Koh Samet

We had this Monday and Tuesday off and we decided to have a roommate bonding trip :) Me, Laurelle, Lisa, and Jill all took off on Saturday morning for the lovely island of Koh Samet. In all our excitement, we stayed up well past midnight on Friday, but we were up and ready to go by 8 (only an hour behind schedule!). We had our coffee, snacks, and luggage in hand and hopped in a taxi to take us to the bus station.
It only cost about $10 for a round trip bus ticket and ferry ride to the island, a pretty sweet deal! It took about 4 hours to get there, and we were soooo ready for the beach!




We hopped in a song tow (a truck with benches in the back) and took off for our bungalow, which only cost about $15 a night. It was very quaint and set back from all of the noise and excitement of the main beach, which was nice for quiet, but not so great when it came to getting to the beach, although the walks turned out to be quite nice.



We spent our days swimming in the water and relaxing on the beach. Unfortunately this is the rainy season, so our afternoons on Sunday and Monday were rained out and we were pretty bummed, but we still got to enjoy some sun (proof on my back... it's a bit red!).
We found some awesome restaurants and met some really cool locals and travelers. We also got massages on the beach :)









Every night after dinner there are fire shows up and down the beach. They are quite impressive. We had front row seats and watched as a man and his sons (we assumed) put on quite a show. One of them was a trainee, he couldn't have been more than 3!
They were so cute and very talented, quick to show off their moves!

Amazing Fire Baby from Elizabeth Dawson on Vimeo.

Fire Twirlers from Elizabeth Dawson on Vimeo.

We went to bed early on Saturday to the shock of our bungalow owner (it was only 10!!), but we made up for it the next night by staying out quite late. It was a full moon, and there were dance parties all up and down the beach with black lights and fun paint. We got pulled into a massive game of tug-of-war and danced the night away under the full moon (which you really couldn't see because it was cloudy, but we had fun anyways).







Monday morning we got in some beach time before the downpour began. Finally we decided to brave the rain, much to the locals entertainment, and made our way back to the pier to go home. We were soaked and cold, and although we had a fantastic time, we were ready to go home. It's so nice to have that feeling of home here now.


I can't wait to show this place to anyone who comes to visit! It's so close to Bangkok that it would be a wonderful weekend trip!