Weekend Paradise in Ko Samet

In the third week of teaching, I took my second consecutive Friday off due to ambitious weekend plans.  I left the misty mountains of the North behind and took a 12 hour overnight bus on Thursday night from Nan City to Chonburi, a buzzing city conveniently located on the Gulf of Thailand, in between Bangkok and the deservingly hyped Thai islands.  There, I met up with some friends from orientation for a bit before taking another, albeit much shorter, bus ride from Chonburi to Ban Phe with Jill, where we then hopped on a ferry to the popular island of Ko Samet. 

After two bus rides and a ferry, I was eager to jump into the ocean, which did not disappoint my expectations.  This was the kind of beach that one conjures up when one imagines an exotic beach paradise (Ko Samet is apparently only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Thai islands and beaches, so even though I look forward to experiencing the depths of the iceberg, I was thrilled with my first dose of beach paradise for the weekend getaway!  I’m sharing this parenthetical ride on my stream of consciousness because I was mindful over the weekend about enjoying the moment and not getting carried away by the undertow of plans and the insidious tendency of looking forward).  The anticipation for the weekend had transformed from potential energy to kinetic (I can’t make many science allusions, so laugh at it while you can), when we were floating in warm turquoise water and soaking up tropical sun, white beaches, and palm trees.  

If I were to sum up the whole weekend in one sentence (I’m sure anyone reading this was hoping I’d spare them two paragraphs ago), I would say, “pretty chill, man.”  And if I had to add to that eloquent weekend description I would list the endeavors of a beach bum: snorkeling, drinks, western food, young coconuts, reggae music, and sunsets (we tried to make a sunrise, but didn’t exactly wake up in time…). 

Another reason I was so ecstatic this past weekend was due to the reoccurring realization that a weekend of paradise in Thailand can be the norm for the next several months!  Besides a brief stint on the beach during orientation, this was my first taste of Thai paradise on their world class islands.  Furthermore, it was only a few days prior to the Ko Samet trip that I was exploring an isolated national park in the mysterious mountains of the north; experiencing the beach side of the Thai coin made me really appreciate how frieken awesome this Thai coin is and how fortunate I am to have this Thaiventure Time!