Trips to Samed Island

Recently I had a chance to travel to Samed Island Twice. The first time was during Christmas and the second time was during new year.

I have heard of Samed for long but never had chance to go there. It's not far from Pattaya, just about an hour away by car. It was my boyfriend's thought to go there. I looked online for the information on how to get there and where we could get a boat to the island.

There are many beaches on Samed but there is one that is close to the main pier and has many restaurants and even a few pubs on it. It's a big beach called Sai Kaew. My boyfriend called it White Sand beach.

We left Bangkok on Thursday and set the GPS to the pier I looked online. It took us about 2.5 to 3 hours to get to the district where the piers to the island are. Once we turned to the road to the pier I was going to go to, there was a guy on a motorbike driving along my car and asked us if we wanted to go to Samed. He said he had a boat for us. We decided to drive after him to the pier.

We ended up at the pier of the municipality office. There was a car park with roof we could park while we were gone to the island. We paid about 80 baht per 3 nights (don't remember the exact rate). After that they took us to a table to arrange us a boat. The lady there asked us if we had a place to stay yet and we said no. She gave us a book with pictures of hotels on the island in it. We picked one for 2,000 baht. She said that price included breakfast but when we got there we found out that the breakfast was not included.

We got a boat for 3,000 baht for round trip. They gave us a ticket and on the day back we just called them one hour ahead and they came pick us up and they asked us for the ticket.

Once we got on the boat, 10 minutes later we were on the island.

We dragged our luggage to the hotel and we got a room which I didn't really like. The rooms there were not built great. One building contained 3 rooms and if you jump in one of the rooms people in the other rooms could hear and feel it. The wall was so thin. I could hear people next door snored clearly. The worse part is that there was the sand all over, on the floor, in bed, in the bathroom.

That night we walked out to the beach and walked along the beach. We sat and ate at a restaurant next to the biggest pub on the beach. I loved to sit there. They had seats by the beach close to the water. Around 8pm, a group of men was there to give us a fire show.

After the meal, we walked farther to another beach next to each other. It was quiet and pretty.

The next day we rented a scooter and drove around the island. If you plan to do so then you need to have a great skill of riding scooter. You will have to drive up and down the mountain on dirt road.

The spent the last day looking for a new and better place to stay for the next time we come back. We walked to the quiet beach we walked to the first night. There was a resort with separated houses up the hill. We got 2 rooms for 1,500 baht each, one for us and one for my boyfriend's niece who would be one the way for a visit soon.

After that we decided to leave one day earlier. We called to get the boat and an hour later we were on the way back to Bangkok.

About a week later we drove from Bangkok to Samed again. This time we had my boyfriend's niece and her boyfriend with us. We got there late on Dec 31th. We went to the same pier but different desk to get a boat with the same price. After that we took a boat to Tok's Little Hut where we made reservation last time we were there.

That night was new year eve. There were so many people on the island, so much different from a week ago. We walked to the same place we ate the first night we came during Christmas and it was hard to find available seats. The pub next to it was so crowded with people. We ordered food and had to wait for over an hour to get everything. There was a fire show just like the one we saw the first time we came.

After the meal we walked around for a bit to see the island celebrating the new year and then we walked back to our bungalow and rest.

Next morning we woke up and walked down to the beach. We sat at the restaurant and had breakfast and then walked around and saw many tents that people slept in at night. As I mentioned before that there were so many people there to celebrate the new year so all hotel got booked. We were lucky that we could find a nice place to stay during that time.

We walked from where we stayed to the beaches close to it. The first one which is next to us is called "Ao Phai". There was a very pretty restaurant at Ao Phai. They set up tables on the rock under the trees with candles on them. Sorry I couldn't get any good pictures of the restaurant. A few mores steps from there were a few restaurants. We sat there one and had some great seafood.

Next to Ao Phai is Ao Pudsa. There was a really nice resort there.

Ao Pudsa

From Ao Pudsa we walked to Ao Nuan. The way from Pudsa beach to Nuan Bay is kind of like a forest. We climbed up the rock ad walked to the trees and we got to a small private beach. After that we walked to where we stayed.

The next day we woke up early to take pictures of the sunrise.

Ao Pudsa

We left Samed that day and stopped by Pattaya and spent a couple nights there before we came back home in Bangkok.

A Driving Trip from Bangkok to Krabi [2]

The next morning we woke up early. He went to a cliff to take photos from above. After that we headed to the next province, Suratthani. Next to Suratthani is Krabi, our destination. There was a very long road from Suratthani to Krabi which no gas station or any places you can stop.

Before I write more about my trip, I would like to give you a little information about Krabi. I think Krabi is a very good place for a visit. Many interesting places for you to see, bunch of islands and mountains. Too bad that we had only 2 days to spend there so we couldnt visit them all. We missed all the island because it had been raining most of the time. Beside from the islands and mountains, there are also many caves, waterfalls and hotsprings. The best way to get a good map of Krabi is asking for it at a local place like at the hotel you stay. Its much better than what you would get from a store or the internet.

Krabi is a province located on the west coast of southern Thailand. It is believed that Krabi has been home to homo sapiens since the period 25,000 - 35,000 B.C. from some stone tools, ancient colored pictures, beads, pottery and skeletal remains found in the province's many cliffs and caves. The famouse sites for tourist are places like Phi Phi island, Lanta islands, groups of small islands, Big Headed Ghost cave, etc. Lanta is a big island composes of two islands, Lanta Lek and Lanta Yai, which you can take a car on the furry to that island with you. One of the groups of small islands has Maya beach which was on "The Beach" movie starred by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Once we arrived Krabi, we could see the environment was different from what we had seen along the way. Lots of high mountains which were like they just raise up from the surface and there were mountains everywhere you go. We drove to Ao Nang beach and once we saw the ocean there, we was surprised by the turquoise water. It was very pretty.

There was shopping area like in Samui but was quiet. I was not sure if it was because we went there during the week so we didnt see many tourists or it was normally quiet like that. I guessed there would be more tourists during the weekend. We stopped at Ao Nang beach to take some photos and look for a place we would stay then we drove to Noppharat Thara National Park which was next to the Ao Nang beach. The beach there was nice too.

After that we drove to another two different beaches and then back to Ao Nang and checked in at Sala Talay resort. It was a nice hotel with a pool access from the balcony of the rooms on the first floor.

The weather was nice that day and we bought a tour to Phi Phi and other small islands for the next day. After that we rested in our room and I had a long nap again so when I woke up it was dark already. We walked out to eat at the shopping area. Too bad that it rained when we were at the restaurant. We walked back to the hotel in the rain and it rained all night long. The next morning we woke up ealry to take the tour but it was still raining and we canceled the tour.

I had a place I wanted to go in mind so we decided to change to go there instead of taking the tour we bought.

When we spent a night in Chumphon I read from the books about a cave with prehistoric painting in Krabi and it was not too far from Ao Nang, like 50 kilometers. But before we went to that cave we stopped to see shell fossils on the way. The cave, Phi Hua To or Big Skull or Big-headed Ghost Cave, where the prehistoric painting are is in Ao Luek district. We drove for an hour and got there. There was no walking path to the cave. Only one way to get to the cave is by boat. There are kayaks for rent or you can hire a longtail boat if you dont want to do the kayaking.

We rented a kayak and had a guide with us, 400 baht each for us. My boyfriend and the guide did the pedal. He was in the front, I was in the middle and didnt do the pedal and the guide was in the back. It took us 10 minutes to get to the first cave then to the lake and the last place was the cave with prehistoric painting, Phi Hau To.

The guide said there were like 200 pictures in the cave and the name "big skull" was from some big skulls found in the cave. It is thought that the skeletons had been there for over 3,000 years ago. The cave are surrounded by mangrove forest and only 3.5 meters above sea level. After visiting the cave we went back to where we rented the kayak. He was in the back and the guide was in the front. I was still in the middle and in front of my boyfriend and he splashed some water in my shorts. Man my shorts were all wait. After that we sat at a restaurant by the river close to the place we rented the kayak and then drove back to the hotel.

The next morning we woke up early and drove all the way back to Bangkok.

It was a very good trip. I like it a lot. There are still many places I want to go for a visit and we will come back there again.

Related Article:

• A Driving Trip from Bangkok to Krabi [1]