Pictures - Koh Samet

some random shots

beach chairs @ Hat Sai Kaew

the old couple enjoying the sun & the view

the little jap boy entertaining himself

the clear waters

Ao Phai

Koh Samet - Our night out fishing

sunset view of Koh Samet from the boat

a little barracuda caught just few mins after we set off

our cute fisherman on board thrawling

the spotlights for attracting the squids


beautiful colours of the sunset

Koh Samet เกาะเสม็ด (23 Aug - 30 Aug 2008)

Koh Samet is a very small island in the Rayong Province of Thailand. Beautiful beach, clear waters & very fine white sand. What more can you ask for. This island is pretty well-visited by tourists considering it's size, but most of its crowd are still very much the local Thais. Thus for me this makes it an even better reason why I would recommend this place to people. Away from the tourists and commercialising. But if you are one who needs eh more entertainment in a town, then this island may not be for you... It is a perfect place for just pure relaxation by the beach and enjoy literally the sun, the sea, the sand and the breeze.

A lot of friends thought this "ulu" island is going to be hard to get to... especially when it is me who is travelling haha. But you would be surprised how convenient it is to get there.

The most convenient for most of us is via Bangkok. In Bangkok, take a BTS train to Ekkamai station. On your left, you can see the Bangkok Eastern Bus Terminal. Look for a counter that sells Express Bus tickets to Ban Phe (not Rayong. Ban Phe is the name of the small town in Rayong from which it's easier to get to Koh Samet). The bus leaves hourly (7am - 5pm, if I'm not wrong) and it only costs about 178baht per person per way. The whole bus trip only takes 3.5 hours in a luxurious VIP bus (mind you, these buses I dare say are sometimes much better & cleaner than those you take to Malaysia).

At the Ban Phe bus station, walk across the road and straight into a dry market (good beer snacks to buy along!), and after that's where the Nathip Pier is. There's a ticketing counter for the public ferry to Koh Samet itself. It costs about 100 baht for a return ticket, the whole boat ride is about 30 mins that takes you to the Ao Na Noi Pier in Koh Samet.

From the pier you can either take the sangthaew (aka local taxi) to your resort, otherwise you can just take a slow walk down the main road cutting through the town to the entrance to the beaches. Koh Samet itself is considered a national park, so an entrance fee is collected. 40 baht if you can pass off as a local, other foreigners have to pay 200 baht. If you look young enough you can smoke your way through to get a student / child ticket which costs 100 baht.

We discovered that you can actually try and avoid paying the entrance but this is only possible is you are walking from the pier to your ideal resort... haha there is a T-junction just before the main entrance to the beach. So if you know the exact location of your resort you could possibly turn to your left or right just before the entrance to get away with the entrance fee. If you take the taxi or if the resort has their opwn boats to ferry you from Ban Phe to their resorts doorstep, you can totally forget about avoiding it. The taxi drivers will definitely stop at the entrance for the guards to collect the fee from you and if you are at ferried in to the beach direct, there will be guards at the beach waiting for you... haha yes we actually saw that... so yah..forget it...

There are a lot of resorts lined along the beach lines, you can surf around in the net to find out more, but some of the pics can be quite deceiving I must say. The travel books probably can provide you with a better idea on which beaches has what characteristics.

Okies pictures will come in the next posts....