For Argyll

Hello,

Left Bangkok at 7 am today to catch the metro to the T.A.T (Travel and Tourism, pic below) office where we were catching the bus to Ban Phe, the little fishing village I was talking about.

After a 2 hour wait a shiny Mercedes mini bus pulled up asking us if we were going to ban Phe, we said we were and almost jumped on when the TAT man came out pointing down the street “Your bus…”

- a clapped out old banger (above!), packed full too! We said there was no room but they plonked us in the front with the crazy driver! So our journey to Ban Phe began, and after seconds (and a near miss with a taxi, along with the driver speaking to someone on his mobile phone while trying to read a map, steering with his elbow!) a passenger was pleading with him to go less than 100 km per hour. At that moment I put my iPod on, shut my eyes and hoped for the best! After 3ish long hours we arrived at Ban Phe, I was gutted! It was supposed to be a pretty wee fishing village but was the tackiest place I’ve ever seen! Being open minded and thinking that there would be nice bits we went for a wander to find accommodation, a man showed us to a room that I can only describe as looking like something out of a horror film! Zim kept chatting to the guy but I was out of there, refusing to stay not only in the hotel, but not even in the town! Luckily, we were in time for a boat to Koh Samet, an island off of Ban Phe so we hopped on that!

While on the boat we got talking to a tattoo artist who gave us tips on how to get to the beach without going through the park (400 Baht to get through the park and apparently there’s not much there!), he didn’t ask for anything in return but we thought it was only polite to go to his shop for a beer (no tattoos!)! After that we found our way to the beach, (round the outside of the park, below) -

(passing a nice monk who sold me a coin which apparently will make me happy! I didn’t know monks did street vending but there you go!), my shoes were off straight away, I was so glad to get some sand between my toes and a paddle in the (warm) sea!

We walked along the beach a bit until we came to a mermaid statue on rocks then knew to look for the accommodation sign (recommended by our tattooist friend).

The accommodation is great, we have a bungalow each for 200 Baht a night (about 3 pounds!), it’s exactly what you should be staying in on a beach in Thailand!

I’m off to grab some food now, then an early night! I was up at 6.30 this morning didn’t go to bed til 2! I’m looking forward to getting a good sleep and being fresh in the morning for a swim and some sun bathing!

Emma x