New Year's Eve on Ko Samet

2015 came to an end more quickly than expected. I'm finding that the feeling of constant summer is really throwing off my ability to properly acknowledge time passing. There have been numerous occasions where I think it's July or August and get genuinely startled when I check my phone and see it's December (and now January). Living in a tropical climate is something completely new to me, and this was my first Christmas celebrated in the warmth. I've never been much of a beach person and I have a tendency to avoid direct sunlight, so I often questioned why I was voluntarily moving to Thailand, but it only took a few weeks for the charm of Thailand to hit me and suddenly I've become a tanner version of myself who craves the beach. So I was more than ready for New Year's break to come so I could head south back to Ko Samet Island!

We got five glorious days of vacation from school and we used our time well, heading for the island right after school ended for the week. There were a total of 10 of us staying in a house which we found on AirBnb (sign up here for $20 credit towards your first stay!) We were a crazy mix of Americans, English, Irish and Thai, and we meshed perfectly together! Most of us are English teachers through the same company of AYC and we picked up a few strays along the way to complete our happy Thai family.

Went on a bit of a hike to visit
a more secluded beach for the day

Our days consisted of no fixed schedule and no place to be except the beach, which is exactly how vacation should be. Most of my travels have taken me to a specific location or city with a huge list of things to see/do, so it's been really fun spending my vacations on islands where the only things on my list are get a nice tan and spend some time in the water.
Ko Samet island is rowdier than the smaller islands nearby and there's always a place to be each night. I had high hopes for New Year's Eve, planning to watch the fire show at Ploy Bar and then dance the night away under neon lights at Naga Bar. However, tragedy struck around 8pm on New Year's Eve and suddenly I was in the throes of my first case of food poisoning. Nausea hit hard which resulted in my New Year's date being the toilet. Definitely the most anticlimactic midnight countdown I've had in a long time. In terms of food poisoning I seemed to be on the lucky side, because I was fully recovered within 24 hours, leaving me a few days to still enjoy my vacation. I'm not 100% positive what got me sick, but about three hours before symptoms started I ate a full salad that we presume was washed with tap water as opposed to filtered water. This is what I get for trying to eat healthy!? Definitely learned my lesson on that one and will always be asking how the salad is washed from now on!

Drinking out of a coconut on the beach, life is good! 

One cool thing that I'm realizing is that Thailand really knows what it's doing when it comes to over the counter medicine. Even on the island they have a clinic ready to accept any ill or injured patients, but your first stop should always be 7-Eleven. They have an entire aisle devoted to various medicines, vitamins and supplements. I was able to buy a pill to stop nausea and found a few powders targeted towards people who had been throwing up too much which was full of nutrients to replenish everything lost through dehydration. On top of that, Emily got hit with a fever (it was a weird weekend of maladies) and was able to find a huge assortment of different medicines which worked wonders. And the best part is that everything is so cheap! We spent a grand total of $5 for a nice supply of meds and felt so much better afterwards.

Besides that little setback the time on the island was lovely as always. It was great to see some of our friends who we haven't seen since orientation in October. Although we're all teachers here we're each having such different experiences at our individual schools and it was really awesome to compare stories and see how much everyone is learning. And of course one of my personal favorite parts of vacation: warm showers! I'm slowly getting used to the chilly showers my apartment offers (that's a lie, I'm a wimp when it comes to cold water) but the warm showers are always something to look forward to when staying somewhere else for the weekend.
We spent our last evening on the island splurging on western food and playing games at our apartment and then went our separate ways back to our cities throughout Thailand to start week 11 of teaching!

Wave riding on a windy day

One thing that I might have failed to mention previously: Thailand is currently in the year 2559. They run on the Buddhist calendar so their year 0 started when Buddha reached Parinirvana. However, the thing that confuses me is that technically Thai New Year is in April and the one we just celebrated is known as "international new year" to them, yet their year still changed. I was fully expecting it to stay 2558 in Thailand and was baffled when it switched to 2559. There's already talk of the Thai New Year in April and there's always a big hoopla for it, so I'm intrigued to see if it'll be treated the same as New Year's Eve, or if perhaps it's just a weekend of celebration.  Lucky Thais though, they get two new year celebrations!

Until next time, Ko Samet :) 

Island Life in Thailand: Ko Samet

Living right on the Gulf of Thailand I'm fortunate enough to spend a lot of my free time on the islands of Thailand, but we mainly stick to the small and quiet island of Koh Larn (more info on Koh Larn here) because it's closest to our mainland location of Pattaya. However, this past weekend was our Thai friend, Papae's, birthday and she wanted to celebrate on the island of Ko Samet which is about an hour south of us by car, followed by a 50 minute ferry ride. Ko Samet carries the reputation similar to some of the party islands in the south of Thailand and I was more than eager to get a new island experience, especially because the islands we have seen so far have been extremely mellow (and because hotels have warm showers, which is something my apartment is lacking).
Within the first hour, Ko Samet did not disappoint. We made it just in time for the nightly fire show and the night went up from there. The beaches of Ko Samet are littered with various bars and restaurants, all welcoming the tourists in with the lure of neon body paint and the promise of deals on buckets (essentially a small beach bucket usually made to build sandcastles, but instead filled with your liquor of choice).  Needless to say, our evenings stretched far into the early mornings, and we spent our afternoons relaxing on one of many of Ko Samet's beautiful beaches.

Our beach for the day that we shared with about 10 other people

We stayed a short walking distance from Sai Kaew beach, which is one of the most popular beaches on the island, but that means it's also one of the most crowded beaches, both with human and boat traffic. We opted for a short hike down the east coast of the island to find a smaller and more secluded beach, which gave us the quiet atmosphere we were hoping for. Growing up on Lake Erie I have very little ocean experience and am constantly causing myself pain by opening my eyes under water or by swimming out too far into a swarm of jelly fish, but I'm sure one of these days I'll learn my lesson.

A little fire limbo to get the night started

Before moving to Thailand I knew that Asia was cheap, and I pictured myself having the life of luxury while lounging on some exotic beach. One thing that I never found mentioned anywhere in my research is that although Asia is cheap, alcohol is still the same price. This is something that continuously bums me out because a large portion of my paycheck now goes towards alcohol, which is not something I usually did in the states. During our weekend on the island I ended up spending as much on alcohol as I did on our hotel room, which is a reality that frustrates me. Obviously the logical solution would be to not drink as much, which is a habit I've easily adapted during the week days, but I still enjoy having a fun night out with the girls and splurging on a few buckets on the beach :)

Went on a little hangover trek which was a
struggle, but the view was worth it

Although I definitely get to enjoy my weekends around Pattaya, our trip to Ko Samet felt like the first true vacation and it gave us all an opportunity to act like tourists in our new country. Ko Samet is known as Bangkok's island, because it's one of the biggest and most popular islands close to Bangkok ("close" being a relative term, it's about 2.5 hours from Bangkok) and is a good weekend trip for backpackers who won't make it down south. We spent our evenings getting to know travelers who have been backpacking Asia for months at a time, but who always took the time to come back to Thailand and slow down a little on the islands. We had a great time on the island and I would definitely advise it to anyone that's in the Bangkok/Pattaya area.

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Logistical Info

The island of Ko Samet is a National Park, which means there's a 200 baht fee to enter the area. However, the payment area is on a main shopping street and we found that if you are just casually strolling along with only a backpack they won't stop you to pay the fee. Those who took song taews and motorbike taxis automatically stopped to pay the fee, but no one even glanced our way when we walked through on our own.

We spent two nights at Sea Breeze Bungalows, which were a short walk to Sai Kaew beach and also walking distance to the ferry dock, saving us the cost of a taxi ride elsewhere. Rooms were 1000 baht per night for a two person room (you could probably squeeze a third into the generous sized beds).

Like most other islands in Thailand there are a few 7-Elevens and minimarts scattered around the island, but prices are a bit higher than the mainland. Next time we plan on bringing a small supply of water and alcohol.

The fire show we saw takes place each evening at 8pm at Ploy Bar, which is located on Sai Kaew beach. Although many bars and restaurants offer a show on the island the one provided by Ploy Bar is boasted as the best and biggest show on the island.