Hippy Island

The plan (well, my plan, anyway) to get to the island of Koh Samet was to hike down to Ekkamai bus station in Sukhumvit and travel to the Ban Phe harbour on one of Thailand's inter-city buses. 'Tis cheap, see? Carolyn and Linda persuaded me to get a taxi at ten times the cost citing the fact that it would be "quicker and more comfortable". Of course it was, so there are no disasters to report, such as getting on the wrong bus and ending up in Chiang Mai. An eternally cheerful female taxi driver duly deposited us at the wrong pier where the first ferry ticket tout we met sold us return tickets to Nadan on the island at twice the going rate and arranged for a motorcycle sidecar (a cage attached to the bike, basically) to drive us to the correct pier. After a hazardous transfer to a packed boat (they don't believe in ramps or gangplanks) containing an eclectic assortment of tourists (i.e. the eponymous hippies) and food containers for the island's inhabitants we duly arrived at Nadan harbour. The passengers were piled onto benches at the backs of a fleet of waiting trucks and we were shuttled to our respective resort destinations. Ours was the Samed Villa Resort. You can check the link to save me boringly describing the details. Suffice to say we are on a southernmost stretch of the most touristy part of Koh Samet, meaning that the obvious road doesn't extend any further south on the island but instead jackknifes over the middle to the posh side on the west (I walked over there two years ago: it's less hippy-ish, more ordered, and sterile as hell -- not for us mortals, methinks!). Our resort looks nice though; bungaloid-style rooms on a white sandy beach facing the east. That means we have to get up early to make the most of the sun which sets behind us. That would normally be a problem for an idle, retired b*****d like me, but after my last rant about depressing old England in the winter, I feel I should make the effort (shucks!). Anyway, a buffet breakfast is included so my innate meanness is satisfied in the bargain (not to mention Linda!).