The feel is so familiar. Warm, balmy, a certain smell, a certain feel of the adequate, but unattractive room….it could only be Koh Samet. This small island of the Rayong Province in the Northeastern part of the Gulf of Thailand, likes to squeeze you out of your room every morning.
While there are some new, fancy, air-conditioned accommodations that have sprung up in recent years, the hot morning sun pounds on the door of most hotels and bungalows on the island. Trying to sleep past 8 am is a pipe dream and often a sore disappointment for people recovering from too many drinks the night before.
It’s alright, though. There’s nothing about the average hotel room that makes it worth staying inside – especially when outside is glorious. Koh Samet has the whitest, powderiest, squeakiest white sand I’ve ever seen, bordered by turquoise bath-water warm sea. Of all the beaches I’ve visited – and it’s a great many – it remains my all-time favorite, even compared to other Thai islands.
All the reason to be here, all there is to do – is right outside your front door. There’s beach and only beach. Activities on Koh Samet involve renting a deck chair on the beach, swimming, eating fruit vendors sell you at your deck chair on the beach, receiving massages on the beach, getting manicures and pedicures on the beach, having your hair braided on the beach, ordering food brought to you at your deck chair on the beach, eating at nighttime seafood barbecues on the beach, drinking on the beach and watching fire twirling shows….on the beach.
If you want something more strenuous, there is jet skiing, wakeboarding, parasailing and banana boating which you can locate on, or just down the beach. If for some reason you’re one of those who can’t do just beach….you walk or rent a motorcycle to explore other beaches. There is one walking trail down the spine of the T-shaped island. It’s like the central expressway leading to more remote, less populated beaches.
The very last beach at the end of what turns into a very rocky trail is the most beautiful, pristine beach I’ve ever seen. Of course, the best thing to do there is to relax and swim in the clear, warm, crystal water. When I first saw this beach almost ten years ago, I was with a group that chartered a boat there. I tore off my shirt and jumped off the boat to swim to shore. It was magical.
I have an affinity for water – especially oceans and beaches. Koh Samet is a beach lover’s dream because it’s pure, warm, clean water with no waves, no hassles…nothing that could possibly keep you from enjoying and being one with the water.
Of course, that’s the entire appeal to all the Gulf of Thailand hot spots – calm, clear, warm water in which even a baby could swim. Koh Samui, Koh Phagnan, Koh Tao and even nearby Koh Chang are all famous for this very reason. Unlike the others which have a rampant tourism that turns them into resorts and party machines, Koh Samet keeps it quiet and simple.
That’s because there’s really nothing to do on Koh Samet. It’s not a large island – 13 square kilometers – with a length of 7km and 4 km width across the top of the “T”. It gets very little rainfall, so there’s no lush interior to explore. In fact, it imports its water from the mainland much like our beloved Patmos.
Koh Samet is essentially a tree covered, T-shaped rock with incredible white sand beaches.
I first set foot on Koh Samet a few days after 9-11. I was taking a four week course on teaching English as a foreign language at a school in Ban Phe – the small port where the ferries depart for Koh Samet. My goal was to earn a TEFL certification and go to France or somewhere in Europe and teach English for a year while living and traveling.
A friend who had recently come home after teaching for a couple of years in Japan and traveling all over Asia, had recommended the school in Ban Phe. I could get the certificate at a local community college, or do it in Thailand. Given tuition was half the price of the community college, the extra costs of going to Thailand made it a wash. The choice was clear.
I knew nothing about Ban Phe, let alone Koh Samet. From the school website and registration information, I knew there was a nearby beach. When I arrived at the school in Ban Phe and walked down the street to the beach there, I thought I was in paradise and that the local beach was all the beach there was to see.
In the mournful aftermath of 9-11, the American-Thai couple who owned and ran the school charted a boat to take us all to Koh Samet for the day – and we were welcome to stay the weekend if we wanted. Samet is only 7 km out from Ban Phe and ferries run every 20 minutes. Instead of taking us to the main beaches, we went to the last beach on the eastern shore. There, in one plunge I became eternally bonded to this small island.
My job applications for European positions oddly led me to a job in Bangkok. A British company with schools and programs in France responded to me. They sent a representative from their Bangkok operations to interview me and several others at my school.
What I didn’t understand at the time is that despite my application to their French programs, they wanted me for a college and university in Bangkok which had contracted their English language instruction to them. When I was offered a job at St. John’s College in Bangkok – a prestigious school in Thailand – I thought “Why not? Not what I planned, but it’s fun here. What the hell?” And the adventure began.
I had a few weeks between my certificate program ending and the beginning of my job, so I went traveling to most of the famed islands of southern Thailand. They were great and I had a great time.
No other beach ever measured up to Koh Samet. Nowhere else was as quiet and simple as Samet. Bangkok was never my favorite place to spend a weekend, so I frequently ran back to nearby Koh Samet’s open arms weekends and holidays. It was a passionate love affair on the beach.
Koh Samet has changed, but not tremendously. Technology finally caught up with her. She now has normal telephone lines, high-speed WiFI (that works quite well), two 7-11’s (the mark of civilization in Thailand), and two ATM’s along with them. In the old days, you had to stock up in cash in Ban Phe and shore runs to get money were not unheard of.
There are a few newer, flashier places than there used to be. One of the restaurant/bars famous for its late-night fire twirling has a new, giant, modern looking bar and stage. But everything else is the same. Beach, deck chairs, water, massages, fruit vendors and most importantly – the baby powder white sand.
I’ve changed more than Koh Samet. I’ve come back with a new love – the love of my life. I look at the world through 33 year-old eyes, instead of my 24 year-old excitement. I speak enough Thai to now understand that it’s not just a language barrier – people here really are baked and island-brained.
I’ve seen more beaches and islands in more places than I had in 2001-2002. Koh Samet is no longer my ultimate paradise. I need, want and appreciate more. I am not as devoted to her as I once was.
Still, Koh Samet remains unique. It’s an island playground dedicated to relaxation. When a deck chair becomes your base of operations from morning until sunset, you’ve found somewhere special. Emily and I will spend five days here – indulging in the other, brighter side of the Thailand experience and struggling to work when we need to – not because of the Internet, which is fine, but because it runs counter to the very soul of Koh Samet.
Sent from my iPad
