On an Island in the Sun

We’ll be playing and having fun. Well, Shiv and I decided it was about time for a vacation.

We kid, we kid. But seriously, it was time for some beachiness, a little island time, knowhattamean? We decided we’d hit up Koh Kood after a recommendation from our Bangkok friend, David (from the Elephant Tour), let us know about it’s glory. We were looking for something quiet and non-touristy, the opposite of a Koh Samui or Phuket.

But we needed to get there first. This would require a train, a tuk tuk, a bus, a trolley, a boat, and a songtaew. And a whole lotta patience.

Chiang Mai Train Station

We booked an overnight train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. We splurged and got the first-class tickets, which meant we had a private cabin equipped with a couch that converted to two sleeping bunks, a sink, and a mirror. We departed promptly at 5pm and savored the rest of the daylight to see the sights. The train moved slowly, but surely. At around 8pm, we headed to the restaurant car to get some dinner. At 9pm, an attendant came to turn down our beds and placed fresh sheets, pillowcases, and blankets on them for us. Comfy and cozy we were!

This was really a great way to travel. It was rather nostalgic, and reminded me a lot of one of my favorite movies, The Darjeeling Limited. All we needed was some sweet lime to make this perfect. We highly recommend traveling this way (second-class is also available and you do get your own sleeping berth, just not a private room). Call us old-fashioned, we are trying to figure out a way to incorporate another overnight train trip in Thailand since we really enjoyed this mode of transportation.

Bangkok Minibus to Trat

At 7am, we arrived at the Bangkok bus terminal, where we grabbed a tuk tuk to the hostel where the minibus would be picking us up from. The minibus arrived promptly at 8am, and thus we began our 6-hour journey to Trat.

This leg of the trip was as much as you would expect it to be. All 11 seats of the minibus were taken, but it wasn’t too cramped. They allowed for a lunch break and plenty of rest stops in between. By 2:30 pm, we had reached the area where we would board the boat to Koh Kood.

Boat to Koh Kood

We were dropped off at a little port while other buses arrived, presumably from other cities. We waited for about an hour before we got on a trolley to the dock. The trolley looked like something you’d see at an amusement park like Disneyland: four roofed cars with open bench seating. I guess as an adult Koh Kood is equivalent to going to Disneyland as a kid. This only added to our excitement because we were so close to being there.

The boat was big and had plenty of seating underneath to help shade from the hot sun. We spent some time on the top of the deck, but found ourselves sleeping for the rest of the journey. Not sure how much time we actually spent on the boat. At least an hour and a half by my sleepy estimation.

Songtaew to Resort

We had originally booked a really nice ocean-front villa at The Beach (hey, it’s our honeymoon after all), but we got pulled into a same, same episode at the resort. Same, same is a Thai phenomenon which essentially means something similar, but not the same thing. And sometimes that thing can be wildly different. I had heard about the expression (and you do see a lot of t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase), but had not encountered it personally until Koh Kood.

An ocean-front villa is not the same as a villa that’s farther away. But in Koh Kood it is. We refused to stay there because they wouldn’t change it to the ocean-front villa, and were charging us the same premium price. Same, same = shame, shame.

We tried the resort next door, To the Sea, which was brand new (ok, it’s still being built), but we had it all to ourselves. And an ocean-front villa to boot! Happy honeymoon to us.

Koh Kood

It lived up to all our expectations. It wasn’t touristy in the slightest, was relaxing, and oh so glorious. With no set agenda, we spent our time lazing on the beach, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, and drinking tropical drinks.

We took one night to enjoy the sunset while drinking the SangSom square I had brought with me from Chiang Mai. After a hearty chon, we sipped our cocktails and enjoyed some good conversation. Shiv practiced some sunset photos while I swung in the hammock on our room’s deck. A few minutes had passed before I started feeling really itchy. It was dusk, after all, and I assumed I had been a tasty meal for some mosquitoes (on the Malarone, doncha worry). I thought nothing more of it.

On our songtaew over from the dock, we met some Scandinavian friends, Rikard and Stine, who were staying at a nearby resort. They are both in the medical field. Rikard, a Swede, is looking to go into orthopedic medicine. Stine, Norwegian, just finished pre-med and was celebrating with a long travel trip. Stine and I found out that we share a love for passion fruit and Agatha Christie novels.

The four of us met up for dinner that night. Despite the torrential rain, we dined outdoors under the safety of the bar roof. It was during this time that I noticed that my itchy spots had swollen up to the size of eggs: one on my forearm, two on my legs, one on my foot, and one on the top of my hand. Definitely not mosquito bites. I felt fine, so I wasn’t too concerned, but I did ask our new doctor friends for their opinion. We were all kinda baffled, but since I felt ok, I felt it should be fine. Rikard and Stine agreed.

Dinner conversations led us to planning a trip to the waterfalls the next day. There are three waterfalls on the tiny island: Nam Tok Klong Chao, Klong Yai Kee, and the secret waterfall, Huang Nam Keaw. We went to the latter two in the hopes of it being less crowded. Good choices as it turned out. We first picked up some water, mangoes, and nuts for snacks.

During the songtaew ride over, Stine ever-so-nonchalantly said, Oh, I think that’s a spider over there. We all turned our heads to where she pointed to see a behemoth of a spider hanging from the roof of the entrance to the songtaew. Red and black striped, end-to-end it was probably 5 inches long. I happened to be sitting closest to it and freaked out. I made Rikard switch seats with me and tried to get the driver to stop. We monitored it to make sure it wasn’t on the move until the driver finally stopped. Shiv snapped pictures so we’d have proof of that thing for all of you. I ran out of the truck as fast as I could. Once we were a safe distance from the giant arachnid, the driver simply swatted it with a cloth, missed it, swatted it down to the road, and then tried to stomp on it. He missed again and then it just crawled off back into the jungle. I shutter every time I think about it. And to think that Stine was so casual about it!

The Klong Yai Kee waterfall only had a couple of folks and you could walk up to the top to take a long plunge down. Stine and I were afraid we’d lose our tops, so we did not partake. The water was cool and refreshing, especially compared to the warm and buoyant sea water we had been swimming in the day before. We peeled our ripe mangoes like bananas and enjoyed their sweetness. Man, I’m going to miss these mangoes when I get home.

After about an hour and a half there, we made our way over to the secret waterfall. There are nice, new bathrooms set up outside of the hiking area and it has a little food vendor there, as well. So much for secret! The waterfall area was a little more precarious to get to, but we all rock-hopped without a hitch. The falls themselves were bigger than the Klong Yai Kee falls, and we soon found ourselves to be the only people there. Shiv set up his camera to take some automatic pictures, which came out great!

We returned to the resort and enjoyed some happy hour cocktails, passion fruit flavored, of course. Afterwards, we returned to our respective resorts, planning to meet up for dinner again. Except Shiv and I arrived too late and the kitchen was closed, but not the bar! Cheers to that I guess. So we all enjoyed some more cocktails, and learned that skål is the Scandinavian way to say cheers. Rikard and Stine were staying for another week, but we were headed out the next day. We exchanged contact info and said our goodbyes.

Getting Out of Koh Kood

As you might have guessed, Shiv and I had another day of heavy traveling: a songtaew, a boat, a trolley, a bus, a tuk tuk, but this time a plane instead of a train. We were headed to Siem Reap from Bangkok.

With so many different forms of transportation, our travel itinerary had little room for error. One slip-up, and we’d miss the next transfer. As it happened, the first songtaew was a no-show, and the nice relaxation our brains had earned in Koh Kood quickly slipped into stress mode. Through sign-language and half-translations, we eventually were able to get our resort to get us another songtaew and to hold the boat for us. When we arrived at the dock, we were relieved to see the boat hadn’t left yet. Phew!

We boarded the boat and headed downstairs to de-stress. There were no seat assignments, so you could choose your own seats. It was a nearly full boat, but Shiv and I were able to find an empty row. I had noticed a couple talking to each other across the aisle ahead of us. They each had their own row (a row had 3 seats each). As more people came on board, they kept telling people their rows were reserved. I assumed they were saving them for friends that may have been running late. But we left the dock and the seats were still completely empty save for the two of them.

The couple got up and rearranged their bags on the rows in order to ‘hold’ the seats. They then went up to the top deck where they stayed for the entire hour and a half journey back to Trat, not once using the seats. I couldn’t believe the nerve! I even overheard the American couple in front of me complaining about their selfish behavior. When you travel, you see all kinds, don’t you?

But I can’t complete this story without describing them, because I found it highly amusing. If I had to guess, I would say that they were Eastern European, most likely Russian. The girl, a blonde, had fake duck lips and was wearing a short, burgundy-colored t-shirt dress with a giant cat’s head printed on it. She was not wearing underwear. How do I know? Because I, along with the rest of the boat, saw her climb down the ladder from the top of the boat, which was positioned by the tinted windows to the bottom of the boat. The guy, a beefcake-type, was wearing a fluorescent yellow Jack Daniels t-shirt that he had cut into a v-neck muscle tee. But wait, there’s more. He was wearing really, really short jean cut-offs. But wait, there’s even more. He was wearing tattoo sleeves. These are nylon sleeves that are printed with tattoo designs; you slip them on your arms to make it look like you actually have tattoos. It was a look that you would see only at something like Bay to Breakers – a purposeful exaggeration of a meathead-type person. But this was real life. Someone was taking this look seriously. Their look coupled with their behavior was almost too much to comprehend. I had to chuckle.

Anyways, we ended up making it to the airport on time. Hooray, Siem Reap here we come!

P.S. if you were wondering about my bites, I employed a scientific, medically-endorsed approach by performing a routine search on Google images. My best estimate was that my bites were from fire ants. The swelling reduced in 24 hours and the bites disappeared after 4 days. I hope all of our doctor friends are proud of my diagnosis.

Travel tip for Koh Kood: there is exactly one ATM on the entire island. It does not take Mastercard, only Visa. Resorts may take credit card but will charge you the 3% fee to cover their costs.