Lunch at Ao Pudsa Cove on Ko Samet Island.
On January 18th I got my first crown appointment and it cost just over $1,000 so I guess the days of cheap dental work in Thailand are over—Tani told me that crowns are now up to about $3,000 in the Seattle area so I guess this is a bargain. At least I am confident of Dr. Pacheree’s work that she has done for me with four veneers on my top teeth and other fillings over the years.
My appointment was at the wonderful Bumrungrad Hospital which looks more like a 5-star hotel. They ran an infrared camera temperature check and had handrail sanitizers on all escalators.
After getting the crown prep work done in the morning, I headed to the Ekamai bus station to catch one of the 4 buses I usually took to Ban Phe followed by a 1/2 hour ferry boat ride to Ko Samet. When I got there, I learned that during COVID, they had stopped selling the bus ferry boat ticket four times per day and now only offered a once-per-day minibus leaving at 8:30 AM to Ban Phe, and from there I had to book a ferry boat or speedboat to Ko Samet.
Since I missed the morning bus to Ko Samet, I ended up in Pattaya since they had several buses per day between my next week’s appointment time when I get my permanent crown and another filling since it is cheaper than staying in Bangkok. I plan on going to Ko Samet, after my next two dental appointments on January 24 and 25th.
While in Bangkok, I visited the Jim Thompson home compound and from there took a canal boat ride for about an hour up the canal before returning.
I also visited Wat Po and was disappointed to see that they replaced the old Chaya Phraya ferry boats with new, tourist boats at twice the cost—still a cheap ride for just $2.
Wat Arun from the new ferry boat
Long canal ride
After a 2-hour bus ride from Bangkok to Pattaya, there was no songthaew available, so I hopped on a moto-taxi that took me to LK Metro for 100 Baht and I saw that the hotel I usually stayed at had closed so I stayed next door at the iRover guest house and Bar for just 529 Baht per night—$16 per night. The place was packed with Australian and UK visitors who came for lots of rounds of golf, darts, and entertainment. Here are some pictures of the shuttered Walking Street area.
The curfew here for the bars and restaurants was 9 PM just like in Bangkok, none of the entertainment go-go bars or discos were open and the (in)famous Walking Street looked like a ghost town. Many places looked like they were shuttered for good.
I enjoyed my days lounging in a beach chair by the cleaned-up bay where there were very few tourists.
At night the nearby Triangle Bar had some good entertainment and the place was packed. They added food service since bars were still closed—not that many there ate anything.
I returned for my crown fitting and filling replacement on January 25 and 26th and then headed to Ko Samet.
It was a bit more difficult getting to Ko Samet than before COVID-19. It turns out there was only one minibus to Ban Phe—the harbor where you take a ferry to Ko Samet—per day that left at 8:30 AM.
As I was leaving Bangkok, I saw my old favorite food court on Soi 5 being replaced by a high rise.
When I got to Ban Phe, they required a COVID antigen test before boarding the ferry boat to Ko Samet. I had about an hour before the noon departure and the ticket agent suggested that I take a moto-taxi to the testing clinic. So I hopped on and we went about a mile where I got my antigen test within 5 minutes of arrival. She used one of the kits I had bought at 7-11 for just 45 baht—$ 1.50 USD. The moto-taxi driver waited for me and the round trip cost just 40 Baht for the moto-taxi and 200 baht for the test and certificate which I showed to the ticket agent who issued me a round trip ticket to Ko Samet on the ferry boat for 120 Baht—about $4.
After a pleasant 1/2 hour boat ride, I got on a songthaew —a pickup truck with benches on either side of the truck bed with a cover. That cost 40 baht—$1.30 to get to a nearby resort about 2 miles away.
When I came around the corner to the Ao Pudsa Bungalows there was a big construction screen where many of the beachside bungalows use to be. The neighboring resort, Samed Villa, had bought out the Ao Pudsa owners at the beginning of COVID-19 and was dismantling the oldest bungalows including those I had stayed at the beach.
The place is now called Blue Bay Bungalow and they have upgraded some of the remaining newer bungalows that were not along the beach to include a TV—all Thai languages—a refrigerator—with treats to buy, a microwave, and A/C. The guy must have felt sorry for my disappointment and surprise so he gave the place for just 1,100 baht per night—about $31 per night.
Here is one of the Blue Bay Bungalows I stayed at which was very comfortable and clean with lots of amenities.
I plan to stay here for about a week until Feb 2nd just after Chinese New Year when I will return to Bangkok and immediately take the night train south to Suri Thani on the way to Ko Samui, my next destination.
While here, I enjoyed my beach time in the comfortable lounge chairs and bean bags as well as walking to the many coves to the south and north to the main village past many resorts that either had very few tourists or had been shuttered. This is now high season and prior to COVID-19, all of these places were filled with tourists from all over the world, entertainment venues, and restaurants at capacity as well as nightclubs.
One of the resorts was called Jellyfish Bungalows which puzzled me because of the posted warning shown below about jellyfish stings and what to do about them. Then I spotted that they featured boiled jellyfish meatballs—I guess that was a form of revenge similar to my piraña dinner while in the jungle of the Amazon in Brazil a few years back.
After my initial disappointment with the demise of the Ao Pudsa Bungalows with its fan-only rooms and primitive bathrooms, I was beginning to enjoy the replacement, Blue Bay Bungalows, which was clean, brightly lit, with amenities such as a mini-refrigerator, A/C, microwave, TV, pleasant deck and comfortable chairs with a view of the Ao Pudsa cove—plus the price was about the same as two years ago when the place was at full capacity and beach chairs were mostly taken.
I enjoyed my daily oil massages that cost just 250 Baht plus tip as part of my daily routine that included walks to other coves that were just as beautiful and with a similar lack of tourists. Many of the resorts were shuttered either temporarily or permanently.
Just being in Bangkok, Pattaya, and now Ko Samet, it has been sad to see so many businesses and employees losing their livelihood because of the severe decline in the number of tourists that use to come here during the winter months filling up the streets, entertainment venues, tourist attractions, restaurants, and bars. Who knows how long this recovery will take and what changes will occur post-COVID-19. Many of the Thais I have talked to are now just returning to the tourist venues after returning to their homes in the distant villages primarily in the Issan region where rice is the main income generator for these extended families.
Unlike my travels this summer in Greece, I have not seen nor heard many Americans while here on Ko Samet, I hear mostly Russian or different European country languages spoken by the few nearby tourists along with Thai tourists. I saw a TV report that said the top four visitors to Thailand were from Russia, the UK, Germany, and the USA with about 10,000 visitors from each in the month of January. This is such a small number of tourists compared to pre-COVID-19 days during the winter months.
It is now approaching Chinese New Year with the Year of the Tiger. This Tiger is a portrait featured on the YouTube show I watch to learn about travel in Thailand called “The Thaiger”.
Throughout Chinese New Year's Eve, I continue to hear 4-foot strings of firecrackers blowing off at some of the businesses and homes. I guess it is their way of fending off evil spirits for the upcoming year. Based on this past year, I think they ought to try a string of 8 feet of firecrackers. Several restaurant and hotel workers are wearing Chinese apparel to mark the holiday.
With my return to Bangkok after taking the morning ferry from Ko Samet to Ban Phe and the minibus that leaves at 1:30 pm for Bangkok, I am hoping I see the Chinatown activities before boarding my night train at 7:30 PM to Suri Thani to the south of Bangkok.
Here is the train station where I will take the night train.
Here are some Chinese New Year's decorations at two of the malls.
Here is the dragon dance I enjoyed two years ago.
I really enjoyed the festivities I saw there two years ago just as COVID-19 was beginning to cloud the future of travel. Early March 2020, I remember how Thailand had just banned all Chinese from traveling there, Cambodia closed its borders, so I left Ko Samet and when I got to Bangkok on March 22nd, all businesses were shuttered and the only food available was from the few street food vendors. It was then that I went to the airport and changed my ticket to return immediately instead of remaining the additional month. The lockdown was worldwide and I returned and was quarantined while recovering from getting COVID-19 on one of my two Korean Air flights back to Seattle.
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