Collecting Dust

My new home, Ban Phe, is no paradise. It is however, only a half an hour’s boat ride away from a small island that’s close enough. My weekdays here in town are spent in the classroom, learning how to teach from a guy who, in the most pathetic of ironies, is an awful teacher. The frustration is endless. At least I have my weekends, and this Saturday and Sunday I spent on this tiny paradise island just off the coast of town.

A Thai national park, Ko Samet is a small kite-shaped island, with a coastline serrated into more than a dozen bays, each with their own combination of white sand beaches, rock formations, and tropical fauna. Tiny sand crabs, digging their homes one tiny ball of sand at a time monopolize certain beaches, while others are home to hundreds of little white, chirping geckos that hang upside down from the ceilings around bright light fixtures. Mosquitoes are everywhere as well, but it’s a small price to pay for such pristine beaches.

The main beach on Ko Samet sits at the end of the island’s only paved road, that is to say, at the edge of the island’s “town.” On the blinding white sand of this beach falangs gallivant in their Speedos, enjoy jet-ski rental, parasailing, and other beach games. A token Bob Marley bar plays Legend, a few men walked the beach selling traditional Thai blankets, old fully dressed women roam the beach giving massages, and others balance two large baskets of fruit on a pole bent over their shoulder selling fresh mango, pineapple, watermelon and grapefruit. This may all sound nice, but the great parts of Samet isn’t the easy-access beach full of tourists. The best beaches are those you must walk around several bays or traverse eroded dirt paths on a motorbike to find.


Lara and I skipped past the main beach in and tried both paths to discovering new beaches. By both walking and driving the motorbike around, we found relaxing beaches without the buzzing of jet-ski motors, without Euros smuggling grapes in their Speedos. Now the only problem now is, which beach do we stay at next weekend?



Boats at Ko Samet's pier, looking back on Ban Phe. Let me say, I was surprised to see that the dirty little town I live in looks so beautiful from across the way.

The bungalow Lara and I stayed in for the weekend. Definately not the greatest place on the island since the woods are filled to the brim with mosquitoes, but it was homey for a couple days.

A swing hangs in one of Samet's bays. Someone suggested this picture ruined the moment, but now it seems to have immortalized through the magical internet.


Lara waiting at the pier in Ban Phe for our boat to take us away for the weekend.


This was the pier where I spent a lot of my time, eating, drinking, writing, drinking a little more, sleeping, drinking one or two more, sleeping again and then burning my poor nose.