Gorgeous Koh Samed (EN)

Take a pink & purple slow-boat to Samed, I say! And so we did. The sand is really too white and the sea to blue to be writing anything, but it is nice to share.... right?

We took a taxi from Hat Jomtien to Ban Phe and asked the driver to drop us off at the pier for the boat to Koh Samed. Of course he had an aunt with a 'travel service', so he dropped us off there. However, we had done our homework and 'the bible' said a ferry ticket should cost no more than 50 baht one-way, not 150 baht return. So we firmly stated we wanted to be taken to the regular pier and low and behold: he did take us there. Within 5 minutes we were on the boat and on our way!

Our 'resort' (bit of a big word here really) is on the first and busiest beach: Hat Sai Kaew. After exactly 1 minute on the Songtauw we were dropped off at our home for 4 nights.

Mornings and late afternoons are quiet on the beach. From 12-16.00 hrs though, the beach gets flooded by Russian day-trippers who come in speedboats, have a pre-set lunch and then pig-out in the (Thai-sized) deckchairs. We might yet be in for a shock as on Friday the Thai from Bangkok will arrive for their weekend-outings.
On the beach, one should quickly learn to say 'NO' firmly and decidedly. Vendors keep walking past with fresh fruit, BBQ chicken, sarongs, bedspreads and so on. And next to all those every 5 minutes you are asked if you want a massage. Thailand may not be expensive for our standards, but you can still spend a lot of dough quite easily.

Koh Samed is really a National Park, although you really wouldn't say so with all the resorts and hotels lining the beaches. Coming Saturday (we'll be in Bangkok) there's even a festival for Valentines Day: 'Koh Samed in love'. A few resorts from ours a huge stage has been build and slowly the circus is moving down the beach as stalls are being set up. Tonight they were testing the beats. I think they're fine and can be heard in Ban Phe!

Pass-time...
So what does one do on Koh Samed? One gets up and has a swim in the warm sea, reads a bit on the beach, has breakfast, goes back to the beach to read and swim a bit more. Skip the hottest part and have a siesta in your air-con room (thus also missing the Russian invasion) or take a walk along the beach, and return at around 4 o'clock for a massage on the beach. Then it's time for a shower and it's back to the beach for a drink and some scrumptious BBQ food, mainly fish. All served right ON the beach. Not above it, not near it, not next to it. ON it. There's no boulevard, the beach IS the boulevard. Low tables and cushions are laid out for lounging about. Very nice indeed. Obviously temperatures stay well above 24C, so one can't complain!

Boat-trip
Since one cannot do the above for 4 days in a row, today we did a boat-trip. One of those 'we-will-wiz-you-off-to-3-islands-serve-you-lunch-take-you-to-fishfarm'-trips that are on offer all over the beach. Whomever you might book with: you all end up going to the same places for the same money. But it was a good day. Especially the snorkeling was good. It might not be as colorful as the Red Sea, visibility might not be as clear as Ombrosgialos (Crete), but there was plenty variety of fish swimming around. Blue and yellow striped, orange and yellow polka-dotted finned creatures, sea-cucumbers, wonderful sea-urchins that seemed to have little blue 'LED'lights, clams that quickly closed when they sensed your presence and the occasional parrot-fish made for some extremely nice pass-time. The fish-farm we could have walked to - and done without. Company was good a good mix: Swedish, Chinese and French. The French couple (from Vannes, Bretagne) even made up for a lot of ignorance of their fellow countrymen we met up in Chiang Mai.

Well, the sun gives a lot of energy, but it sure does take some too, I should reload overnight for our last day of sun sea and sand! After that it's back to Bangkok, The Big Mango!