Mother Daughter Adventure Chronicles VI- Koh Samed

The Mother Daughter Adventures continue...

Well the adventure doesn't stop with Chiang Mai.  We flew out of Chiang Mai on a Saturday morning and arrived back in Bangkok a few hours later.  Then we got on an eastbound bus to Ban Phe where the ferry to Koh Samet is located.  Although the skies weren't as bright as one might hope when going to the beach, we were excited to put our feet in some sand.  We arrived at our guesthouse in the rain, and just relaxed.  It was nearing Easter so we made plans to call home and check in with folks for the holiday.

Koh Samed is a lovely, diamond shaped island.  It's a popular weekend destination for Bangkokians because it only takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  I'm lucky because Koh Samed is in the province of Rayong- I only have to take a 30 minute song thaew (truck that serves as a bus) and then the 40 minute ferry.  

Koh Samed is also popular in Thai folklore because its beaches are used for a few scenes from the famous poem Phra Aphai Mani by the poet Sunthon Phu.  Sunthon Phu is an icon of Rayong not only because of the usage of Koh Samet in his epic, but also because his father came from Klaeng, a town in Rayong province not far from the city of Rayong and Koh Samet.  The central character of the epic, Prince Aphai Mani, is guided to the island by a mermaid.  Their statues are present on Hat Said Kaew, the main beach on the island.  Sunthon Phu's statue, along with the statue of Aphai Mani can be found in Rayong, and I've even seen little statues of Aphai Mani adorning lightposts in Mae Ramphueng, a beach town closer to Rayong than Ban Phe.  

 

Koh Samed, in terms of tourism, is somewhat young.  It is still protected by the Foresty Department of Thailand as a National Park, but until 1981 it was completely closed off for overnight stays.  The beaches are beautiful, and the further you venture from the northern end where the main pier is located, the more pristine they become.  Sadly, in the short 30 years that this island has seen major numbers of visitors, it has seen a great amount of trash build-up.  It's also a bit crowded in the downtown where the pier is located, but once again, once you get to the beach your initial reaction will change.  When you've got that tasty, fruity drink in your hand and a big plate of king prawns just off the grill, feet in the sand and you're looking at the blue sky of the day become a rainbow of oranges and purples in the evening, you're in paradise.  

Look at that spread!

And for the most part, we were!  We didn't have fantastic beach weather for the few days that we were there, but it was relaxing nonetheless.  I'd say our only major snafu with that part of our adventure was a run-in with some spiky sea urchins.  We decided to do a boat trip around the island with some snorkeling.  The boat trip was alright, and it was nice to see the whole island, but we were not warned about any dangerous sea life.  I was kicking myself later and felt extremely guilty for not pointing them out sooner to mom, and sadly she learned about urchins the hard, painful way.  Needless to say, our boat adventure happy moods took a dive about then.  She was in some serious pain for a while after that, but she took it like a champ and continued to enjoy our experiences.

Weather looking a bit ominous, but we stopped at the aquariuam anyways- we stopped at the floating aquarium on our boat tour.

Hi friend!

I've always wanted to stay in one of these guesthouses.

Day is done.

 

There isn't a whole to do on Koh Samed but relax and eat tasty seafood.  If you're in the mood to party, you'll find plenty of that on the main beaches.  We stayed away from that and had a quieter Samed experience.  It was nice to have some beach time together, and time that wasn't filled with activities, especially as we both felt the end of the trip coming near.