The first step of our journey was to board a small boat and ride across the ocean to the island of Koh Samed. Thank goodness that numbers are internationally known as all of the words on the signs around the station were in Thai...but we understood enough to know that there was a sailing every hour or so. We nearly got lost while trying to find the station and were a bit confused as to which station we were supposed to go to, but eventually we knew we want to get from 'Bangkok' to 'Banphe'. Good enough.
The timetable for the ferries
The day was windy; the 5 of us sat around the benches for an unobstructed view of the sea. Personally, I was excited to get to this beach resort - to be able to relax a bit and not be hurried throughout the day to get to one destination after another. The cameras came out of course - many of us snapped pictures of the lowering sun and each of us sporting a incredible hairdo from the wind's snares.
Some of the fishing boats around the ferry terminal
Sporting his hat in the sun!
And of course, taking some photos for memories :)
(I think had a temporary faux-hawk at one time. It made me feel quite cool).
The boat ride was short and sweet. Soon enough, we were on the docks of Koh Samed. The next step was to determine...how do we get to our resort?? There were other tourists aboard the boat with us and we saw that they boarded 'taxis' - which were trucks that shipped people from their origin to designation. So, we hopped on a back of a truck with a few others and set off.
The streets seemed deserted compared to the streets of Bangkok. The busiest part of this little town consisted of a few restaurants, a 7-11 (of course), and boutique stores. It was a nice sight - kids were playing on the streets, some locals were enjoying their time outside their residences in the dimming daylight. There were small apartments here and there and also older houses that were in need of repair.
The road became more curved and more bumpy as we left the residential area and into more forest and green. The beaches came into sight soon after - we were there! We were told to keep walking for a little bit and we would see the resort that we booked.
I felt the warm sand under my feet and I was already satisfied. There were restaurants along the path, lounging chairs here and there, serving bars opening for another busy night in this touristy area. We walked along the wooden planks and soon enough, we saw "Samed Villa Resort"!
The entrance was beautiful and the gardens well kept. We were excited to gain access to our room and start on our new adventure - explore the beaches, the sea, and the amenities! We found the lobby and service desk of the resort and we set off to check out our room.
It was gorgeous. The walls were painted a light green, the ceiling were high and the furniture arranged in a tasteful manner. The room had 3 beds; one bed was in a separate room. We decided that the girls would take the room and the boys would take the 2 beds outside in the common area.
We took a little longer admiring the room, setting our stuff down and changing into our swim gear. It was time to explore the beaches!
Growing up in White Rock, B.C., I must say I had great access to a nice beach. However, White Rock beach had quite rocky shores and the sand...well, you wouldn't want to roll around in it. The sand on Koh Samed was amazing. It was warm, soft and deep enough that I could bury my feet and then laugh at myself for being able to do that. It was quite entertaining.
One thing we realized was that were were all hungry. After half a day of travelling, we need to re-energize ourselves. There was a restaurant right outside our hotel so we settled ourselves down to fill our empty growling stomachs.
Now, the settling down is different from settling ourselves down in restaurants in North America (at least the ones I've been to). The seat cushions were right on the beach. The restaurant has seating with chairs and tables closer to the restaurant main area and kitchen, but we wanted to enjoy the sandy beaches. So we parked our butts on the sandy cushions and look upon the vast view of the ocean. Mmmmm, so nice.
Comfy, sandy cushions!
The seaview with our very own models!
I looked around - there were many other tables down the beach with other tourist seated and eating happily; kids yelled and kicked a ball around the beach; other people relaxed on lawn chairs closer to the water. The whole place produces a relaxing vibe.
Other people feasting on great thai food
In addition to the great food, we also enjoyed beer, fresh coconut and soft drinks.
Cheers to an amazing place!
The sun has set, but the night is still young. The sky darkened to a deep shade of blue - but hang on, what are those floating light things? It turns out that a common activity to do here is to light lanterns during the evening, set them afloat and see the drift off into the dark sky. If you've ever seen that move 'Tangled', there was a part when Rapunzel and the gentlemen were in the boat and she finally gets to see the lanterns in the sky. Basically that, but decreased the number of lanterns to about 2 or 3 at a time (otherwise it would be a fire hazard). It was a pretty cool sight.
Lanterns afloat
One thing we have been taking advantage of in Hong Kong was that we could purchase cheap alcohol at the corner store and drink it leisurely outdoors (don't judge!). Thailand was the same - so we set off after dinner to purchase some booze at the nearby convenience store and trekked our way along to beach to explore the other areas.
There were other bars offering entertainment during weekend nights (Muay Thai fighting on Friday and Saturday nights!), Top 40 music blaring off some speaker systems, which gave us a chance to groove slightly on the sand. The shore was dotted with lights from nearby business; the bars were starting to become busy as we continued our night stroll.
We saw one thing that perked our interest - a fire show coming up at of the the nearby bars. We could see that they were setting up - shirtless Thai men brought logs and wooden sticks out onto the sandy beach.
I'll probably just let the pictures do the talking as it's kind of hard to describe a fire show. It was pretty impressive - we could tell the guys were skilled and trained well for this. Swish, swish - the sticks with fire on both ends swirled around the human handling it, back and fourth and up and down. Some of the moves made the crowd gasp, some made the crowds clap.
The 3 performers
No, his head was not on fire!
And of course - what type of show would it be if the audience didn't get to participate? It was too dangerous to let one of us touch the sticks...we probably would've set the entire island on fire. So the guys brought out a contraption for limbo-ing - except the stick was on fire. So if any part of your body touched the stick that you were bending under, you would be burned. Pretty tame, eh?
Grace was brave enough to try; I definitely was not. My back is not flexible enough for that. I did, however, get a chance to go under the flames - one of the guys limbo-ed while carrying me! It was pretty intense and impressive. I could feeling the hot, licking flames near my face as we brought me through the 'Stick of Fire'.
The Stick of Fire
Grace braved it!
Kind of blurry, but there I am!
The stick continued to be lowered and brave souls volunteered themselves for the challenge. Crazily enough, the guys kept with the 'carrying people across' act, but this time it was with their teammates. I supposed there is less liability if anything were to happen D: and even the person being carried had to have some training and skill to go across unscathed.
The carrying demonstration
How low can you go??
But everything went well. The show was good, the guys were good at entertaining a crowd, and we had a fun time. We started to walk back towards our resort; it had been a long and fascinating day. We needed to rest up for new adventures the next day!
Oh, I believe Jordan went out again after we got back to our room to take pictures of surrounding areas and sights. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
A night shot of the beach with lounging dogs
Around our resort!
One of the food stalls!
Until next time! :)
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