To 'Samet' all up

Jan 22-24: Koh Samet, Thailand

I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get back home and have to wait until summer before I can head to the beach. I guess the best thing is to not think about it and keep the islands coming. The weekend in question we made our way to Koh Samet which is about a 3-4 hr bus ride from Bangkok and worth every minute.

We arrived pretty late to Ban Phe (the port where you catch a boat to the island) and got some Pad Thai while we waited for the rest of our friends. On our way to the pier we made a stop at the hut of a very friendly woman who kept yelling Seep Baht Seep Baht (which means 10 baht)--clearly we had to see what she was selling for that price. Turned out it was homemade Thai moonshine...naturally we agreed, but avoided the chasers of corn and some weird olive looking thing and made our way to the boat (praying we wouldn't go blind...She seemed friendly enough!) We bartered a bit for a speed boat as the ferries were no longer running after dark and made like James Bond in a fast paced getaway for the island. In order to avoid paying the Nat'l Park entrance fee, the boat literally pulls up a little bit away for a beach and drops you off in knee deep water with your bags as you wade your way to shore. Pretty hysterical as the people on the beach are watching these Swamp monsters arise out of the water.

We sent Ryan and Jenny to book us a room and working some magic we got a 4 person room (for 7 of us!) The night was filled with exploring the island and some buckets and dancing at Naga: really cool place overlooking the beach/water. We all snuggled in safe and sound in bed and woke up on Saturday ready for some amazing free breakfast at Jep's (the place we stayed at) and some relaxing on the beach. We ended up meeting some more friends and switched our location to Sai Keaw bungalows for a little more space and a little less cost!

The day was spent lounging on beautiful Ao Phai (a seemingly endless white sand beach). I think it's safe to say that Koh Samet is my favorite island that I've been to. Ko Phi Phi I would say is more beautiful, but it's pretty touristy. Samet is bigger, so everything is spread out and even when the beach is crowded you can still find space to relax. Plus the energy on the island is awesome. For lunch we trekked (over rocks and through tiny pathways) to Ao Pudsa which is a really nice beach nestled in a cove. There we relaxed and ate good food while some of people banana-boated. For dinner we all showered and headed to Ploy's, a restaurant ON the beach where you sit on pillows at low tables and enjoy barbecue and the like. They also have an incredible fire show (emcee'd by a hysterical thai announcer with an Aussie accent who referred to the performers as Thai Chocolate Toy Boys) with choreographed routines and stunts which ended in a fire works display erupting from the fire sticks the performers were holding (we had front row seats for the action).

After the fire show we partook in some over the top beach games. We did fire limbo (a Thai beach favorite) and a rousing match of Thai vs. Farang tug-o-war ( the farang won) and we played Balloon Stomp: a game which involves rubberbanding a balloon around your ankle and running around a ring on the beach trying to stomp and pop other peoples' balloons. It was hysterical hopping around and dodging all these people trying to step on your feet. I made it to the final cut and it was between me and this Monstrous Thai man. They made us link crossed hands so that we stayed close to eachother and after 5+ minutes of tackling and jumping and throwing, etc they called it a draw. I would have preferred the solo win, but this man was actually huge, so I was happy with a tie and my life. Plus I won a hot pink whale stuffed animal, so who wouldn't be okay with that?! Reuven won his round and came out victorious with a neon yellow Minnie Mouse doll. Everyone's a winner. The rest of the night was spent back at Naga where we even fashioned a Pong table for some rousing 2 vs. 2 games on the beach. All in all a pretty successful night.

Rambutan on Ao Phai

The next day was spent mostly hanging out on the beach, reading, relaxing and eating fresh fruit from the vendors walking up and down. I got some of my favorite, Rambutan, which is this awesome bright pink/red ball with green spikey things on it. Inside is a whitish/clear ball that you munch on. Nothing gets much better than staring out into the Gulf of Thailand surrounded by white sands, eating some tropical fruit. Don't worry for all of you jealous people out there---reality snaps back rather quickly when the alarm goes off for school on Monday :)