8/18/2009

Ko Samet, Thailand

I'm about five entries behind from all that I like to share with you, but here is a post from my recent trip to Thailand. I traveled with my friend Lisa, who is the director of Tiny Toones. Our friends Epic and Barks from Japan, who I just met the day before the trip, also traveled with us to Bangkok for a time of exploration.

The day after we arrived the four of us took a bus from the eastern bus terminal to Ban Phe, the town where you dock onto a boat to get to Ko Samet. Ko Samet is the closest island retreat for residents of Bangkok. It's not yet as touristy as most of the southern off-shore islands of Thailand, so running into a mass crowd of tourists was not a problem for us.

Our bus ride to the town was over 3 hours and cost us $6/each and our boat ride to Ko Samet was another $6. On the island there are many beaches to visit, but for our short stay we went to the most popular and closest one called Hat Sai Kaew, also known as Diamond Beach because of it's silky white sand. I knew that last part to be true the second my feet touched the beach.

The odd thing about this beach was running into so many stray dogs. Someone had to bring the dogs to the island, but why bring them over if they're going to be homeless and taking over the town? The most intimidating moment during my trip was walking the shore at night and having a dog follow and search us for food. Thankfully, another group of people walked past us and having failed to find anything on us the dog followed the other group.

Enjoy these photos from the island. I'm currently working on the video from Ko Samet, so come back to check if it's up. Also, a future entry will feature the rest of my trip in Bangkok and another video from the city. :)


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Loading onto our boat to get to Ko Samet. It's about a 30-minute ride.

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During our boat ride we passed by other smaller islands.

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On the boat we saw a lot of different huts on the water.

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Probably, my most boring beach photo. Haha.

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Some labors unloading at the dock. Doesn't the guy in the mask looks intimidating?

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Two very different boats on the same dock.

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These boys are athletic. Epic tried to teach me how to do a freeze,
but I need a lot of pratice before I can share with you.

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These sellers have fruit and cold beverages for sale. When you sit down you'll have
about 6 of them making their way to you.

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My nickname for Ko Samet is dog island for all the stray dogs.
Surprisingly, none of them go into the stores.

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We tried the Roti pancakes that are sold all over the beach. A good $1 snack.
We also played with the light from the cart for dramatic photos.

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Notice these are all young men hoping to get some money from their performance


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