Koh Mak is situated in the Gulf of Thailand (South-East Thailand) near the Cambodian border and just South of it’s “big brother” Koh Chang. It’s about 40 Km (24 Miles) from the mainland.
The island has about 27 Km (16 Miles) of coastline, many of the beautiful white sand beaches. Koh Mak is about 16 Km² in the area.
It is the 3rd biggest island in that area after Koh Chang and Koh Kood. The island is a small tropical paradise covering an area of 16 square kilometers with it being around 10km wide and 5km from north to south.
Koh Mak is privately owned by a small group of families who each strive to work together to ensure the island proceeds in a sustainable way by following the ideals of eco-tourism.
There are 24 resorts on Koh Mak which provide the perfect surrounding for relaxed holidays. On Koh Mak you will not find any jet-skis, nightclubs or red-light districts. Instead you can encounter biking trails, diving schools and laid back cafes amongst beautiful beaches with crystal clear water.
In addition to the beautiful beaches, the island's hinterland is very green with natural forest as well as coconut and rubber plantations.
The majority of local people still work on the coconut and rubber farms which are the island’s main export products.
Koh Mak provides a diversity in flora and fauna which can be discovered on land and under water in the near marine national park. Being a tropical island, there's a chance of coming across scorpions, snakes, spiders and colourful butterflies.
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The Penan High-speed ferry with 3No. 250HP outboard motors.
SUNDAY 25th MARCH:
We were picked up at our hotel at 07:30 by an already packed 11-seater minibus. Unfortunately, it had other passengers to pick up and in the end it was full to bursting; very cramped in the rear seats we had.
4 hours of discomfort in the minibus but at least the driver didn't hang about.
Arrived at Trat around noon only to be shepherded into a different minibus equally cramped, a further hour's driving to the Laem Ngop pier.
Here we bought ferry tickets to board the Penan High-speed Ferry to the island. This left at 13:00 and an hour later we were on Ko Mak.
Called the hotel who sent a taxi for us. Whilst we waited for said 'taxi', we sneaked in a quick cold Chang beer at the beach bar. The 'taxi' appeared which was a beat-up open sided pick-up truck with a tattered roof but not that bad really; we've had much worse in remote parts of Thailand, and it's all part of this out-of-the-way lovely island.
Eventually shown to our concrete 'villa' which was set amongst gardens but some way from the sea. The room was spacious enough but very strangely set out and designed.
Took a shower then set out to wander about the resort. Not bad, lot's of sandy beach and lots of black volcanic lava rocks; very sharp.
Decided on having dinner at the resort; food was OK, but nothing special.
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TOP LEFT: Approaching the pier on Ko Mak.
TOP RIGHT: Our room with the bed sprinkled with flowers... aaah.
BOTTOM: Our concrete lodge/villa and a shot of the grounds at Ao Kao.
MONDAY 26th:
First full day. Buffet breakfast down on the seafront. A bit basic considering the cost of the hotel; not much on offer, and what was on offer was unimpressive.
A bit of exploration today. Decided on a long hike west down the main beach at Ao Kao to the pier at Leelawadee, stopping occasionally under a palm tree to take a breather from the hot sun.
One big disappointment here was the huge amount of trash and refuse strewn along the high-tide mark. Hundreds of plastic bottles, some of which had been there a long time. Considering the island is privately owned by a conglomerate of families it seems a shame they do not look after their shorelines. Many of the resorts employ people to clear the beach immediately in front of their premises but a short walk away reveals the true horrors.... a disgrace in my opinion.
What I find equally irksome is that there are big yellow signs all over the island inviting guest and travellers to become "Trash Heroes". In other words the islanders want the tourists to do their dirty work for them! Get off your backsides and get it done yourselves, I say. After all it's your island and you want the tourists' business.
Rant over!
Anyway, back to the blog. Arrived at the pier and decided we'd walked far enough seeing as we had to walk back. Taxis are available at a standard charge of 50Baht per person to/from anywhere on Ko Mak.
A couple of ice-colds were called for in a beach bar after which a stroll up the road to a small restaurant where Aom indulged in one of her favourite Thai salads which are ferociously spicy.
Further up the track was a mini-market which supplied us with some goodies to take back.
At this point we did consider walking back along the roads and tracks but this meant a 40 minute walk as opposed to a 20 minute walk along the beach; no-brainer, it was the beach route.
Back for a shower to shake off the sweat and relaxed before going down to our own resort's beach bar to watch the sun go down. Dinner followed.
