Ko Samet

Well hello there. Ok I know it's been a while and you're asking, "What has Jeremy done in Bangkok so far...?" Well this is the first of a few posts to answer that question. It's been a while since my post and I do apologize. I had been waiting to post because I had hoped to have some good pictures to include in my blog.

Ok so this first post is to talk about my trip to Ko Samet with Julie. I was pretty excited because the reason I came to Bangkok in December was to travel with Julie after she was done school. So we ended up going to Ko Samet on the weekend. It involved us meeting at Ekkamai station on the BTS (http://www.bts.co.th). The BTS is a skytrain that is quite efficient. It's nice to be able to get around Bangkok using the public transit system because it's pretty efficient and quick. Traffic is disgusting in Bangkok at the best of times! They also have an underground Subway system that is only a few years old and also quite efficient. So I've been trying to find an apartment to live in that is close to a station as I would NEVER own a car here and using taxis all day could get a bit expensive.


So we meet up and head over to the bus station and we load up on goodies at the local 7-eleven. Note: there are 7-11's at every street corner throughout Thailand. It's great, at 4am if you're craving a loaf of bread, you can go and purchase one. We have a 3 hour bus drive out of the city to get to the Ocean where we then would head on a ferry to actually get us to the island. The image on the right is a view of the area once we get to Ko Samet. It's very beautiful. Hard to believe that we can go from the crazy busy-ness of Bangkok to a quiet island only in a few hours drive and boat ride.

Once we get there, a truck drives us to a resort where Julie has stayed before. It's called Tub-Tim resort. Once we arrive, we find a nice bungalow just off the beach for about 600 baht/night. We go walk around and are surrounded by hot white sand and blue water.

We spend the next 2 days lying on the beach and going out to nice restaurants. All these resorts are right along the beach and at night they have the most romantic setup on the beach. They turn the beach into these lay-down tables with mats where you can dine and drink. This is definitely the island to take someone for a romantic getaway. We just sat there in awe of the beautiful shoreline and the pleasant warm air while eating our wonderful sauteed chicken and cashew with peppers and onions on a bed of rice or sweet and sour chicken. I think my breath was taken away a few times that night as it was so beautiful. I'm sure Julie was wishing her guy back at home could have been here.

Check this out! Here is a google map of the island of Ko Samet:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&z=12&ll=12.561266,101.46492&spn=0.163531,0.31929