samed island

our adventures started when we arrived in samed island. leaving the boat, we walked straight to motorcycles lining up with a hanging tag 'for rent' not far from the pier.. yep, this was our main vehicle in the island.. the trip was spontaneous, so we didn't plan a thing, even the hotel. we wished to make decisions on what came up to us when we arrived the island..

beside the shop renting out motorcycles was a counter caging a ladyboy selling rooms to tourists. she/he was friendly, talkative and convincing.. but you have to weigh your own decision.. settling with motorcycle, we walked to talk to her/him to book our rooms.. as from her information, the rooms were mostly booked as it was a long weekend. we had not many choices, so we picked them out of the vacant ones..

if you don't rent a motorcycle, you have to take those green pickups to get around the island and they will cost you a bomb..

after she managed to book rooms at 2 different resorts (and different directions) for us, we headed to the first one.. she told us that it was only 4k from the pier.. i thought ..just 4k, we would be there in a blink!.. along the way, we stopped at a somtam shop. the first meal was pretty impressive and the island seemed not to disappoint us.. the the map in hand, we rode the motorcycle to the first resort.. the first 300 meters was a concreted smooth road and after that the real adventure had begun..

after passing the national park, the roads were covered with red dirt. along the way it was rocky, hilly, bumpy and some spots were hugely muddy.. and so many puddles which i had to snaked around.. we could slip on the road anytime and our clothes would immediately turn muddy red.. i used only the first and second gear to get through it.. i couldn't believe that the most famous island in the east had the roads like this.. (this made me miss southern islands so much..)..

snaking along and going up and down the roads, we finally reached our first remote resort in 20-30 minutes.. the roads were kind of adventurous but the first resort seriously disappointed us.. it made us moody and speechless.. we felt like we were robbed and ripped off.. we didn't mind the expensive room but the outside condition and the location made us want to cry.. (that's why i didn't take any photos of it..)

checking in and leaving our bags in the room, we hit the road again to the beach (to get away from it all) .. we had no one to blame but ourselves for bunches of beachbums and beachboys.. still they were just too many for us.. (gosh! i am a whiny girl now!!)

we sat there talking and watching people until our heating mood and disappointment subsided.. pu recommended a restaurant named 'lung jiab'. she said the foods and cakes were yummy. at sunset, we headed there..

picking the table, i walked to order a piece of cake and a cup of tea. sweetness from cake lightened up my mood, and tea and the conversation.. we sat there until it was very dark but not too late. i told pu that we'd better get back to our remote resort as early as possible, as the route was scarily distant and desolate.. along the way, though there were electric poles, it was still dark and dim. i was so happy when seeing a car passing by but speeded up when there was only us on the road.. we got lost once into the dark and quiet jungle before we reached the resort safely and excitedly.. (highly not recommended!)

arriving our room, we picked up the wine we carried from bkk and headed to the beach. hopefully, we could chill out there as long as we wished.. but hell.. we didn't stay too long, as not far from where we sat was a karaoke bar!! and they barked through the wee hours.. getting dizzy from the wine and pissed from the karaoke, we walked back to our room and kept on chatting in the aircon-room..

we woke when the sun shone strongly and decided to walk along the beach, just to see what this beach had.. it was beautiful and quiet in the early morning hours.. forget to tell you.. the name of the beach was 'sangtien beach'..

i walked around to take pictures while pu got back to the room. later, we headed into the center of the island again to look for things to eat for breakfast.. we had plenty of gas in the tank so we would go as far as possible, just to eat.. and this time the road didn't shock me.. we ate slowly, chilled out at the restaurant and made no hurry to get back.. after breakfast, we went to another direction to look at our second resort. not too far from the national park and looked promising!!

..and this is our second resort!! ..

nearly 12 am, we checked out at the first resort and headed to the second one.. ta da!! our mood was highly and quickly lifted up!! we were so h-a-p-p-y as a newly wed!!!

..after surveying the room, we fished out last night wine and drank it up in front of our room..

..after the wine..

..before going out for dinner at 'lung jiab', we jumped into the pool.. it felt like heaven.. we could go to the restaurant late and came back to our room later than yesterday.. no need to worry about the deserted road..

i first started dinner with a piece of cake and a cup of hot tea again.. and you could see our silly smiles on the second night..

..and we could stay late to see the fire dance show..

full and sleepy, we got back to our room. didn't want to go straight to bed, we sat by the pool. pu ordered a cocktail and i a cup of tea.. and we chatted through nearly midnight..

..it was time for bed..

..getting up early, i walked around to take some pictures before jumping into the pool again..

as tummies cried, we left the pool, took a quick shower and headed to the breakfast area.. on the second day, we treated ourselves like we were a queen .. lan lan la ..

after breakfast, we hanged around by the pool watching kids playing.. it was the first time we felt sad leaving samed.. if only we stayed here the first and second night, the trip would be much more fun..

we left at check-out time, rode the motorcyle to the pier, returned it and jumped into the waiting boat.. while waiting on the boat, i called to book a minibus back to bangkok.. it took us 3 hours to arrive the victory monument.. we catched bts from there to connect mrt and then motorcyle to pu's condo..

after all, samed was okay. but if asked i wanted to go back again, i still prefer sounthern beaches and islands.. believe me, they are worth the long ride..

..next will be my adventures in bkk.. till next time..