Located on the beachfront. 1,000 baht per night for a large, clean single room with air-con, safe, refrigerator, and an en-suite with a hot shower. As an added bonus the TV in my room had football and BBC World news! The complex includes a restaurant (with lot’s of cheap seafood!), a bar, a fresh-fruit shake stall plus a burger & fries stall for a late-night snack. There are movies shown every night on the large screen TV at one of the bars. There’s a dance-floor right next to the beach that plays good music whilst the bar supplies you with inexpensive Buckets of whiskey, gin, etc. Or you can sit on the beach and watch the Fire Dancers do their thing! Recommended!

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I spent the afternoon of my second day on Koh Samet sunning myself on the beach - I've got to get rid of this T-shirt suntan! That was all well and good until I was awoken by a heavy rain shower which meant that I spent the rest of the afternoon back in my room watching a Thai music channel.

For lunch I ordered a Pad Thai with seafood from the Silver Sand Restaurant. The prawns and squid were delicious, but it was easily the worst Pad Thai that I've eaten in Thailand. No cabbage, no peanuts and, for some inexcuseable reason, no chili.

That night I ended up sat on the beach drinking a beer and watching the fire dancers. When the sun goes down the beach gets covered in large wicker mats and low tables lit by candles, the trees are decorated with paper lanterns and the bars play chilled-out ambient/lounge dance music. It's all very relaxed, but the remix of CSS's 'Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above' was shockingly terrible, having successfully managed to remove all of the songs 'sexiness'.

I was soon drinking 'Buckets' with a French speaking Canadian named Richard and four Swedish lads - one of whom, Henrik or Frederick, went to school with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for all you football fans out there!

A 'Bucket' is exactly that. A large plastic receptacle filled with ice, straws and far, far, far too much alcohol! In our case gin & tonic and the local Samsong whiskey. I ended the night by dancing drunkenly on the dancefloor before passing out on my bed. My first, and probably last, experience of 'Buckets'!


***


I eventually woke up at 11.30 am the next morning, still drunk, had a breakfast of eggs and toast with fresh orange juice and went to beach to 'sleep it off'. It was overcast, windy and occasionally spotting with rain, but nothing was going to move me and I soon fell asleep listening to my iPod.

For lunch I ate a delicious fresh baguette with some iced tea. I'm getting addicted to the stuff, especially Liptons Iced Green Tea with Honey & Lemon - I'm sipping on a bottle of it as I type this!

That night I watched the fire dancers on the beach and went to bed early, feeling sorry for myself and still suffering from the previous nights excesses! My advice: 'Buckets' - don't do it kids!

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So, Ko Samet was a great place to while away the days.

We spent 8 days there in total, and it was hard to leave! We rented a moped from our resort so that we could get around easier. I had never ridden anything except a bicycle before so was a bit apprehensive but we had no accidents, we are still in one piece, and the bike has no dents in it so I think I did pretty well. The majority of the roads on the island were not actually roads, more like dirt paths that have been worn in by the heavy useage. They were very bumpy, went alternatively very steeply up to very steeply down, and when it rained got very,very muddy!

We drove to a beach on the other side of the island to try and see the sunset but it was rather cloudy so didnt get to see much clearly, it did however have some stunning views. We did go the next day to a view point higher up the hill to the beach and got some stunning views out across the water. We spent a few days there, reading and chilling out as there was a very nice breeze and hardly saw anyone.

We spent most evenings down at one of the restaurants on the beach. They lay out mats on the sand and set out little low tables with futon type seats we sit on. At night the tide comes in until it is about three foot away from th4 end of the mats so it is a very nice atmosphere to reax in. We also saw several fire shows there, a group of six men (well two were 12 year old boys) who had performed impressive routines. We were particually impressed by the two young ones who were very skillful.

We have finally had to say goodbye to our peaceful time on Ko Samet. We caught the boat back to Nuanthip Pier and got a coach back to Bangkok where we spent the night before heading to the airport to cath a plane to Hong Kong. Back to travelling!!

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So, we have spent the last few days on Ko Samet.

On friday we checked out of the bed and breakfast around ten am and headed for the skytrain. We got off at Ekkamai station where the Eastern bus terminal is located. We bought our tickets and settled down to wait for the midday bus. Our bus didnt actually leave until twenty past twelve but we did get given a free bottle of water. The bus was a standard coach type affair, not dissimilar from the greyhound buses we had used in America and much better than we were expecting. Our journey took roughy four hours, travelling through towns that looked similar to Bangkok and then through very barren areas, with only a few shacks along the side of the road to say people were living there. We saw many cows, most were just idling by the road, eating the rather coarse looking grass. We finally arrived at a rather run down looking town, which is where our bus terminated. We collected our bags and traipsed across to the other side of the road where we found Nuanthip pier. We gave our ticket to the lady behind the counter and she told us to take a seat. Our ticket said we had to wait for twenty people before the boat would leave. Seeing as there was only one other person from the bus wanting to go on the boat and another bus wasnt expected for an hour, we figured we might be in for a bit of a wait. As it turns out we didnt have to wait too long, the lady at the desk told us to go down the pier. We then were waved onto the boat by the ancient looking guy who chuckled as we walked across the precarious plank to the boat, trying not to fall into the water with eveything we own strapped to our backs.

We sat downstairs but were waved to go upstairs by another couple that were on the boat.We followed, to find deck chairs laid out and gratefully took a seat. I guess the boat had decided not to wait as there was only five of us in total that made the crossing, which was a bit choppy in places. The weather was rather overcast, but still very muggy as were hoisted our backpacks and trudged down the pier. We were greeted by a lot of men eager to offer 'taxis'. These were actually 4x4 trucks whose flat bed had wooden planks attached to make seats. We declined as the area we wanted to try for accomodation was in the opposite direction to the popular touristy part. We walked past some shacks that had no windows, and in some cases no doors, a bit alarmed that this may be all we could afford to stay in. After much walking, and a bit of wondering if we should turn round we came upon a rather nice looking resort. We wandered up to the restaurant part to see if we could find someone to talk to and was greeted by a very friendly dog. We were a bit wary so didnt stroke her much, but she was so friendly it was hard not to. She rolled onto her back so we could rub her belly and we noticed that she had a shaved side, with evidence that she had recently had some sort of operation, which we figured meant she wasnt a stray. I named her Chuck (I dont know why, she just looked like Chuck) and she followed us as we tried to find someone to talk to. A boat came across the river on a line which started at some huts on stilts and a couple disembarked so we asked them if they knew where were could find someone to talk to. They pointed across the river so we rang the bell (the boat is kept in the middle of the water) and they sent the boat across. We had to throw our backpacks into the boat, trying to avoid the wet spots while simultaniously trying to keep our trainer shod feet dry. We managed, just about, and got hauled across on some sort of automated pulley to what turned out to be the actual restaurant for the resort. The resort was well out of our price range, 4,000B a night but we did stop to have dinner there. Our table was coffee table high, which had a glass top which meant you could look through it to the sea below. Our chairs were futon type cushions set on the ground and we dangled our legs in the gap under the table, nothing between our feet and the sea except maybe a foot of air!

We asked the resort where we could find cheaper lodging and they pointed next door, so we went over to see what their prices were, hoping it would be ok as it was getting dark. We were met by a lady and found out a double room right by the sea was 400B a night. We looked at the room and were very pleased, it was a nice tidy room with ensuite bathroom & shower, mosquito nets over all the windows and best of all Chuck was their dog! We didnt do much beyond have a shower and relax in the deck chairs outside our room that night. The shower and tap are very weird, they ebb and flow in pressure. Im not sure if this means the water is coming straight from the ocean or that it is just struggling to come from some sort of filtration tank. The next day we walked down to the main part of the island, where we had to pay 200B to enter as 98% of the island is a National Park. Here we found shacks lining the street, a seven eleven convenience store and lots of places renting mopeds & quad bikes. We walked through this to the end, where the resorts started and found pure white sandy beaches stretching all the way down the side of the island. We took our shoes off and strolled down, enjoying the lovely sunny day, walking with our ankles in the water (which was warm).

We have spent our time just relaxing, it is very different here to Bangkok. We have been very lucky to stay here at Ao Klang resort (Ao means bay), the beach isnt anything we could sunbathe on but it is wonderfully peaceful; our room is the closet to the water so we are lulled to sleep by the lapping water. We also have made a firm friend in Chuck, she spends the evenings with us on the porch of our room, content to lay by our deck chairs and always greets us with great enthusiasm whenever we return. She is very well behaved, she never tries to come into the room and when fed something she takes it gently. If there was any way I could get her home I would buy her in a heartbeat. There are two other dogs here, a small rather tubby one called Wicked and a white one called Beckham, neither of which is half as friendly as Chuck. Beckham came by the other day with a coloured in mask on, he looked very comical. There is also a row of cages containing cats on the opposite side of the road to our resort, we found out that the owner of the resort has rescued the cats from all over the island and looks after them, though her mother has told her no more as it is costing them a lot to feed them all.

It is currently the rainy season and along with regular showers we have been party to some very intimidating thunderstorms. The claps of thunder are so loud that it almost makes the room shake, and the rain pours down so hard you think it must surely wash everything away, but next day everything is just the same, with the ground bone dry. We had to retreat from the porch one night due to a thunder storm and felt very guilty leaving Chuck out in it but figured she would have somewhere to shelter. We opened the door five minutes later to find she was still faithfully sitting on the porch, soaking wet and with her tail going ten to the dozen to see us. We couldn't shut the door on her again so ushered her into the room, practically having to drag her in as she is so well trained she refused to come in willingly. She crawled under the bed, more to hide incase the owner caught her and told her off than to hide from the storm and remained there until the rain stopped, which is when we let her out.

Today we decided to rent moped, we were going to move down to the busy part of the island but after we looked at a few places we decided to stay where we were. It is cheaper and much nicer here so the alternative was to hire a bike which would get us to and fro quicker. We hired it under Rachel's licence but after trying it she decided she would be too nervous so I have been the driver. I figure its ok as I have a provisional licence and as long as I dont total it there shouldnt be any problems. We want to explore the island more than just the beach, there are some good sunset spots apparently so we hope to get up to them one evening.

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We decided to go to a small island east of Bangkok called Ko Samet before flying to Hong Kong.

After a slightly confusing time buying a ticket, we found ourselves on a bus to Ban Phe, to get a boat to the island. We were abit dissappointed when we arrived to find that we had to wait for 20 people before the boat would leave, and we were 2 of 4 people waiting. However it was late in the day and I think they took pity on us because we left after about ½ hour of waiting. The crossing was slightly bumpy but over quickly enough so it wasn't too bad.

We had nowhere to stay when we arrived and decided to turn right upon leaving the port instead of left to the touristy part of the island. We trekked for a while with our heavy backpacks before getting to a nice looking sign and stopping to ask for help. It turned out that we needed to ring a bell for a rowing boat on a pulley to come and get us! We lugged our bags into the boat and made our way over. Unfortunatley it was WAY above our budget so we decided to eat dinner there and go on. Eating dinner however turned into quite an event, as the tables were about 1 ft high and after manouvering ourselves into position we found our feet dangling over the ocean – amazing!!

As soon as we finished eating we made our way back, as the light was fading and we still didn't have anywhere to stay. Luckilly the next set of building were bungalows for a reasonable price, so we opted for these and are staying right on the beach in simple but clean bungalows!! We've made friends with a couple of non rabies infected dogs called 'Chuck' and 'Beckham' and are very relaxed!

Being away from the main area has been lovely, we have walked down a couple of times to sample the bar scene and get to come back to isolation whenever we want. However it has proved to be abit of trek. After looking at some accomodation nearer the action we decided that we had quite a good deal where were are now, but wanted to get down easier. Everyone seems to ride mopeds here so we struck deal with the owners and have rented a moped for reduced rate provided we stay here til we go back to the mainland. Being the driver, I duly handed over my details and hopped on the moped. On my one I was ok, if a little nervous, however with Lisa on the back, my co-ordination went completely and instead of breaking I accelerated and shot us into a hedge on the oter side of the road. A hedge in a ditch. The bike landed on us but we both scrambled out unscathed but for a very bruised leg and ego, the bike had to be dragged out by the owners father..... After that incident I was too scared to get on it again, but Lisa tried her luck with the owner and her provisional liscence and they agreed to let her have a go. Needless to say she was much better than me! We have been riding around for the last couple of days quite happily, although I am still a scardeycat and have been clinging on for dear life!!

After a few days of terrible storms we have now had 2 days of beautiful weather. The sand here is so soft and squeaky due to the high silicone content, very strange. There are such a lot of stray dogs on the beach it gets annoying sometimes, but the puppies are very cute, even if Lisa wasn't impressed when 2 tried to run off with her flip flop!

In the evening a couple of the bars have a fire show which we have seen a few times. Our favourite has 6 performers, some as young as 12 years old spinning poles set on fire at an amazing speed. The performance is fantastic, with the fire spinning round so fast that your eyes cannot distinguish between the individual flames. The bar we watch it at brings mats, tables and cushions down onto the beach for the evening, so we watch the show sitting on the beach just higher than the lapping water, it is wonderful.

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Vanuit Chiang Mai zijn we weer teruggegaan met de nachtbus naar Bangkok. Daar aangekomen hebben we gelijk een ticket geboekt naar het eiland Ko Chang, vlakbij de grens van Cambodja. De eilanden in het zuiden van Thailand zijn erg regenachtig, dus vandaar naar het Oosten, waar de kans op zon het grootste is. We waren aardig verreist, maar toch vrij snel op Ko Chang een leuk hutje gevonden voor een leuke prijs vlakbij het strand. Nog even snel de zee ingegaan en toen van de avond genoten. De volgende dag heel de dag op het strand gelegen en volop zon gehad. Heerlijk uitrusten na het vele reizen ... De dag daarna hebben we een scooter gehuurd en het hele eiland rondgereden. Het weer was een stuk minder, veel bewolking en we hebben zelfs tot 3 maal toe een flinke plens regen over ons heen gehad. Verder was het een hele leuke dag en een hoop gezien. Veel mooie stranden waar we nog een uurtje op hebben gelegen en ons verfrist te hebben.

In de avond moest Michel zonodig de ventilator anders afstellen, waardoor het hele geval naar beneden kletterde en niet meer werkte ... mmm ... een hele warme nacht, waarop we al vrij snel besloten iets anders op te zoeken de volgende dag, want dit was niet te doen. Het weer was de volgende dag ook minder, veel wolken en weinig zon, dus besloten we dezelfde dag nog te vertrekken naar een ander eiland dichter bij Bangkok: Ko Samet, waar we nu zitten. Dit eiland heeft veelal goed weer en zo ook vandaag. De stranden zijn ook mooier, veel breder, en we hebben weer een mooie accommodatie gevonden. De bedoeling is dat we hier nog 5 nachten doorbrengen en lekker relaxen met hopelijk veel zon. Zaterdag willen we terugreizen naar Bangkok om daar nog 1 nacht door te brengen en de laatste inkopen te doen.

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Kohsamet is the best place on Earth. I spent 4 months there and it was the most peaceful place i have ever been. The young boy in the photo is called Tae. His mother was the cook in Gecko bar and she was like a mother to me and Tae was like a little brother to me. Anyone who is traveling to Koh Samet please stop into Gecko Bar and say hi for me.

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Not a lot happened today other than the sun finally came out, after I got fed-up of waiting for it to arrive and had booked a boat for the following day - bloody typical!

It was a glorious sunny day that I spent lounging on the beach sunning myself and resting my poor, battered feet.

I went to bed early since I had to get up at silly o'clock in the morning to catch a boat across to Banphe and then a minibus all the way back to Bangkok.

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Despite my 'early night' I still managed to sleep late, which meant that I showered, packed and checked out of my room - "No, I haven't forgotton my bright pink suitcase!" - in a frantic 15 minutes. Breakfast was a bag of fresh watermelon and pineapple bought for 20 baht from a street vendor anf I hurried/stumbled up Khao San Road - "No, I don't want a taxi, thank you." - to my pick-up point. Of course, in true traveller fashion my minibus was late, so I sat on the kerb and ate my fruit.

A rather uninspired four hour drive later and we arrived at the fishing port of Banphe. (After the stunning views of Laos, driving down an endless motorway passing ISUZU car dealerships and supermarkets is mind-numbing. Thankfully I had a bit of Mark Twain to help keep me sane!) A pleasant 30 minute boat ride later and I arrived on the small island of Koh Samet.

After paying a 400 baht admission fee - Koh Samet is a National Park - I wandered along numerous beaches looking at a variety of bungalow rooms, rejecting three until I decided upon taking a room at the Silver Sand. The prices are massively inflated - a dirty single room with a fan and a mosquito net and without a bathroom costs a ridiculous 300 baht per night.

My room at Silver Sand is costiong me 1000 baht per night - the second most expensive accommodation of my travels so far, after my first night in Bangkok - and is a pleasant enough place. My room has air-con, ensuite with a warm shower, TV, safe and a refrigerator. But it's more than double the cost that it should be. Also, the price of food and water are massively inflated.

(Rant over, so I'll continue!)

I had a quick shower and headed out to spend a few hours strolling along the beaches looking for the all important shops, bars and restaurants. The weather was glorious, the sand white and the sea warm. A hour or so later and a thunder and lightening started with the rain lashing it down. Bloody typical!

Dinner that night was a delicious Pad Thai with shrimp at The Gecko Restaurant, washed down with a beer whilst watching the lightening storm out at sea.

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Time to leave the cities behind and off to the small island of Ko Samet.  Neither of knew much about the place but it was advertised by the minibus companies so I thought why not.  In the morning we were picked up by a Toyota minivan and after a few stops we headed towards a small village that I never knew the name of and ferry to Ko Samet.

The ferry ride was very pleasant though it did to gol past the whole of Ko Samet before docking at  Na Dan.  When I say dock though that owuld be an overstatement.  A small barge met in the bay and we slowly off loaded onto it until it was overfull and then they added more.  The barge then went most of the way to the bay and then stopped about 15 meters out.  At this point we just jumped off the barge into the shallow water green and wonderfully warm water.  From there it was a short walk to the sawngthaew stop.

If you do not know what a sawngthaew is well here goes.  It is a small pickup truck, likely Nissan or Toyota, that has a couple of unpadded benches in the back to haul passengers.  I saw a few in Bangkok, many in Pattaya, and they were very common on Ko Samet.  The trouble was the dirt road on the island had not been worked on since, well I do not know if it has ever been worked on.  It was the worst road I have ever seen and I have seen some bad bush roads in northern Canada.  After 20 minutes of being bounced around we arrived at our bungalows felling like a freshly popped popcorn kernel. 

We had another small disaster on Ko Samet.  We rented a scooter to ride around the island but Benny drove.  I did not bring my driving permit from Canada and it had been years since I rode a bike forget drive one.  The road kind of scared me as well, it was part tree roots, part loose sand, part rocks and very rough.  So Benny drove and I just hung on for dear life.

After a few hours of riding we were heading back and crash.  As we were heading back the front tire went over a loose rock that slipped on the sand and next thning I knew I was on top of bike that was lying on top of Benny.  A German man and I untangled Benny from the bike and road and looked at the damage. This time the bike was ok but Benny had done a number on her knee and was bleeding quite badly.  Nothing a quick run to the drug store could not fix and a hour later she was alright just very sore and wondering if crashed were normal for me.

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Great place, delicious food (BBQ, seafood, potatoes, ...), nice staff, good place to party...and so on and so on. They offer great service! I can write a lot...but you just have to check it out! It's runned by a dutch guy. Check out the website for pics!

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and this day was simply great - exploring the different beaches, cooling down in the aircon room, walking around the island was amazing! the water is really warm and the sand is beautiful.

during the night the beaches of ko samet change into one big chain of candle/lantern lit restaurants, bars & clubs and thais and westerners alike enjoy the vacation feeling not far from bangkok.



there are beautiful ressorts and beachfront huts on the island that have direct speedboat access to the mainland but prices are still quite ok on bangkok level.



at night, you get fireshows at the beach and you never have to walk far for a banana roti or other snack i could have stayed a few days longer but it was time to get back to bangkok in order to prepare the onward journey up north to chiang mai for songkran, the thai new year

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Ko Samet is the most beautiful island I've ever been to. It's a rather small island with beautiful beaches and clear blue water. On the island of Samet the main occupation is to relax. But of course there are other things to do as well. Something that I've done twice (-03 and -05) is to go on a boat trip around the island. You get to go fishing, snorkeling and visit a shark farm. The shark farm was absolutely amazing! The've got baby sharks, turtles and pirayas.

Ko Samet is a national park circa 7 km from the main land (Rayong). The most well known beacheas are Hat Sai Kaew, Ao Phai, Ao Vong Duan, Ao Wai och Ao Kui Na Nok on the east coast and Ao Prao on the west coast.

Both of the times that I've visited Ko Samet I've stayed at Sai Kaew Beach Resort, a beautiful resort on the beach of Sai Kaew. I'd certainly recommend it!

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i went to Sa-med,a gorgeous island at gulf of thailand,with some of my friends(lots of my friends actually,we were together in like more than 20).It's my second time here and i'm still in love with Samed like always.We had LOADS of fun.My friends made me laugh all day(and night).I didn't take many photo,though,coz we paid most of our attention on drinks and parties only.Anyway,some of us went diving but some didn't including me coz i've done it before the first time i came here.While some went diving, me,A,Godji,Lah and Ploy did find something to enjoy ourselves by went "bananaboating" lol... It was lots of fun eventhough we found it quite exhausted (especially for Godji and Lah coz they had to try so damn hard to help the rest of us getting on the bananaboat everytime we fall, lol, and i won't discuss about how much we weigh, lol).We stayed there for 3 days 2 nights and we didn't want to waste those 2 nights at all,so we spent all night hanging out at this kind of outdoor pub called "Silver Sand pub".It was not bad, especially when you get all drunk and fucked up before you go there.We played many kinds of stupid game with cards ,and those who lose,just drink.These games were just hilarious ,made me laugh my ass off .Then after we got all drunk,we took off for the Silver Sand pub.Some of us were REALLY fucked up ,including me i guess lol...i said something really stupid to some foreigners there.I hope they don't mind drunk people lol.Then few minutes later i kind of passed out and i guess my lovely friends couldn't find anything more interesting to do than burying me in the sand,so they started to do it and they even shaped the sand into a penis on my body!!They showed me the pics they took the next morning,that's how i figured out i should never ever get drunk on the beach again.Anyway,getting drunk once in a while isn't all that bad ,is it??.Anyway,the common phrase that they say "pai Samed sed took rai" never turned out to be true for me, lol (sorry folks,it's a thai joke)

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ko samet is the ilha grande of bangkok, a beach island 3 hours away by bus & ferry where all the locals go on there free days to chillout & party! sounds like a great place? it is!

the plan was to spend 2 nights in ko samet to escape busy bangkok for some beaching. we took a cab to the eastern bus terminal, hopped on the bus leaving 20 minutes later which stops right next to the ferry terminal. the boat ride was nice, but a bit wet and it was great to see the first beach huts appearing on ko samet.

we did not have reservations and arrived pretty late on the island, normally not a problem. but if you arrive on a friday of a 3day weekend at 6pm that's not that great

we took the songtao to the beach we thought we will have the best chances to get a nice hut only to hear everywhere that there is nothing available... one guy came and offered a room for 500 and, lacking other options (or mood to walk around forever) we took it. and it was so bad! cockroaches, dirty, small fan, no security... everything i don't like in my rooms



chona and me are quite similar in terms of patience & drama so we were madly pissed at each other and it took us about 2 hours to deal with the fact that we have to stay together for the night hehe



as she is addicted to food the great eats on the island helped a bit to get everything back to normal and we even visited the local beachparty clubbing area next doors before spending the night in our dodgy room. next morning i went out early to find a new place and found a lovely little aircon bungalow with all the nice things missing the night before. we moved and got ready for the first beach day

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