Koh Samet - back to the beach

After having celebrated Cissi's birthday and having enjoyed a weekend in Bangkok together with Joe and Tom, two friends of mine from Salzburg, we decided to join Tom for a couple of days trip to Koh Samet. This beautiful island is reachable from Bangkok within a few hours by local bus and boat. 

Tom, who used to live in Thailand for some years and is fluent in speaking Thai, took the lead in interacting with the locals during our trip to the island, as well as throughout our stay.
So great, as soon as the locals hear his Thai, they were much more welcoming and friendly compared than they were to other tourists (which does not mean that they were unfriendly, but hey, you know, routines in daily life make you bored, especially if you live on an island).

We accomodated ourselves in a three appartment bungalow, ours and Tom's separated by an appartment rented by a Farang (Westener, in our case British) and his approximately 30 years younger girlfirend and their baby! You see that quite often and, I know, it's a shame, get used to it...
Anyway, when we came to our bungalow the first evening after dinner and a few drinks, both were drunk, slamming doors and shouting at each other. After some time the mother left, leaving the baby behind (!!!) which understandably made it scream all night. And all the father was capable to do to handle the situation was to shout: "stop screaming, go to sleep!"
Some people should really think first before they start a family!!!

However, after having written about things that were not so nice,  I have to write about the good parts as well. And there were a lot!
First of all, the island is very scenic, with the brightest, finest and cleanest sand beach we have encountered so far since Seraya in Indonesia! 
Second, good food served on the beach (especially Som Tam, green papaya salad with chilli) makes your day, especially when combined with a cold afternoon beer! ;-)
And third, most important, it was amazing to spend the days at Koh Samet with Tom, whom I haven't seen for at least three years. We took the chance to talk about us, friends and life in general. Really great!
We enjoyed it so much!

Tom, thanks for a really great time on the island!!!