After the train from Khao Yai we spend one night in Bangkok (we treat ourselves to air-conditioning) and jump on a minivan the next afternoon to Ban Phe, a two and a half hour ride South. Then hop on a ferry stuffed with people and goods to the island of Koh Samet. We don't get to the island until after dark and find a bungalow only after an hour of wandering down the beach. It’s Thursday and we can only stay there one night because they are already booked for the weekend. Many Thais flood the island every weekend, but at the moment it’s very peaceful and relaxed.
The next morning we manage to move closer to the heart of the beaches and to a place we can stay for the whole weekend. We spend one day soaking up the sun and scope out our options for activities. Our adventures on the menu are to rent a moto to explore the island (perhaps this wouldn’t normally be an adventure per se if it weren't for the disheveled roads and mass amounts of tourists on motos, ATVs, garbage trucks, water trucks and pickup taxis rolling up and down the island's windy hills at all hours of the day and night), we will also rent snorkeling gear to try again to have a better experience on the reefs. We cap the day off with a drink on the beach and start chatting with the bar tender, Audi. One topic leads to another and the next thing you know Ashley is getting a haircut from him right there on the beach in exchange for a yoga lesson the following afternoon. Afterward we make a feeble attempt to party a little but retire back to our bungalow before 12.
The next morning, after breakfast we moto over to the other side of the island only to determine that the rental rate for snorkeling gear is astronomical (150B/hr per person) and return to the 'cheap' side. Instead, we rent gear for the whole day for less than that. We moto back to the other side and after five minutes in the water finally, we conclude that if you are going to go snorkeling in Thailand its best to BUY YOUR OWN GEAR. We wind up taking turns for a while with the one set of semi-working goggles/tube.
Next we drive to the far end of the Island and play on the rocks for a bit, enjoy a cold coconut and soda and head back to our beach for Ashley's yoga lesson. We enjoy the ocean some more giving our gimpy gear one more try. After some frisbee on the beach we return to our bar again for happy hour. The island is much more alive now, teeming with Thais. There's music, fire shows and a beautiful, almost full moon. We eat dinner and lay on the beach watching the clouds roll over the moon listening to music from the bar over. Finally, we resign to head back to the bungalow. But just before the turn up the hill to our place we decide to peek into the bar that's absolutely packed with Thais. On the beach is a guy doing a poi show, the best we've ever seen. We watch and decide to have a drink here...and then comes the bucket. Finally, after two months we manage to participate in the night life.
Alex makes an interesting observation about the crowd at this party and it isn't until we make it to the dance floor that we learn that this is a gay bar. Of course the best party on the beach is at the gay bar. We are warmly accepted by the others on the dance floor despite our heterosexual farang status.
The next morning we say good bye to our little blue moto and walk back to the pier to catch the ferry and then minivan back to Bangkok. Our time on the island put us in a great place to call this trip complete. Abruptly, on Monday morning at 10:00am we decide its time to go home. We book a flight to Singapore the following evening in order to catch the Wed flight back to the US. (Since we're flying standby we can only fly on flights that have open seats and everything flying out of Bangkok is over sold). We spend our final days in Bangkok collecting small gifts to bring home and some foodie items we need to try our hand at Thai cooking and won't be able to find at home.
It’s been a wonderful trip, and we've had some great experiences, but mostly because we've done it together. Wish us luck on the long journey home....
