"National Marine Park - isle Ko Samet" a Ko Samet Travel Page by atri

this island is not very big compare to some other like Koh Samui or Phuket, yet has its own advantages. first of all it is probably one of the closest to the Bangkok - about 200 km by highway. it is about 20-30 min by boat from Bang Phe town which is 25 km from regional centre Rayong, which is 185 km by highway from Bkk. also not far from popular Pattaya, just a bit further south-east.

there is sufficient info about it in the Lonely Planet book, so I'll not try to outbest them. can simply mention that there are very easy arrangements to get to it from Khao San Road - by microvan including up-down ticket plus up-down fair for boat. look around in any agency there - u can get a good deal.

it has a status of National Marine Park since 1981 !

although it seems the aggressive advance of commerce makes its rapid nasty impact every 6 months...

this time we saw newly build 7/11 shop - these guys getting everywhere it seems! also few internet cafes - which are perhaps a good development.

I've spoken to Ms. Tubtim, the owner of Tubtim bungalos and restaurant, and she said that still trying to get an access to the electricity line from mainland, while still forced to use the disel generators for supplying the Tubtim beach (I believe the whole Ao Phutsa as well)....

still it is nice and quite and relatively cheap. not during public holidays like Songkran though, when thais flock here in huge numbers.

this little girl I've met on the beach Ao Phutsa (near Tubtim restaurant) was having her fancy hair style made. she surprised me by good english - and later her parents told me that they are actually from Phillipines, not thais. never mind - I couldn't resist making few photos of her and even with her - so cute and sweet !

samet in local area is a word for one particular type of tree which has been used for boat building.

the white sand on the beaches here is very nice and perhaps one of the main attractions.

I didn't have much time to explore more of the island than area around beach Tubtim, but I guess there must be quite enough interesting things to see around. especially would be interesting to go to the last southern point of it - Ao Karang.