Exploring Paradise: Family trip to the beach (Koh Samet and Rayong)

Today we returned home from a wonderful, almost perfect (easy, cheap, fun, & memorable!) family beach vacation.  Why we never heard of Koh Samet until now, with only a few months left in our time here in Thailand, I do not know, but we will try to fix that for everyone else by sharing how wonderful this little gem is.  First of all, you have to realize that we are just comparing it to our beach trips in Railay (Krabi), Langkawi (Malaysia), Chumphon, and Rayong.  Koh Samet wins when you compare ease of getting there, overall price (including transportation, accommodation, activities, and food), beach, ambiance, etc. (though Railay still wins hands down if we are talking about a parents-only trip in the off-season).

This past weekend, we were able to fly from Chiang Mai (CNX) to U-Tapao Rayong-Pattaya (UTP) for less than $45 RT per person.  The flight is just over an hour long, easy-peasy.  Even Funny Guy can read quietly the whole time without getting bored!  Once in Rayong, there are taxis to the pier (1400 to 1800 THB one way for private taxi) but we opted to rent a car so we had more flexibility.

First, we headed to the beach near the paragliding training hill.  The little restaurant isn't much to look at but has fantastic fried rice, spicy cashew salad, and icecream.  And it's right on the beach.  The beach itself is beautiful from a distance, and grossly dirty up close.  I would have liked to organize a beach clean-up but we didn't have time.

(Koh Samet is visible from the mainland, so I worried that the beach there would be similarly dirty--I needn't have feared as it was pristine.  But more on that later.)  We spent most of our time in the shade of the restaurant enjoying the ocean views and breezes, though the kids did go exploring enough to start the trip with a thorough sunburn (oops).

My Man took his wing up to the top of the hill, but the wind was unpredictable and gusty.  It picked him up and threw him into the bushes while he was trying to kite.  Undeterred, he tried again and got a dramatically fast flight all the way down the beach and just out of site.  It wasn't perfect, but it was enough to sate his flying thirst.  We packed up and headed to Baan Phe pier to catch a ferry to the island.  The car ride was just long enough to finish our family read aloud (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children).

The ferry ride is only about 40 minutes, much to the chagrin of our children who absolutely loved it.  Funny Guy enthusiastically announced, "I've finally discovered the most ideal form of transportation!"

We spotted lots of jellies as we went, so I was nervous about the beaches but it turns out our beach was jelly-free.  Our snorkeling trip was not, but more on that later.

After checking into our hotel (Samed Pavillion, a beautiful resort with a nice pool, gardens, huge buffet breakfast, easy walk to the beach, about 10 m on a private path, and a fantastic deal on agoda), we hit the pool for a nice swim, My Man getting into the action with chicken fights and antics.  For some reason, even though there were lots of swimmers when we got there, it cleared out fast.  :P

Finally, we wandered out to the beach to see about dinner.  We sat at a table on the sand and ate while we watched our kids laugh and play and swim in the ocean as the sun set.  Really, I don't think there is anything better in this world than that.

The next morning I headed out to explore the beaches on our side of the island.  It was beautiful, so clean compared with the mainland, and almost completely deserted.

I would have liked to stay out all morning, but by 8am it was already murderously hot without any shade to be seen.  I wimped out and escaped to our room.  We passed the worst of the heat playing Phase 10, beginning an epic game that would last beyond our weekend trip even though we played during all our downtime!  We headed out at just after noon for lunch and a pre-booked snorkeling excursion to some nearby islands.  Unfortunately, the tour left early and our food took too long so only Funny Guy got any food.  Young Man and Darling Daughter were good sports about it.

The snorkeling was OK, just.  I have found that snorkeling trips are really hit or miss.  The one we took from Railay was a disaster (almost no actual snorkeling and a crowded, noisy boat).  The one in Langkawi was fantastic (fish, sharks!, coral, clear water).  This one was in between.  There were some cool fish, ok visibility, and decent snorkel gear provided.  The boat was fairly small (though there were about three times the number of people we'd been promised was the max size) and we didn't have much travel time between spots.  There was a lot of variety between snorkel stop.  The main downside was that there were so many jelly fish!  At first it was almost like a game, spotting the jellies and keeping away.  Young Man ran into one but bounced off the top, Dory-style.  They were cool to see but visibility at the first spot was low, so we ended getting out pretty fast.  The second spot was better visibility with more coral and fish.  Also, more jellies.  There were also a lot of little stinging things we couldn't really see.  Funny Guy was a good sport, but ended up getting stung on his face by a jelly we didn't ever see, and that was the end of snorkeling for him.

Poor guy.  Young Man stuck with me through the other two stops but each time we got in, swam around the boat, enjoying the view and scrupulously avoiding tentacles.  The last swim was the best by far--great visibility, some good corals and fish, but also, the biggest (and smallest) jellies.  There were pink ones, blue ones, red ones, and more, all sizes.  Thrilling, but also made me happy to climb out of the water unscathed.

On the way back to our beach we stopped off at a little beach cafe for fresh fruit, showers, and puppies (not an official part of the itinerary, but the rowdy new pups and swing were definitely Darling Daughter and Funny Guy's favorite part of the trip!).

After we got back to our beach, we stayed out for a few hours, enjoying the perfect time of day when the sun is low enough to bathe everything in magical light but not strong enough to burn.

The kids built sand castles and played in the ocean (miraculously jelly free!), we enjoyed burgers and Thai food and icecream sundaes, and everything in the world felt right.  As darkness fell, we left the beach, stopping at the pool for some more fun, laughter, and night swimming.  Finally, wiped out, we tucked the kids into bed.

I wasn't quite ready for bed, so My Man and I headed back out to find some fruit smoothies and enjoy the ocean breeze.  As soon as we got back to the beach we saw fire dancers and I ran back to drag the kids out of bed.  Alas, the show finished right as we got back out (leaving Funny Guy non too happy about getting dragged out of bed).  Oops.  I took them back, tucked them in again, and promised we'd be sure to catch the fire show the next time we make this trip (hopefully there will be another trip before we move!).  My Man and I walked along the beach, enjoying the cool breeze and live music from various cafes.  We did catch a later fire dance (videoing it for the kids) and My Man walked under a flaming fiery limbo bar (gutsy!).

The next morning, sadly our last on the island, the kids and I headed to the pool for a few hours after breakfast, then just as it was getting too hot, we got out, squeezed in a couple more rounds of Phase 10, checked out and headed back to the mainland.

The kids surprised me as we were conducting our trip review by claiming that of everything for the trip so far, the ferry rides to and from the island were in their top three.  "Even better than swimming in the ocean?" I asked incredulously.  "Hmm, that's hard, but I think so," Funny Guy seriously replied.  OK, then.  Looks like we need more ferry boat rides in our future!

Our next stop was the Royal Pala Cliff Beach Resort in Rayong, an interesting stop to be sure.  We'd picked it wanting to be near the paragliding hill in case the wind cooperated (it didn't).

It was an incredibly beautiful hotel in some ways (nice views, right on the beach, the biggest swimming pool we've ever seen, nice large rooms, a beautiful lobby) and a complete disaster in others (the decking around the pool was in dangerous disrepair, the pool was dirty and smelled bad, the beach was clogged with garbage).

We ended up spending most of the time in our rooms, enjoying the beautiful views, playing games, and watching silly YouTube videos.  We weren't there long anyway, so it was perfect for us.

We stopped by a cute little burger place on the way to the airport.  It had a huge friendly dog and a swing, so the kids were instantly enamored.  It had terrible burgers but a wonderful chicken steak, which My Man was wise enough to order, and the chocolate shakes were delicious.  It was the perfect end to a perfect family vacation.

Exploring Paradise: A Weekend at the Beach

Two weeks ago, My Man and I headed south to Chumphon to check out a rumored paragliding spot on the central coast of Thailand.  I am normally a manic trip planner, the kind of person who plans out each day with an hour by hour itinerary.  We don't necessarily stick to the plan, but I feel comforted, when heading out to the Unknown, to at least have a plan to fall back on.  Chumphon, however, did not cooperate.  It is a quiet place, a beach destination for Thais but not Westerners (who generally opt to simply jump off from Chumphon to get to Koh Tao or Koh Samui, popular diving destinations).  For maybe the first time in my life, we bought plane tickets and booked a rental car and headed off without a hotel reservation or any idea of what to expect.  It was a true exercise in spontaneity.  It was also a complete disaster.  OK, that is an overstatement.  Whenever you get a weekend away without the kids, it's a great time, and the weekend was full of surprises and wonderful moments, but almost nothing went as planned and it is telling that we ended up coming home a day early.

We flew from Chiang Mai down to Surat Thani, then took the scenic route north along the coast, stopping at a cute little Thai restaurant on the beach (cute if you didn't look at the piles of garbage and unfinished construction around the beach and instead fixed your gaze higher, to the palms, the blue sky with puffy white clouds, the ocean stretching blue green away into the distance.

With a bit of selective vision the whole thing was idyllic really.  The drive was interesting too.  We wound our way on tiny roads through rural Thailand, through plantations of rubber trees and palm groves, soaking in the sights and sounds of this new place.  At one point we almost crashed when we noticed the coconut truck passing us had four large monkeys riding along.

Our attempts at locating the flying hill were unsuccessful (maybe we'd have to hike up to the launch?), but the drive was interesting.  We enjoyed seeing the rural houses and farms, the exotic landscapes and people.

At sunset we finally pulled into the beach area to look for a place to call home for the next four nights.  We chose Nana Beach Hotel, situated across the road from Thung Wua Lean Beach.  It was a nice resort with bungalos (all full) and rooms and a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the ocean.  It was arguably the best place on the whole beach and for less the $45 a night with breakfast, it was perfect.  We walked along the beach after settling in and were amazed by how quiet and empty the place was (actually, I was impressed, while My Man was dismayed).  The sand was coarse but clean and the water was a bit murky (rainy season) but blue.  It was hot, even at nine at night, and humid.  There was absolutely no breeze at all (a definite mood killer for My Man since the whole point of the trip was paragliding).

The next morning, I headed out to try diving while My Man enjoyed a well-deserved morning of complete relaxation in bed (he'd been working extra hard while his boss was gone for more than 3 months and was enjoying the opportunity to decompress).  Koh Tao, just about 40 minutes away by ferry, is famous for its diving.  So famous that it is generally crowded with divers year-round.  I thought it would be nice to try the diving around Chumphon instead since it is supposedly similar but cheaper and much less crowded.  Although it looked like rain, I love diving and decided to go for it, even though the dive center (Chumphon Dive Cabana) warned me that visibility was not ideal.  They were right.  It was some of the worst visibility I have ever seen.  Still, I imagine it would be fantastic diving between November and May, because even though visibility was only 2-5 meters, there was a lot to see.  We dove a fascinating wreck, saw incredible soft and hard corals, lots and lots of fish and nudibranchs and shrimp and anemones.  I loved it.  As far as recommending the dive center?  The equipment was good and our dive master was good.  They didn't speak any English though and never asked to see my Padi certification card (actually they didn't ask anything about my experience at all!).  There was no talk of safety procedures or buddies (a little disconcerting with the lack of visibility).  So, if you are an experienced diver, I would recommend them; if not, however, maybe look for another place with a bit more support.

The wind was still uncooperative, so for dinner My Man and I headed into Chumphon city to try out a restaurant that had been recommended to us (Yimphochana Seafood).  It was absolutely phenomenal, the best Thai food I've ever had in Thailand (and that's saying a lot!) and incredible fresh seafood (I'm not generally a fan of seafood and I ate fish soup and horseshoe crab soup with relish.  It was amazing!).  If you ever find yourself in the area, it's worth checking out, in fact it was so good we went back again for lunch the next day!

Speaking of the next day, it dawned sunny and beautiful and hot and windless.  In other words, miserably terrible paragliding weather.  I headed out for a walk on the beach after breakfast while My Man grieved and consoled himself by watching paragliding videos on YouTube.  About an hour into my walk (which was incredibly beautiful but already uncomfortably hot), I got a call from My Man: "Want to check out Rayong?" "Sure," I replied, happy for a new plan since My Man had been so disappointed by Chumphon.  He packed up while I walked back, picked me up, and we headed back to the airport in Surat Thani to catch a short flight up to Bangkok.  On the drive back, I searched on my phone for rental cars in Bangkok but kept coming up with nothing.  We figured maybe it was because you can't rent online the same day and didn't fret too much.  Turns out, however, there really weren't any cars available once we landed in Bangkok.  So we caught a taxi for the one-hour trip to a hotel in Rayong, negotiated a ridiculously expensive last-minute rental the next morning, and lost no time heading to the first flying site in Rayong, a little hill right on the beach.

Unfortunately, the wind forecasts had been changing ever since we left Chumphon, and by the time we got to the flying site, it was all wrong.  Still, My Man was able to kite for awhile and play with the wing on the hill, and that, it turns out, was enough.  We headed to lunch at a fantastic little cafe (Phala Pier Cafe), where we enjoyed the ocean breeze and beautiful views (not to mention delicious food).

Then we headed out to check out another alleged flying site nearby.  Turns out the wind was not cooperating there either, but the views were wonderful and there were about 500 different kinds of butterflies.

We headed back down to check out the beach (Hat Mae).  It was pretty, with pine trees almost to the water's edge to provide shade and lots of little hotels and bungalos.

The beach itself, however, leaves something to be desired, with lots of trash and garbage along the whole expanse.  We had just found that roundtrip tickets to and from the airport in Rayong from Chiang Mai could be had for less than $50, so we were looking for a good family getaway.  I wasn't entirely convinced, however.

As we had dinner in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean, though, I stumbled across information about an island just a 40-minute ferry ride away (Koh Samet).  It looked perfect for a family getaway, with beautiful beaches, snorkeling, nice hotels for cheap, and easy to get to.  Since the trip was all about spontaneity, we booked our trip home for early the next morning from this closer airport so we wouldn't have to drive back to Bangkok, then booked tickets and a rental car for the whole family for just two weeks later.  We researched hotels and booked a place right on the beach (Samet Pavilion Resort), which was beautiful and had a nice pool but had rooms for under $40 on agoda.com including breakfast.  And that was the end of our spontaneous getaway weekend.

Looking back on it, it was a strange kind of wonderful trip.  So different from our regular relaxing getaways in Railay, but fun in a quirky sort of way.  We saw new things, had lots of interesting driving, and discovered a new family destination (one that turned out to be one of our favorites).  We made the best out of frustrating circumstances.  We ate new foods, slept in three different hotels, explored lots of beaches and restaurants, and flew from three different airports, all in the space of four days.  And we got home in time to celebrate the 4th of July with friends and family, complete with fireworks and a BBQ.

Just goes to show that you can't always plan ahead for everything.