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TonyT's 10th Thailand blog:
6 weeks in and around the country:
July - August 2026.
Page 5
KO SAMET
TUESDAY 4th:
After wining and dining last night at a table about 3mts from the sea we were awake at 6am. All three of us went in for a morning swim.
Interestingly, we shared our villa with a family of bats hanging in there upside down in the roof space over the veranda. [see below]
Weather settled but the very high humidity remains making it very uncomfortable for me.
Went for an exploratory walk along the beach taking in the various bars and restaurants for future reference. I was so uncomfortable with the humidity and dripping with sweat. Found a convenience store and got some ice creams and water to refresh us.
Back at the room, Jack and I went swimming whilst Aom opted for a beach massage.
After a period of dossing we were off to sample a few pre-dinner drinks at a bar down the beach; it was then dinner time. We selected a cosy restaurant which had a very relaxing air about it. A bottle of house white (750 Baht) was added to our menu.
The only thing I now find a bore and a little irritating is the incessant fire shows whereby by local kids twirl sticks soaked in kerosene around which, frankly, stinks. Every island we've been too over the last 5 years has these and they're all the same; really boring especially with the shit music that they choose to accompany their daft feats.
We'd originally booked our stay on Ko Samet for only 3 nights. This is because we were unsure of what the island was like. We needn't have worried because the island ticked a lot of boxes. We liked it so much that we tried to hang onto our villa for a further 4 days only to be told the place was fully booked. In the event, the reception found us a slightly smaller villa elsewhere on the resort.
TOP: Our villa at the Tubtim Resort.
LOWER: The local beach at Tubtim.
WEDNESDAY 5th:
Breakfast at 8am. Bit of a change in the weather in that clouds came a rolling in followed by rain by 11am. Didn't stop people swimming and we joined them.
There's a raft anchored about 150mts offshore and we swam out to it and sat around on it for about 20 minutes when Jack clumsily dropped my expensive dive mask into the deep water. The only other mask was a lightweight thing which we had to return to the beach to get hold of.
Jack and I swam out to the raft again and numerous attempts were made to try and locate the missing mask in about 15mts depth. Both of us actually spotted it but it was just out of reach. In the end after a long breather Jack made one last Herculaneum effort and managed to retrieve it.
One problem was that the area around the raft was festooned with thick 1-inch thick rope which was covered with barnacles. In trying to keep the floating rope away from Jack's diving and resurfacing I acquired large gashes on my leg which bled profusely.... good job there were no sharks about.
Back to the villa to get some band-aid on my wounds then off for a spot of lunch at a place 500mts along the beach.
Well that put a temporary end to my swimming t least until my wounds had healed a little.
Later on we strolled along the beach and opted to dine in The Reef restaurant. This had an Italian theme to it although I ordered a Greek salad which bore little resemblance to the very many genuine Greek salads I've enjoyed when in Greece. There were pathetic crumbs of Feta cheese dusted on top but the taste was OK.
Pouring rain accompanied us back to our villa.
Time to pack yet again tonight or in the morning as we're due to be re-housed in a smaller villa not far way.
TUESDAY 4th:
Weather settled but the very high humidity remains making it very uncomfortable for me. TOP: Our villa at the Tubtim Resort.
WEDNESDAY 5th:
After wining and dining last night at a table about 3mts from the sea we were awake at 6am. All three of us went in for a morning swim.
Interestingly, we shared our villa with a family of bats hanging in there upside down in the roof space over the veranda. [see below]
Went for an exploratory walk along the beach taking in the various bars and restaurants for future reference. I was so uncomfortable with the humidity and dripping with sweat. Found a convenience store and got some ice creams and water to refresh us.
Back at the room, Jack and I went swimming whilst Aom opted for a beach massage.
After a period of dossing we were off to sample a few pre-dinner drinks at a bar down the beach; it was then dinner time. We selected a cosy restaurant which had a very relaxing air about it. A bottle of house white (750 Baht) was added to our menu.
The only thing I now find a bore and a little irritating is the incessant fire shows whereby by local kids twirl sticks soaked in kerosene around which, frankly, stinks. Every island we've been too over the last 5 years has these and they're all the same; really boring especially with the shit music that they choose to accompany their daft feats.
We'd originally booked our stay on Ko Samet for only 3 nights. This is because we were unsure of what the island was like. We needn't have worried because the island ticked a lot of boxes. We liked it so much that we tried to hang onto our villa for a further 4 days only to be told the place was fully booked. In the event, the reception found us a slightly smaller villa elsewhere on the resort.
LOWER: The local beach at Tubtim.
Breakfast at 8am. Bit of a change in the weather in that clouds came a rolling in followed by rain by 11am. Didn't stop people swimming and we joined them.
There's a raft anchored about 150mts offshore and we swam out to it and sat around on it for about 20 minutes when Jack clumsily dropped my expensive dive mask into the deep water. The only other mask was a lightweight thing which we had to return to the beach to get hold of.
Jack and I swam out to the raft again and numerous attempts were made to try and locate the missing mask in about 15mts depth. Both of us actually spotted it but it was just out of reach. In the end after a long breather Jack made one last Herculaneum effort and managed to retrieve it.
One problem was that the area around the raft was festooned with thick 1-inch thick rope which was covered with barnacles. In trying to keep the floating rope away from Jack's diving and resurfacing I acquired large gashes on my leg which bled profusely.... good job there were no sharks about.
Back to the villa to get some band-aid on my wounds then off for a spot of lunch at a place 500mts along the beach.
Well that put a temporary end to my swimming t least until my wounds had healed a little.
Later on we strolled along the beach and opted to dine in The Reef restaurant. This had an Italian theme to it although I ordered a Greek salad which bore little resemblance to the very many genuine Greek salads I've enjoyed when in Greece. There were pathetic crumbs of Feta cheese dusted on top but the taste was OK.
Pouring rain accompanied us back to our villa.
Time to pack yet again tonight or in the morning as we're due to be re-housed in a smaller villa not far way.