04/03/10: Moving to Mae Nam
Posted by: LiteraryHero
After a week at Than Sadet it was time to say goodbye. I was out of money and there are no cash machines or places to use your credit card anywhere even reasonably close by. Besides, our bungalow was rented out, so we had no choice but to leave. We could have taken the truck ride back into town, but I didn't really feel like getting all covered in dust and being bumped around for an hour, so fortunately I found a different way to go.
Every morning at 9:30am a boat pulled up onto the beach. The boat ran from Haad Salad in the north to Than Sadet, then on to another couple of beaches before stopping at Hat Rin (the main town on Koh Phangan) and then crossing over to Mae Nam on Koh Samui. This seemed like a much better option, especially since it worked out that the boat would actually end up being cheaper than the truck.
At first we were going to stop of at Hat Rin for a day or two to figure out our travel plans, but then I got the great idea to take the bus all the way over to Koh Samui. The reason I liked Hat Rin was that I had been there before so was familiar with it and would have an easy time finding a place to stay. Since I had never set foot on Koh Samui in my life, it was bound to be a bit of a hassle finding a bungalow and figuring out what was going on. Of course most people have guide books or at least general plans on what they want to do, but I don't roll that way. The thing was, I talked to a lady working at Mai Pen Rai and she said that the boat to Koh Samui stops at Mae Nam which is a nice, quiet beach. She also said that there are tons of places to stay there, and with this advice, we decided to travel all the way through to Koh Samui.
When I say that we decided this, what I mean to say is that I more or less decided and Jisun just agreed to go. She never mentioned the fact that she didn't like to ride on small boats, and unfortunately she didn't get to enjoy the pleasant two hour trip. She didn't vomit or anything like some other people I know (I'm talking about you, refried bean eating Slimbo), but she definitely didn't enjoy herself. To be fair, the boat was small, and the sea was pretty rough that day, so it could have happened to anyone. Fortunately we made it without incident and landed on the beach of Mae Nam at around 11:30am.
We got off the boat and looked around, immediately realizing that we had no idea where we were or where we were going. We walked around for a short while, but all the places we saw were asking for over 100$ a night, and that just isn't how I roll. We finally ended up back where we started, hot, tired and frustrated. Fortunately there was a random guy there who knew a nice place nearby, so all was not lost. It turns out that if we had just walked in the other direction, there was a cheap bungalow very nearby. Isn't that how it always works, though?
It also turns out that Mae Nam is more of an upscale area, so there is very little by way of budget accomodation in the area. If I had known that in advance, I would have tried to figure out another plan, but whatever, it was in the past. So, to wrap it up, this was how we found the wonderful Seedaeng bungalows at Mae Nam beach on Koh Samui. We walked up and asked for a bungalow, finding out that there was only one available, and that was the one right on the water. We also learned that it was 800 baht per night, but since we looked honest, we could have it for 700. Not a bad price, good location, and friendly people. What else can you ask for?
Oh, there is one more thing you can ask for, and that is peace and quiet. We were advised by the lady at Mai Pen Rai that Mae Nam is a quiet area and would be a great place to chill out. Well, she was right 364 days out of the year. The problem is that we arrived on February 14, 2010, which happened to be Chinese New Year. You might know that Thai people don't celebrate the Chinese New Year, and they don't. However, Mae Nam happens to be the place on Koh Samui that all the ethnic Chinese live, and ethnic Chinese do, in fact, celebrate Chinese New Year. They celebrate it loudly and all night, in fact. I can say with some certainty that they take their New Year celebration very seriously. It wasn't a quiet night.
The upshot from being directly next door to the celebration is that it afforded us some quality cheap eats. The way it worked was every shop in town set up a booth with food in it, and all you had to do was pay 100 baht (3$US) to get a stamp, and then you were allowed to eat whatever it was you wanted. Not a bad deal at all, if I do say so myself. Jisun and I had noodle soup, dimsum, chocolate muffins, and pork (from a roasted pig, no less) among other things.
The downside was that the music was played loudly until six am, and people were lighting fireworks and firecrackers all night and well into the following day. It wasn't conducive to sleeping, but fortunately it only lasted on night and then became quiet again.
Every morning at 9:30am a boat pulled up onto the beach. The boat ran from Haad Salad in the north to Than Sadet, then on to another couple of beaches before stopping at Hat Rin (the main town on Koh Phangan) and then crossing over to Mae Nam on Koh Samui. This seemed like a much better option, especially since it worked out that the boat would actually end up being cheaper than the truck.
At first we were going to stop of at Hat Rin for a day or two to figure out our travel plans, but then I got the great idea to take the bus all the way over to Koh Samui. The reason I liked Hat Rin was that I had been there before so was familiar with it and would have an easy time finding a place to stay. Since I had never set foot on Koh Samui in my life, it was bound to be a bit of a hassle finding a bungalow and figuring out what was going on. Of course most people have guide books or at least general plans on what they want to do, but I don't roll that way. The thing was, I talked to a lady working at Mai Pen Rai and she said that the boat to Koh Samui stops at Mae Nam which is a nice, quiet beach. She also said that there are tons of places to stay there, and with this advice, we decided to travel all the way through to Koh Samui.
When I say that we decided this, what I mean to say is that I more or less decided and Jisun just agreed to go. She never mentioned the fact that she didn't like to ride on small boats, and unfortunately she didn't get to enjoy the pleasant two hour trip. She didn't vomit or anything like some other people I know (I'm talking about you, refried bean eating Slimbo), but she definitely didn't enjoy herself. To be fair, the boat was small, and the sea was pretty rough that day, so it could have happened to anyone. Fortunately we made it without incident and landed on the beach of Mae Nam at around 11:30am.
We got off the boat and looked around, immediately realizing that we had no idea where we were or where we were going. We walked around for a short while, but all the places we saw were asking for over 100$ a night, and that just isn't how I roll. We finally ended up back where we started, hot, tired and frustrated. Fortunately there was a random guy there who knew a nice place nearby, so all was not lost. It turns out that if we had just walked in the other direction, there was a cheap bungalow very nearby. Isn't that how it always works, though?
It also turns out that Mae Nam is more of an upscale area, so there is very little by way of budget accomodation in the area. If I had known that in advance, I would have tried to figure out another plan, but whatever, it was in the past. So, to wrap it up, this was how we found the wonderful Seedaeng bungalows at Mae Nam beach on Koh Samui. We walked up and asked for a bungalow, finding out that there was only one available, and that was the one right on the water. We also learned that it was 800 baht per night, but since we looked honest, we could have it for 700. Not a bad price, good location, and friendly people. What else can you ask for?
Oh, there is one more thing you can ask for, and that is peace and quiet. We were advised by the lady at Mai Pen Rai that Mae Nam is a quiet area and would be a great place to chill out. Well, she was right 364 days out of the year. The problem is that we arrived on February 14, 2010, which happened to be Chinese New Year. You might know that Thai people don't celebrate the Chinese New Year, and they don't. However, Mae Nam happens to be the place on Koh Samui that all the ethnic Chinese live, and ethnic Chinese do, in fact, celebrate Chinese New Year. They celebrate it loudly and all night, in fact. I can say with some certainty that they take their New Year celebration very seriously. It wasn't a quiet night.
The upshot from being directly next door to the celebration is that it afforded us some quality cheap eats. The way it worked was every shop in town set up a booth with food in it, and all you had to do was pay 100 baht (3$US) to get a stamp, and then you were allowed to eat whatever it was you wanted. Not a bad deal at all, if I do say so myself. Jisun and I had noodle soup, dimsum, chocolate muffins, and pork (from a roasted pig, no less) among other things.
The downside was that the music was played loudly until six am, and people were lighting fireworks and firecrackers all night and well into the following day. It wasn't conducive to sleeping, but fortunately it only lasted on night and then became quiet again.
Term Papers wrote: