Rising Tides Raise All Ships

Our shuttle van headed out of Bangkok on a road that either I no longer recognized or on which I never have been. Most likely the latter. Thailand has built new ring roads around Bangkok to eliminate the need for North-South long-haul traffic to have to go through Bangkok. The result is that the ways in and out of the city don't resemble what I recall.

But as we got out of the city heading far enough Southeast that buildings, factories and warehouses turned into green, lush hills, rice paddies and towns sprinkled along the highway I realized that a lot of things no longer look the way I recall. Firstly, Thailand has always had a pretty impressive road infrastructure for as long as I've been coming here. But newer, nicer toll roads now exist. More significantly, twenty years ago I was always amazed at how many people would be laying or napping in little huts along the roadsides and next to fields – seemingly with nothing to do except take shade from the tropical sun. Today I saw neither napping huts nor nappers.

Ramshackle homes and businesses often made of plywood and corrugated metal lined the highways. I saw nothing exactly like those and the structures with corrugated metal roofs were usually garages, storage facilities or other non-residential use structures. Instead I saw new tract homes, car dealerships, malls, large grocery stores, and rest stops the size of small towns with multiple KFC's, innumerable other food options, multiple gas stations and clean, large public restroom structures.

As we finished our three-hour run to Ban Phe, the launching point to Ko Samet and a town I once spent a month in, the small, sleepy town was almost unrecognizable – even from just 10 years ago. The streets had retail-galore and the area around the ferry pier was crowded beyond belief. A new ferry terminal sprung up as well was a team of tuk-tuk-like vehicles to shuttle vacationers and their luggage between the pier and their boats.

The ferry system itself had changed. In 2001 there was only one reliable and reasonable way to get to Ko Samet: a 30-45 minute "ferry" of an old traditional-style blue Thai fishing boat. In 2011 when Emily and I visited Ko Samet together, nothing had changed substantially. Today, most of the boats shuttling between Ban Phe and Ko Samet were speed boats – some of them large enough to hold 40 passengers. The ferry pier had numerous speed boat operators vying for the business and between all of their boats, someone was always loading and taking off for Ko Samet.

More than any other island, Ko Samet has always had a significant number of Thai vacationers – often Bangkok residents taking weekend trips. It has always been one of the island's charms – keeping it from being strictly inhabited by foreigners and ensuring lower prices and a calmer environment than the islands that have devoted themselves to foreign tourism. Today, there were only two other foreigners in sight and crowds of vacationing Thais dressed well and clearly bringing their expendable incomes with them.

Sure, some of this can be attributed to COVID and the fact that there aren't enough foreign tourists to keep the island operating – and also to a current government relief program designed to keep the hospitality industry afloat by subsidizing the costs of Thai vacationers' hotel stays within their own country.

Still with all of that being true, what became clear to me during the three and a half hours between Bangkok and stepping onto our speedboat ferry, was that economics are truly bringing up the standard of living  - even outside of Bangkok. Rayong province is no longer a sleepy, poor backwater. Ban Phe is no longer a small fishing village making a little extra money off having a pier in the right place. And Thai roadtrippers no longer have to settle for second-rate roadside snacks – or even just one KFC per rest stop. 

Ko Samet itself furthered the story. There's now a very fancy terminal where once there was a shaky wooden pier. There are three 7-11's instead of the one that ruled the island even in 2011. many are the ATMs when in 2001 there we NO ATMs and you had to stock up on cash in Ban Phe before boarding a boat. Most of the bungalow hotels (small bungalow/cabin-type houses have long been the staple of Thai island lodging) have restaurants in front, along the beach. Almost all have renovated their restaurants and replaced cement structures with light tile or corrugated metal roofs to beautiful teak structures with equally beautiful wooden furniture. Most have renovated and upgraded their bungalows. Sure, there are still a few traditionally budget locations (oh for the days of Tok's Little Huts at 300 Baht ($6.81 in 2001 money or $10 today) a night. And many more lodging options exist both on and off-beach, many in places where nothing was built before. 

In short, Thailand's increased prosperity has come to Ko Samet and from what I can tell, largely via its own citizens.Many argue that "trickle-down economics" don't work. And there is truth to the fact that markets have to be fair and honest, quality education accessible and opportunity has to be available to all in order for a market economy to benefit its participants. But Thailand is also proof that enlarging the pie benefits everyone – or to say it another way, "rising tides raise all ships". It may be that some are canoes and other luxury liners – but an expanded, healthier economy gives room for better lives – especially when people are given equitable opportunities and chances.

That said, Ailyn did not care for anyone raising her ship and found the ride across to Samet in a bumpy speedboat to be very scary. The process of moving our seven large bags and four small ones caused by purchases too a van, a ferry terminal, a ferry dock, a speedboat, another ferry terminal, a songthaew (pickup truck taxi) and up the wrong road then down the street to the right one and into our unit was scary to Emily and me. But once we were into our place and some of the soaked-in sweat began evaporating, we realized the task was done and we were in Ko Samet – an entirely different plane of existence from Bangkok.

We lunched at a beachside restaurant, unpacked, went to the beach and swam in the calm warm water, had a long dinner, watching a fire twirling show, ate roti on the beach for dessert and came home to shower and go to bed. What happens from here should be a rinse and repeat scenario, particularly the go to the beach, swim, relax and eat aspects. We'll probably add in beachside massage too.

The only major negative of the day was not noticing another small, but important advancement on Ko Samet – the buoy markers denoting the good swimming area of Hat Saikaew (Whitesand Beach), We entered the water JUST on the other side of the buoy marker – which at first seemed to mean nothing. The soft sand of the ocean floor makes it easy to wade into Samet's water. Only, had we noticed there were some rocks that marked the end of Hat Saikaew just nearby. Turns out those rocks go into the water and form a sharp and nasty sea floor in that area. When trying to escort Sennen and Ailyn out of the water and back to the beach, I tripped on a large, sharp rock formation that jutted up below the surface, falling over with Ailyn in my arms. I kept her afloat and really, where I fell was so shallow that we were in no real danger except for the rocks that were like a multitude of razors. I tried to keep Ailyn from touch anything, but her foot hit some of the rock and bled. I called for help and Bailey managed to get her from me and hand her over to Emily who got everyone onto the sand. However, getting out of my situation involved getting cuts up and down my left leg, on my hands and feet. I walked out of the water with a fair amount of blood dripping down my left leg.

Nonetheless, Ailyn was the one who was scared and I didn't even notice how much I was bleeding until we got her calmed down and back to our beach chairs. And even then she needed a lot of calming and support for awhile, especially as she counted her scratches and cuts and wanted each to be noticed by Emily. I took the opposite approach and tried to minimize my injuries – especially to make sure Ailyn felt safe again. But at the end of the night, it kinda' hurts.

I was still able to enjoy a classic Ko Samet evening of seafood dinner on the beach followed by a fire twirling show. I'm not sure when the tradition of fire twirling on Samet began – but it predates my time in Thailand,. In fact, a girl I knew in 2001 had a thing with a Samet fire-twirler, and once she had learned some fire twirling herself, their flame died. When Emily and I were here in 2011, the shows involved about half the number of guys that performed tonight, but the content was essentially the same. I won't go into what's involved in a good, old-fashioned Samet fire-twirling since I have covered it before here. But one aspect of the show bothered me in 2011 and bothered me again tonight – children involved in the act. Young apprentice fire-twirlers, probably Sennen's age, had their moment in the spotlight. Good, bad, neutral? I'm not sure, but I have some ethical questions which I wrote about before – see here. Since fire shows happen every night on Ko Samet, we may return to this topic another day.

What I can say with more certainty is that if Ko Samet has moved up join the world, so have we. Instead of walking along the beach and picking a bungalow place as we go, we have Airbnb'd what I would call a cond-alow. Two stories, three bedrooms, two baths, air conditioned, kitchenette, large patio – but attached to other units and not classically fancy. coming from the Bangkok penthouse, this place feels like a major step down. However I've never stayed in, let alone seen anything as nice as this on Samet. By island standards, it's spacious, comfortable and well appointed. In 2011, Emily couldn't sleep between the mosquitos and heat in our bungalow. She's sound asleep in our air conditioned room as I write these words. And moreover, we have flush toilets, no mosquitos, hot water, air conditioners and a front door that uses a key rather than a padlock. This is the Taj Mahal of Ko Samet. Now for a week of island life….