it appeared to me that about half of it is still jungle. It was illegal to stay overnight on Koh Samet until the early 1980s. Once the laws were changed guesthouses sprung up along the eastern coast of the island and it became a popular weekend destination for Bangkok residents. Normally there is a 200 baht entrance fee to the park, but thanks to the Queen's birthday we got in free! We had decided to hedge our bets and not book a hotel in advance. After being disappointed in Pattaya it just seemed like a better idea to scope the place out before making any commitments. We wandered (with great difficulty, as the dirt road was extremely muddy and potholed) down away from the first and most popular beach to the second beach, Hat Sai Kaeo. Since most rooms were already booked due to the holiday weekend we did end up spending more than expected... but it was still less than $20 a person. Our room was an adorable bungalow with air conditioning situated on a hill just opposite the beach.


Once settled into our bungalow, we headed straight for the beach. As soon as I settled down into my chair, a Chicago Ultimate disc was thrust into my face. Josh (a friend that I played frisbee with in Chicago) and his wife Jeanne were there! I had known that the two were on Koh Samet but had thought that they were leaving as I was arriving. I spent the rest of the day lying on the beach catching up with them, chatting with my roommates, reading Anne Bronte, and playing in the warm waves.


That night, my roommates and I had a delicious dinner on the beach and then headed to a different bar on the beach for drinks. Walking up and down the beach at night was pretty cool as most of the shoreline was filled with beachfront restaurants or shops that were open at night. Many of these restaurants had beautiful lanterns and lights swinging from the trees. Additionally, fire dancers of all sorts could be found performing up and down the beach-- including this awesome fire limbo pictured below. And yes, he made it under.

The one negative was that it began to storm at night (thanks rainy season) and the electricity went on and off several times-- staying off for at least a half hour each time and plunging the island into complete darkness. Annoying while out at a bar but much more annoying when trying to sleep. We payed good money for that air con! And to not even have the fan running... got toasty.

The next morning was more of the same. We left the beach around three in the afternoon and made it back to Bangkok around eight. Somehow it seemed as though the bus and boat rides were much longer on the way home. I'm sure we'll go back to Ko Samet in the future-- the great mix of nightlife and relatively quiet white sand beaches makes it a perfect getaway. Another positive of this trip was that we were back in Bangkok on Friday night and still had an entire weekend ahead of us!

More pictures on flickr.