Angy and I were woken up at around 4:45 am, give or take 15 minutes. We got up and went about our morning routine of brushing our teeth and Angy washing her face. The train man then came around and turned everyone’s beds back into seats for the remainder of the trip. The train eventually arrived in Bangkok station around 6 am and we disembarked into the station.
Of course as soon as we got out of the exit gate we were attacked by the taxi guys. “Where you wanna go?” The first guys were trying to charge like 300 baht ($9) to go to the bus station that we need to go to. Then they were telling us that they would take us all the way to the ferry terminal in Ban Phe for 1000 Baht. Great deal except that we could take a meterd taxi to the bus station for less than 100 Baht and then a bus to Ban Phe for 200 Baht. Everybody is always trying to work some sort of scam.
So we took a metered taxi to the bus station for 110 Baht and then had to wait to take the 8 am bus to Ban Phe since we arrived too late to catch the 7 am bus. So we waited around a little bit, Angy went to the 7-11 and bought some snacks and water. We then hopped onto the bus at 7:50 and got ourselves cozy for the 3 hour bus ride to Ban Phe.
Not too much to talk about for the bus ride. It seemed to go by fairly quick, so before we knew there we were, only an hour away from the island of Ko Samet. We got off the bus and Angy had to go to the bathroom, so while she waited I talked to this girl that was traveling with her boyfriend on the same bus with us.
I asked her if they were also going to Ko Samet, and they were. So I asked if we could tag along for a little bit because we didn’t know where to catch the ferry. Angy came out and we made our way to the pier. We bought our tickets for the ferry and walked to the end of the pier to wait for our boat.
The ferries don’t actually work on any time frame. They just wait until there is at least 20 people before they load up the boat to leave. We boarded the boat and started towards the island. It was already looking like a beautiful day. I was very excited to doing a whole lot of nothing and relaxing on the beach for 6 days. No moving around, no worrying about where to go next or how to get there. Just some good R&R.
Once we arrived at the pier on Ko Samet the heckling began once again. “You want taxi? Where you wanna go?” I can’t wait until I don’t have to hear that again for awhile. The taxi (A pickup truck with bench seats) was going to charge us 100 baht a person to get to our bungalow. We said that was too high. Then the couple we met on the bus said that it is only 20 baht a person. So we negotiated accordingly.
It was a short truck ride to our bungalow. It took less than 10 minutes to get there. What a nice sound to hear the waves crashing on the shore. (I just thought that I would mention that I am typing this while sitting on a bamboo reclining lounge on the beach about 10 yards from the ocean. It soo beautiful and peaceful! It will be tough to leave to go home.) We checked in and got the key to our bungalow, equipped with a/c and hot water.
It was a nice room, not very big but everything we needed. We unpacked what was necessary and Angy took a shower while I went to rent a moto and go to the ATM for more money. Nobody has credit card machines around here and the nearest ATM is by the pier. But apparently there was a misunderstanding and Angy didn’t want me to rent a moto and get cash, so by the time I got back she was already showered up and ready to go and was wondering where the hell I was. As soon I got in the room I was barraged with a million questions.
We headed down to have some food. Angy was still pissed at me so we didn’t really say much. I had already apologized and we both decided that there was a miscommunication somewhere. I usually just have to wait for Angy to get out of crazy mode so we can actually talk about what happened.
We had some food, which usually helps Angy. Angy had chicken with basil and chilis with rice and I had a curry that was so spicy I thought I was going to die (not really, but it was pretty damn hot.) We then went to the beach and into the water. Before this Angy was upset about the room, the service, and just about everything else. She didn’t want to be here and she just wanted to go home.
It took a while but she eventually calmed down. I think she was still upset about things beause she would whine about little things every once in a while. The beach was nice and water was better, it was like bath water. The grade of the beach is so gradual that I can walk out a good 50 yards and still have my head above water.
It was very nice and relaxing. After that we decided to take advantage of the moto and headed off to a beach on the other side of the island to watch the sunset. We ended up at a nice resort and enjoyed ourselves battered and fried shrimp and a cocktail while we watched the sunset. A perfect end to the day. And we also fed our shrimp tails to a little cat that was wondering around.
Also some where at the tail end of the night when we were back in our room almost ready for bed. Angy was hungry and so was I. So I went down and ordered a cheeseburger and fries and I brought it up to eat in bed. The end
