Chilaxing on Ko Samet—My Favorite Thai Island—2/27–3/72024

Toward the end of my 2024 Southeast Asia adventure, I returned to my favorite island for about a week and a half—Ko Samet.

Again I stayed at the Runa Runa guest house at a cost of $26 per night.  It is in the middle of the small village off of the Hat Sai Kaew—White Sand— beach area. 

I no longer wanted to pay the high prices for the privilege of staying right on the beach in a bungalow. Ever since  2004, I had stayed at the Ao Pudsa Bungalows for anywhere from ฿500-฿700–under $20 USD per night for a fan room right on the beach area. These bungalows were torn down during COVID -19 and were replaced by the Samed Tamarind Resort with the cost of those beach bungalows of ฿5,200 to ฿6,000 per night—$170 USD per night.

Most mornings I would first have coffee and orange juice at my guest house and then head to Chilies Restaurant for an “American” breakfast of coffee, toast, eggs and cabbage salad.

After that I would get my daily oil massage from Da at the Sirion Massage place before heading to the beach for a day of relaxing, exploring and reading on one of the many resort beach chairs.  

I usually bought some pomelo, mango slices, or whole coconut from one of the many vendors that worked the tourists along the beaches.  The costs were about ฿60 or under $1.75 USD each.

One day, I rented a motorbike for ฿400 a day—$11 USD—which included a helmet.  I did this mid week to avoid the weekend crowds.  It was an automatic and I was not a confident rider so I usually kept it under 20 km per hour.  

I travelled to the south end of the island where the Park Service had set up an information reception area with nice, clean bathrooms and sold refreshments.  I took the sunset trail to the end of the island and returned along a walkway that connected it to the sunrise trail. 

 

While out there, I had dropped my Motor bike keys and spent a nervous half hour retracing my route and luckily found them.  I should have put them in my side bag or pocket instead of using the strap around my wrist.

It must be my lucky week because while I was swimming off of Ao Phai Beach, I dropped my GoPro camera.  I dove around for about 15 minutes looking for it, and then a fellow loaned me his goggles and I searched for another 15 minutes without success. I returned the goggles to him and went to my lounge chair, and he asked me where I was sitting. I pointed it and then he went back out, and after 10 minutes, he had retrieve my GoPro. It’s just amazing the kindness of strangers.  He wouldn’t take any reward for it other than big thanks. I continue to be comforted by the kindness of strangers in all my travels.

On the way back, I headed down some dirt roads to some of the other resorts that also had some beautiful white sand beaches.  Mango shakes were my go to favorite drink at these resorts.

I visited this small Buddhist Monastery near the island village.  Early mornings I had seen a few monks walking along and receiving food, gifts and other offerings from the faithful villagers and the monks in turn chanted some prayers and blessings for these villagers.

Every night, there are several fire shows at several of the resorts and the Ploy Talay was the largest and began around 8 pm every evening.  These performer teams would stand atop each other while whirling their fiery batons.  

The finale was for some of the performers to take large bundles of kerosene soaked steel wool, light them, and then swing them rapidly around creating a cascade of whirling sparks.  Quite a dramatic ending.

At the end of my stay, I left on the 9 am big boat that cost ฿60 back to Ban Phe to catch the big bus back to Bangkok.  I, instead, ended up on a comfortable minibus for the same price ฿200 for the 3 1/2 hour drive.

After a couple days in Bangkok, I took a 2 hour bus at a cost of ฿131 down to Pattaya for a few more beach days. I then ended my time in Thailand by taking the two hour bus ride from there to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport at a cost of ฿190 on March 15th for my Singapore Air flight back to Seattle that included an overnight layover at the Singapore airport.

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