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.