After arriving on the brand new big bus from Bangkok to Ban Phe after a three hour journey, I walked to the end of the pier and got the ferry boat to Ko Samet for just ฿70 which was a pleasant half hour journey across the sea. Joe, my Camino, buddy from Australia, stayed behind to have breakfast.
I usually stayed at the Runa-Runa guest house in the middle of the small village off of the Hat Sai Kaew—White Sand— beach area, but they were full. So I went on booking.com and ended up staying at the Blue Ocean guesthouse just a block away from the Runa-Runa.
I quickly found the Blue Ocean guest house using Google maps. It turned out it had only been open for the past 10 months with only three units behind the retail pot shop that Jay and his wife Tiana ran.
The unit was very clean and neat and had a surfer theme with a surfboard that held the shower head. The bed was so comfortable—almost like a Tempur-pedic mattress. The place came with a hot pot as well as a mini fridge, and A/C. The satellite TV was kind of iffy and I watched the France 24 channel for some news but mostly relied on YouTube summaries of current events as well as reading 1440.
Most mornings I would first have coffee and orange juice at my guesthouse and then head to one of the restaurants for an “American” breakfast of coffee, toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, and cabbage salad—usually Chilli’s.
I went to get my daily oil massage from Da at the Sirion Massage place, but she was over at Rayong taking care of her ailing father and helping her mother. Since I was there, I got a massage from one of te others there. Da returned on Wednesday and gave me my morning massage for ฿400 including tip during the rest of my stay.
After the hour massage, my daily routine was to go to the beach for a day of relaxing, exploring and reading on one of the many resort beach chairs after doing my hourly walk along the beach.
I usually bought some pomelo, mango slices, or whole coconut from one of the the many vendors that worked the tourists along the beaches. The costs were about ฿60 or under $1.75 USD each.
On my way back from the beach, I would usually stop at 7-11 to pick up some goodies, including orange juice, sunflower seeds, and a banana. Next-door to 7-11 was a new smoothie store where I got these delicious mango smoothies. It included a half a mango piece cross-hatched covering the drink for just ฿80.
One day I hiked about 10 miles down the trail along the beach. It went over some of the headlands to other coves. I think I saw four in total. All of these other beaches have resorts and bungalows hidden away in the trees with few right along the water like I used to enjoy at the AO Pudsa Beach.
I enjoyed visiting the local monastery with its shiny white Buddha beside some guardians and two Naga banisters
I enjoyed the delicious steak dinners at the Reef restaurant where my old Pudsa Bungalows used to be. It only cost ฿560–$17– which included roasted potatoes, variety of mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and garlic, a great value and delicious.
I enjoyed having food at various restaurants along the beach as well.
One evening I enjoyed an Alpenglow that gave the sky a rose color while having Museman Curry along with a fiery strawberry soda.
One of the highlights of my stay was watching the PloyTalay fire show along the beach.
I caught the 9 AM boat from Ko Samet that returned to Ban Phe.
I returned to Bangkok taking this minivan rather than the big bus because the big bus was full. I was looking forward to enjoying the Lunar New Year in Chinatown that celebrated the year of the Snake.
I originally was scheduled to travel to Thailand and Vietnam with a Delta flight from Seattle to Bangkok beginning September 24, 2024, and returning to Seattle on December 12, 2024, using 86,000 Delta miles. However, on September 22, 2024, I was admitted to the University of Washington Harborview Emergency Room by ambulance and I was in the Intensive Care Unit for 5 days until September 27, 2024.
I suffered from a respiratory infection caused by the Haemophilus influenza along with Epiglottis with extreme difficulty breathing, swallowing, eating and talking, plus I also developed arterial fibrillation—Afib— and pneumonia. I was given lots of antibiotics, steroids, and blood thinner. After getting released, I visited the emergency rooms four different times because of follow on complications.
The good news was that I got a medical procedure called a cardioversion that shocked the Afib out of me on November 4th, and my pneumonia is gone. I was free to reschedule my trip for January 10, 2025.
Also, Delta airline refunded the 86,000 miles and the $107 airport fees, and Travelguard Insurance reimbursed me the other reservations and visa fees I had made that were not refunded.
I tried to rebook using Delta Miles but now they wanted 96,000 to 120,000 points to book a trip through them to Thailand beginning January 2025. Instead, I ended up booking through Alaska Airlines mileage points that were only 85,000 points on a partner airline, Qatar Air— voted the best airline in the industry in 2024. Airport fees this time were $145. These reservations were from January 10 to March 27, 2025.
On January 10th I took the light rail from Seattle to the airport under gloomy skies. At 5 PM, I left Seattle via Doha, Qatar, and arrived in Bangkok the morning of January 12th.
More often it seems like the airlines don’t allow you to make a seat selection unless you pay for that seat so I just ended up going to the counter and asked the agent if I could have an aisle seat and it turned out it was at the back of the plane, but that’s OK. It was quiet back there.
Since Qatar air was voted the best airline I wanted to see how different it was, but to me it was like all of the other foreign air carriers I’ve flown on which I generally consider a cut above the domestic carriers with their courteous and attentive staff, and good food. Perhaps the ratings are driven by the first class and business class passengers rather than us in the economy area.
Our plane arrived at daybreak, and since I was one of the last to get off the plane, I decided to use one of the lesser used bathrooms on the way to immigration to refresh myself and shave.
Even with that delay, the lines were extremely long since many other aircraft head landed at the same time as we had. However, I remember from the last time I was here, over on the far right side of the immigration hall they had a section for diplomats and seniors. I went over there, and there was only one person in front of me so I got through quickly with a 60 day visa on arrival for Thailand.
I used my Schwab ATM card to get ฿10,000– about US$300– at an airport ATM. They charge about ฿220 for processing regardless of the size of the amount you are withdrawing. Since Schwab reimburses me for all transaction fees. It doesn’t matter the size of the withdrawal to me, but if you don’t get reimbursed, you should take out a large amount Thai Bahts.
From the bottom level of the airport, I caught the airport train for ฿45 that takes you into downtown Bangkok and connects with the skytrain at the Phaya Thai stop. I bought a one day pass for ฿150. And rode the next skytrain to the Nana skytrain stop, and I walked to my Orchid Inn hotel on Soi 4.
After freshening up, I took the skytrain out to the weekend market to shop for a new Hawaiian shirt and to have lunch and then browse again through the mini shops.
I then took the skytrain down to the Saphan Taksin station where I boarded a yellow flag Chao Phraya ferry at a cost of ฿21 to visit Wat Pho temple. The entrance fee for foreigners had now increased to ฿300 from ฿100.
I always enjoy walking through and seeing the reclining Buddha with his ivory inlay feet and the offering bowls that ran along side the Buddha.
After that I glimpsed at some of the 1,000s of Buddha golden statutes with saffron clothed monks passing by.
On this day they had a lot of food stalls set up on the grounds and I tried some of the small taco like offerings that tasted like deserts.
There was also a large group of guys dressed up that were there to receive blessings before heading on their way home.
For a few years the ferry boat would drop you off at Wat Arun and you would take a shuttle ferry across the river, but they had recently rebuilt the Tha Tien ferry landing and my ferry side restaurant was no more since it had been torn down along with the other shops at the old rickety wharf and replaced by this new ferry boat landing for both the ferry boats and the shuttle boat to Wat Arun.
The following day was my medical tourism day starting with a morning appointment with Dr. Pacharee, my dentist since 2004, when she gave me veneers on my upper front teeth for $250 a tooth.
My last visit to the US dentist cost me $476 for a check up, and my visit to Dr. Pacharee was $117 at the Bumrungrad Hospital. I know where I’m gonna go for my future dental appointments.
I then visited the Chareon Optic office to get some clear prescription bifocals at a cost of $200, because my new glasses had an annoying yellow tint to them despite trying 3 times to get clear lenses from Zenni optical, an on-line company where I had previously received proper service,
After that, I walked to the canal Khlong Saen Saep just a few blocks north of the Bumrungrad Hospital and caught the first of two Canal boats at a cost of ฿16 that took me down to the Golden Mount Temple and Wat Saket.
On the walk up to the top of the temple, you were encouraged to ring the bells and hit the gong. This was another form of sending out blessings as you approach the Golden Mount stupa at the top.
At the bottom, there were some curious statues of different colored animals to brighten up the place.
From here, I walked back to the national stadium skytrain and took it to the King Power Mahanakhon skyscraper, the tallest building in Bangkok with a bar and sky walk on top. I got the senior rate of ฿350 rather than the ฿880 for others.
The ride up the elevator had some amazing graphics scenes on the way up as well as down.
When I got to the 78th floor, I walked over to the skywalk area and tentatively approached the area to walk on the glass that hung over the building and looked down at the buildings below. My first step was a bit tentative. They did not allow cameras within that area and we had to put on little Booties over your shoes to protect the glass.
After four nights in Bangkok, I took the Sky Train from the Nana station to Ekkami station to ride on a big new bus to Ko Samet—a three hour bus ride to Ban Phe followed by a half hour ferry boat ride to Ko Samet.
My seat mate was Joe, from Australia, who had also hiked the Camino so we swapped stories about our adventures on the Camino on the way to the island.
