Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The journey to Koh Samet from Phnom Penh was an interesting one to say the least. We suffered a 5 hour journey to Koh Kong to pass border control... the process made much easier by the fact we had a 2 month visa already in place and, also, because it was not the s***hole we travelled through before... the hell that is Poi Pet.
We made it through the border with ease, though it took fricking ages, and re-entered Thailand in high spirits. Those aforementioned high spirits did not last long however, as our minibus driver decided he would not set off until every seat on his bus had been filled. Over an hour later, having waited in the searing heat of the midday sun, the gimp finally filled his one last seat - you read it right, only 1 seat needed filling.
The journey onwards was another lengthy one, taking in excess of 5 hours again, and taking us in the direction of Rayong to it's nearest port, Ban Pe. The driver stopped right at the entrance to the pier, got our bags out for us and wasted no time... he sped away as he continued his journey to Pattaya where everyone but us was heading.
We gathered our belongings at the mouth of the pier as we were met by a lovely lady who enquired as to the journey we were taking. As we confidently declared that we were on our way to catch a pre-paid boat to get to Koh Samet, to avoid the whole... "you can stay in my guest house" spiel, she informed us that the last boat to Koh Samet had left all but 30 minutes before our arrival and that the next boat would be at 9am the following morning unless we forked out 1,000 Baht for a speed boat. I draw your attention again to the length of time our minibus driver took in waiting for that 1 last seat to be filled... what a cock!
We were devastated, tired, sweaty and generally quite pissed of at this point. 1,000 Baht was just too much to pay on our budget, even if it would have been an awesome boat journey. So we had to bite the big one and in the end decided to look for a place to stay in Ban Pe, which it has to said is a bit of a dump.
We found a hotel offering rooms cheap and went straight to bed, still fuming from what had turned out to be yet another journey gone wrong.
We woke early in the morning and headed straight for the pier... I think we were the first there, a real sign of our eagerness to get to where we wanted to go. A little while later we were finally there, albeit a day late... woohoo! We made straight for the beach, paid for our permission to be on this beautiful island and checked in to our bungalow.
I quickly fell in love with Koh Samet and, although she didn't enjoy it last year, the island soon won over Sumera's heart too. The only way I can describe it is as a paradise island. The water is crystal clear and warm, the sand a fine white grain that's a pleasure to walk on... then there's the village. It's a small island, and I loved that. The locals were the friendliest of anywhere I had journeyed to previously and I would like to make a shout out to our boy Samwan (aka Hip Hop Boy) who was a seriously cool guy and who had some seriously strange taste in white women.
For the first time on our trip, we were finally able to just chill out. We spent hours on the beach shedding our pastiness and swimming in the sea and when the heat was just too much we went to see our friend Aaron (AKA Canada) who ran a great little bar in village called Ling Ting Tong (Crazy Monkey).
Aaron was an incredibly generous individual who did everything he could for his local staff, including putting one of their children through university. His chef was a lovely old dear with a real skill in cooking curry, so... needless to say that we were there often for our meals. What was also cool was that he ran film nights and we watched many a film in his bar... and I would recommend watching Land of the Lost and Taken.
Having spent close to a week chilling we felt it was time to move on and the islands of the south east were beckoning. We booked our tickets, via Bangkok (All roads lead to Bangkok), and waved goodbye to paradise.
- comments