I didn’t get much sleep in Trat, after seeing a gecko hiding behind the TV and making Kyle chase it out of the room, I was scared that there may have been a few more hidden. So feeling groggy the next morning, we had a quick breakfast and then called our “taxi” to take us to the ferry port. The nice lady told us that they’d be there at 12, giving us plenty of time to catch the ferry at 1pm. Well 12 came and went, and there was still no sign of our lift. Feeling nervous at 12.20pm we called the lady again to see where the driver was, “don’t worry madame, he will be there in 10 minutes”. Now at this point we were panicking, as the ferry port was 40 minutes away, and there is only one boat a day…at 1pm. At 12.30pm, up rolls the backless van or “taxi” as they like to call it, and we were soon speeding down the bumpy road towards the ferry.
Obviously we made it, and after a 70 minute ferry ride, and a few games of hide and seek with a little Thai girl, we were soon on Koh Kood. Once off the boat, we were ferried into separate vans, all 12 of the other westerners on the boat into separate ones…guess we won’t be seeing them anytime soon. After an hour we were dropped off at our new location, Siam Hut. Located right on Bang Bao beach, our hut is less than 10 steps from the sea, and luckily for us there were only 3 other people staying here, so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.
We spent the first afternoon lazing in the sea and soaking up the sun, before heading up the beach for tea. Which ended up being one of the best meals we’ve had yet, which was a good job as its one of the only open restaurants in the area! Feeling tired from the night before and the stress of the gecko, we had an early night and settled under our mozzie net to watch Pitch Perfect.
Wanting to make the most of the sunshine, it is rainy season after all, we had a lazy beach day on our second day. We did nothing but swim, walk around the beach and attempt to sunbathe. The latter was pretty impossible as it is so hot! In the evening, we sat on our huts veranda and watched an electrical storm in the distance. Seeing the lightening shoot off in different directions and light up the sky was pretty impressive. Though I’ll tell you what wasn’t so good, the storm made the power on the island dip in and out, it also made it real hot. Now, when you only have a fan in your room and no air con, storms are a fucking nightmare, talk about sweating hell!! Plus it encouraged more of those bloody geckos to hide in our bathroom! Queue Kyle jumping on the floor to scare them.
It was back to glorious sunshine the next morning, so we decided to hire a ped and you can imagine my joy when they decided to give us the electric pink one…Kyle wasn’t quite as happy. We drove to a huge waterfall in the middle of the forest. The path there was rocky and slippery, definitely made for walking boots and not flip flops, but we got there. At the stream before the bottom of the waterfall the path became even more rocky and was a bit of a climb, Kyle went first and I decided to stay behind. I slipped and grazed my leg so got in a mood, obviously. However, after seeing a snake eat a gecko on a rock behind me I shit my pants, and quickly ran across the rocks and to the base of the waterfall. I’m so glad I did, the waterfall was huge, and the water beneath was so blue and clear, filled with those little fish that nibble your feet. Kyle dived in after a little encouragement from some Thai boys, the only other people there….it was amazing!
We followed this with a trip to a different beach on the island, which can only be described as paradise! The sand was soft, white and totally clear, and the water was a brilliant blue. Even when you were shoulder deep you could still see your feet the water was that clean. We loved it!
Upon returning to our hut a storm was brewing, the sky was black, the rain was starting to fall and the waves were coming in hard. You might of already guessed it, but yeah it was bloody hot again too. So we got back on our deck chairs and watched the storm unfold. The rain got really heavy and the wind kept up, so we made a quick dash to the beach restaurant for tea. There was also a couple from Holland there who were staying a few doors down, and they had forgotten their money. Feeling like heros, we offered to lend them the money to save them running in the rain twice! Can’t wait to get some good karma back for that move.
The next morning we woke to an empty beach. Everyone had checked out, meaning the bay was ours to explore. So we had a wander around the beach and through a closed resort, here we picked up a new four legged companion who we named, Nigel. Nigel followed us back along the beach to the rope swing and along the pier, he now sleeps under our porch. I love him, he chases geckos and barks when people come by, all in return for some water and a belly rub.
We settled into bed that evening, and just as we were settling down I was hit with the worst stomach cramps and poops known to man. It was a long night, and made worse with the heat and lack of air con…I’m not sure if I told you that we only have a fan. Still feeling, literally, shitty the next morning, we chilled on the veranda until the rain stopped and made the most of still having the beach to ourselves. Whilst sunbathing we spotted a young man in speedos (gross), we’ll call him Ronaldo, and his girlfriend, lets name her, Natalie, walking towards the sea with some deck chairs. Safe to say it made mine and Kyles day when Ronaldo’s chair sank into the sand and rolled him off, leaving Natalie to chase his cowboy hat into the sea. That’ll teach them for doing push ups and squats on their porch, see why we named him Ronaldo, poser?!
After another lovely meal at the beach restaurant, oh yes I was feeling better, thanks for the concern, we headed back to our hut for some Modern Family and an early night, in hopes of another nice day to hire a pet in the morning.
A stormy day made for hiding under cover on the porch, and running into the sea when it was sunny to catch some rays and cool down. Safe to say that we didn’t hire a ped.
However, the next day was slightly overcast so we decided that this would be a good time to explore the island.This time they gave us a red ped with a Super Mario licence plate, Kyle was a lot happier. We drove down to the other side of the island and found a hidden temple, with buddhas wrapped in shawls, and golden statues. We were the only people there, making it really peaceful. After a couple of hours on the ped and surviving Kyle’s bad boy driving, my bum was dead, so we headed back for an afternoon swim and our final meal on the beach.
We had to wake up early the next day to make the ferry back to Trat, so we had our usual pancake breakfast and waited for the “taxi” to arrive. As it was full, Kyle ended up sitting on the back door and hanging on for dear life, but he survived and after an exceptionally fast journey we were soon on Trat pier.
Having no plans, we have decided to stay another night at Pop guesthouse in Trat, and will catch the bus back to Bangkok tomorrow morning for 2 nights, before flying to Cambodia. OK, to be honest we’ve ended up in Trat again as we didn’t really know what to do when we got off the ferry, or how to get back to Bangkok!
We really enjoyed our time on Koh Kood, the fact that most places were closed made it very quiet, and for the majority of the week we were the only people on our beach. As Koh Kood is not yet a well travelled island, is was also nice to enjoy the basics of island life, and not be overwhelmed with the commerciality of the likes of Bangkok and Thailand’s main islands. I would definitely recommend visiting Koh Kood within the next year, as driving around you could see the amount of work going into the island, to make it as appealing as others. So if you want a place less traveled, get there fast!
Love Carrie xxx
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