Thailand - Koh Samet

Friday, June 17'th

The alarm clock goes off but no one hear it, and suddenly Shehab and I are late. We don't really know where the bus-station is but Suchera has written the address on a piece of paper, in Thai, to show to the cab-driver. We are there at 10.45 but no Sune and Suchera. To save time we pick-up the tickets but still no sign of our travelling companions. And here we are with four unrefundable bus-tickets. Uhh, they are gonna pay for this..

Half an hour later they come strolling down the platform and ask us to calm down. We'll just take the 12 O'clock instead and Suchera try to get a refund for the unused tickets, without success. Well, they weren't that expensive and we settle for some lunch, their treat.

Backpackers who travel by public transport, should take the bus from the

The buss leave right on time. During our stay in Thailand, the busses we use leave and arrive like a clockwork. I am amazed with that precision. This one have Air-condition (the 11 O'clock wouldn't) but I would rather have had a chance to drive with open windows and be able to smell the countryside. It is a first time for me with palms in that magnitude. My imagination is spoiled by too many Vietnamese-war-movies, all the time I expect a chopper to appear over the palms. This is an enchanted drive south of Bangkok with rice-fields and sparse forest-vegetation.

After three hours we are there, BAN PHE, a small sea-side village. First of all we buy tickets for the boat to take us to KHO SAMET, then something to eat, Noodles and Coke for everyone, and no ice-cubes. Out here you can't be sure that they make the ice from bottled water, we take no chance and drink our Cola hot.

From BAN PHE, boats leave regularly for NADAN, KOH SAMET from 6AM-5PM and more frequently on Saturday and Sunday. It costs you around B30 ('94) each. If travelling in group, one can also charter a fishing boat at the cost of B600-1,000 ('94) depending on the size of the boat. KOH SAMET is only about 30 minutes away by boat. On KOH SAMET or KOH KAEO PHITSADAN on which Sunthon Phu, Thailand's great poet of the early 19th century based the syory of PHRA APAIMAINI.

Travellers seeking shelter

There is still a half an hour until the boat leave so we check out the fish market by the docks. It smell of fish, but in a spicy way. On a huge table, dried and pulverized fish are displayed. I imagine this is used for making soups. There is also a souvenir-stand and Shehab and I buy a bandanna, like the one Sune and Suchera wear. Now we don't look as much like tourists anymore, or do we?

Then the boat arrive and we board. It is beautiful in the sunset, the sea is dead calm and we sail the four miles while dusk takes over. When we land at the harbor it is pitch black, only two street lamps make a faint glow. Suchera know the place to go and she find the right Jeep to take us to our destination, AO PHAI and The bungalows at Silver Sand.

The island is a national park and you have to pay an entrence fee when leaving the harbor. Since October 1'st, 1981, the Festival Department has proclaimed the KHAO LAEM YA-Samet Island Group as a national park, which also includes the island KOH KUDI, KOH KRUAI, KOH KHAM and KOH PLAI TIN.

We have to drive by the coast half way round KOH SAMET it seems. Our bungalows are the ones the farthest away. The drive is better than any

By 9PM we are there. Quickly checking in, getting our Bungalow-keys, unpacking and return to the restaurant to get something to eat before nighttime. There is not much entertainment except for a huge TV and a load of brand new movies. That night the Soccer World Cub is kicked off, Germany against the US (I think), I only saw part of the first half, remember the games take place on the other side of the world, in the US. Here in Thailand the live broadcast start at 3AM, local time. We were only a handful left at half-time when I staggered sleepily to our bungalow.

Saturday, June 18'th

We spend the morning by the beach but first a tropical breakfast, lots of fruit and pancake with banana, Out-of-this-world. Then four hours of swimming and broiling by the sun. I am well done after two hours and take refuge in the bar. Samet Island offers beautiful beaches with charming white sand, strange-shaped rocks, suitable for relaxation. The climate is always pleasantly cool with abundent rains in August and windy monsoons in

After lunch we are ready to explore the national park, this is the place to go if you have an interest in large insects. They have them all, giant spiders and the largest centipedes I have ever seen. We plan to go across the island to AO PHRAO and back, an estimated five hour trek.

At the beginning it is a fine wide gravel road but slowly it is changing into a footpath and the spiders are hanging from their web across the track. We get some good pictures but we have to walk in stooping way to avoid damaging the webs. The trail split and we choose the left track that lead upward and suddently we are high on cliffs above the water. It is blowing 'half a pelican' and while I try to spot the mainland out there in the haze, I am attacked by a two inch centipede. I am bitten in my right foot (I still have a scar). While standing still it tried to crawl down my sneaker and in my attempt to brush it of it fastened on with its tiny teeth. When we return from this trek I will take some pills against Malaria, not that it would help if it were infected but it calm me down.

At the vantage point we are suddenly surprised by the afternoon rain and we seek shelter from the rain under some vines, not that they make much of a cover. But before the drissel turn into tropical-downpour we better do something. From the cliffs we had seen a bar down in the small AO PHRAO bay nearby. We hasten back to where the trail split and continue downward, this track must lead to AO PHRAO and the bar.

The walk takes longer than expected five hours and while we sit at the AO PHRAO bar, waiting for the rain to pass it begin to get dim. We rush back across the island in the last rays of daylight, but it is made even more difficult by the fact that the rain have made the spider-webs heavy and they hang even lower across the path than before. We manage to go back in an hour, almost running. The Mosquitoes are beginning to swarm in the twilight, it is important to not stand still to avoid getting bitten. The guidebook say that there is no Malaria on this island anymore but we take no chances.

Back at Silver Sand a party is being prepared, while we come marching in with a Mosquito swarm after us. It is Saturday night, party-time so we go for a quick shower before we mingle. I wonder where all these people are coming from, there are several vacant Bungalows. They must origin from the other places down the shore, the place is getting crowded.

We have seen this beautiful local girl hang around the manager of the place and apparently she was the local hooker. This evening she has the hots for Shehab and he gets an offer he regret for the rest of the trip that he didn't take, 200 Baht (about 7$US in '94). The renting price of her Bungalow, what a bargain.

Sunday, June 19'th

Today is our last on KOH SAMET, it was a rough night with heavy partying. KOH SAMET is a popular holiday destination for the Thai but here mid-June it is off peak-season. At the party, we were almost all backpackers from the States, Europe or Australia. I remember that we wandered off from the loud music, with beers and the beach as our destination. It was fantastic to sit in the sand with the waves breaking at the cliffs down the shore. We dozed off watching the stars. No moon this night and the stars so bright, incredible.

Typically, the weather today is the best, ideal for sun-bathing but we have to check-out and leave at noon. Suchera have bought some fruit for us to eat while we wait. It is the strange looking Rambutan, A soft chestnut-like fruit with rubbery spines. You peel like a lemon, the consistency and taste is like that of a grape with one big stone. We take a walk along the beach before the Jeep take us back to the harbour. The trip back to Bangkok runs like clockwork. It is late afternoon before we get back.