"Hopeless Wanderer": Our first weekend getaway

After a week of "work" we (Alex, Nichole, and I) decided that we really needed a weekend away on a beach. A lot of other OEG people were already posting pictures of blue waters and buckets, and it was making us extremely jealous!

A quick blurb about where we picked for our weekend getaway -

Koh Samet (or Koh Samed) is about 4 hours away from us and it is our closest Island getaway. From Amata you have to take a mini bus to Rayong, then find your way to the Ban Phe Pier, and then you take a speedboat or a ferry to the island. Koh Samet is one of many National Parks in Thailand and upon arrival you have to pay an entrance fee. It is one of the Eastern Islands and is located in The Gulf of Thailand. Basically it is a nice island paradise south of us and isn't polluted like our local beach.

So here is how our weekend went -

We escaped "work" (I am putting work in quotations this week because we really haven't been doing much... a lot of sitting around on our phones and computers googling all the places to added to our travel lists) a little earlier because school is not in session and we headed down to the main road to catch a mini bus. We were all a little confused about this because P.Pom (our amazing coordinator) told us something our mothers told us never to do - "walk to the end of the road, wave at a white van, and jump on!" Upon arrival at the main road the moped taxi men jumped up to help us flag down a mini bus headed to Rayong. After a short wait we jumped on a very full bus where we were squashed into the back. This bus took the LONGEST way to Rayong and it stopped SO MANY times. However, when it stopped it barely stopped as people jumped off and then on. The bus driver also was on some sort of speed mission. He was going so fast sometimes that I honestly do not know how he did not wreck. Sitting in the back of the bus meant we saw nothing so Alex started to feel car sick and when space finally freed up she moved forward only to sit where a child had been throwing up - yeh that happened. We finally got to Rayong only to find out that the bus station is 30 minutes away from the pier. This was a major problem as all the taxi cabs were no longer running. Our only option was a moped taxi or some sketch man who was trying to get us into his van. So really our only option was the motorbike taxi guys and this only happened after a. we told them we would not pay that much and lowered the price, and b. we convinced Nichole she would live (please see my Ohhhh Nichole - Chapter 1 blog post).

After the rather scary and fast motorbike ride to the pier, it wasn't that complicated to get to Koh Samet. We had missed the ferry so we waited around for enough people to get on a speedboat taxi and it dropped us off right at Tok's Huts (luckily no one charged us the National Park fee because the journey to koh Samet had already dented our wallets). I am pretty sure we got the last room at Tuk's because we were in #33 and it was a very steep walk up to our hut. The place was nice and despite the reviews we got the guy to laugh when we told him Nichole would sleep at the end of our bed at our feet like a dog.

With only 2 nights, and a day and half, in Koh Samet no time was going to be wasted. We put our stuff away and got ready to have dinner and drinks! We then stopped by to say hello to some fellow OEG people who told us which places to go for drinks and some more helpful tips for Koh Samet. The major one being - don't leave your stuff alone on the beach because people will steal stuff from you. Dinner was at Jep's - expensive but good because a. we finally found Pad Thai outside of Bangkok and b. it has a lot of Western Food on the menu. I love Thai food and the spice might kill me but after eating it for so many days in a row it was nice to have a break and eat things like an English Breakfast. Yay for a rice free weekend!

Koh Samet night life was sort of tame (as in not many people crowding the bars like Bangkok) but it was fun! We had a great time and we laughed a lot. Dancing was a must and laughter only increased as we all hit the dance floor - Nichole you need to teach me your moves! We laughed until Nichole locked us out of our hut and after an hour of trying to break in, and Alex hunting down someone to unlock the door, I finally found the manager and he let us back in before the bugs could take me away. The bar man was not happy I woke him up and the next day he did not let Nichole live it down. I believe he killed an ant and threw it at her at one point of the day.

Saturday was the best day. The beach. All day. The ocean. All day. The sun. All day. I don't think you could really ask for more, I mean I wasn't complaining. Sun-downers on the beach. A dribble castle. Sun burn because I forgot to reapply after one of my swims! It was nice to just relax on the beach all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Sunday we left around 2ish. Took the ferry to the pier to save some money, hopped on a songthaew (pronounced song tow) to the bus station where we thankfully got the quick bus back to Amata! I loved Koh Samet and can't wait to go back for more beach weekends. We need to do the snorkeling tour next time - there was just didn't have time to do it all! A beach getaway was the perfect way to spend our first weekend away before work offcially starts tomorrow... Well Alex and Nichole start tomorrow. I will be planning for the next week because primary doesn't start until November 4th!