Ko Samet - Paradise, white powder sand, clear blue water....nothing more to be said!

So after my night out with the Irish girls I was feeling a little tired the next day so didn't get up quite as early as I had planned (of course!).  The girls in the Hostel were brilliant at helping me to work out how to get to Ko Samet - a mine of information!  I took a taxi further into Bangkok where there are all these private minibuses waiting for passengers, there's no set times, once they are full, they leave!  Luckily I got there and they had sold most of the seats, plus my backpack took up one of the seats so I didn't have to wait too long for it to leave.

The journey down to Ban Phe took about 3 hours where I then had to find the ferry to take across - i'm sure I got ripped off, but only by about £1 so not really the end of the world!  Where the bus dropped me off there were places selling tickets for the boats but I wasn't sure if it was the official place or not, its hard to tell. The guidebook said its 50baht a ticket to get across on the public ferry but this woman told me it was 100baht, and she was also trying to sell me on getting a speedboat instead...hmmmm....anyway - I decided to go with the 100baht a ticket as I couldn't see any other options about and then she told me I had to buy a return.......very hmmmmmmm..  I'm pretty sure I did get ripped off a bit because I then had to get into the back of this trailer type thing attached to a motorbike where they took me up the road to the right pier for the ferry.  It was a relatively small boat and I had to wait about 30 minutes for it to leave and I was watching them load it up with all the stuff they deliver to the island - all the beers, water, food bits etc.  Then we were off - I was so excited to see where I was going to end up!

The crossing took 40 minutes and at the other end you pile off (whilst attempting to not fall into the water or drop your pack in the water trying to get onto the pier at the other side) and these tuk tuk drivers pile you into trucks to deliver you to your guesthouse.  I had read about one on the internet called Naga Bungalows that sounded ok, basic, but in the middle of things (of what things there were on the island!) so I asked to be taken there.  On arrival it is a bit shabby around the edges and not pristine, but in a backpacker beach way.  I went to see the Bungalow and it was really really basic - just a bed on a raised platform with a mosquito net (with obligatory holes) and a fan in the corner - definitely a change from what i was used to but it would be dark in 30 minutes so I thought, it will do for now.  Also I was secretly very excited (not so secret now!) as I felt like it was something straight out of The Beach so really felt like I was in Thailand!

  

I dumped my bags and headed down to the lounge area which is just a big open area with surprisingly uncomfortable benches and chairs. They show 2 movies each evening down there so its a nice way to spend the early part of the evening especially when you are on your own.  I chatted a bit with some people in there and then at 9pm when the movies finished nearly everyone disappeared but I ended up chatting to another guy who was sitting finishing his beer called Chris.

Anyway he was heading off to another bar around the corner so I joined him as it wasn't quite my bed time yet!  Well you know me - the late nights are always the impromptu ones!  We had one drink and then another, and then of course another.....this was also another proper introduction to Thailand as the bar had all the girls working in it to provide "company" for men....very interesting to see....and then when they finish the music for the last song the girls all get up to mime a song in front of the band....they say its like Coyote Ugly - but the girls look a lot less happy!  Anyway the music finishes but the bar stays open and we ended up chatting to this Thai bloke and another guy from Jersey....It was a very bizarre experience because the Thai guy insisted he had never spent more than a couple of weeks in the UK in Brighton but spoke english like a cockney!  They were absolutely wasted so very very funny!  Turned out though that he had a bar up the road as well and we managed to talk him into giving us a free drink the next night if we went along!

The next morning feeling very bleary eyed it was time to explore the beaches - wow what beaches!!!  I really did feel like i had woken up in paradise.
This is the beach where I went to - it was right outside the guesthouse.  I walked quite a bit further up the coast line and this was definitely the best one that I saw...amazing, not crowded and just beautiful water.  The Island was just so nice and quiet as there's not really any cars on it, quite a few mopeds but not enough to drive you really crazy and the roads aren't proper roads, just dirt tracks.  I did decide to check out another place to stay that I read about - Jed's Bungalows, and they looked ok - air con, tv, fridge etc - but they were 150 baht more a night, and by that point I couldn't be bothered to move.  The following evening I met up with Chris again and we headed to the Sunlight bar which was the one the Thai guy owned that we met, it was pretty quiet in there so we only stayed for a couple and then stopped off for a couple more at the other bar on the way back to the bungalows where I bid him farewell as he was off to Pattaya the next day.  

Trying to think back now its a bit hard to remember what happened when but I think the next night I just had a quiet evening dinner on the beach watching the sun set and then a fireshow and an early night to recover from 3 nights out in a row.  

The last night I ended up back at the Sunlight bar but it was really really busy and I ended up meeting and chatting to loads of random people - none of who I remember the name of (mother don't have that disappointed look as you read this! - its not alchohol - its just that I met so many people)!  The nice thing about that Island was that it wasn't one of the typical islands that most people go to so the westerners I did meet were really interesting.  Anyway - that was a bit of a heavy night as I ended up staying up till morning and saw a beautiful sunrise.  Needless to say I didn't make it off the Island the next day and spent it in bed recovering from the excesses.  Finally it was back to Bangkok for a couple of nights to work out the next step.....