A couple of minutes before 6am, we were already downstairs, waiting for the taxi driver to come pick us up to the airport. I sent him an sms, and when there was no response also called him. He sounded rather sleepy… The nice girl at the reception took the phone and spoke to the driver. She told us he’s on his way and would arrive in 10 minutes. 15 minutes later, the ETA was updated to 3 minutes, and at 6:25 he finally arrived. Then, a slight problem transpired: more than half of his trunk was taken by a huge gas tank, apparently used to power the car. There was barely room for one of our four suitcases and bags. Lilach and the kids ended up spending the 40 minute ride in the back seat with a lot of lap-top luggage. My situation in the front seat was much better – merely squeezed with a trolley.
Despite the late start, we arrived well ahead of time, and had time to purchase some books – a reptile field guide for me, a snake guide (with good photos instead of drawings, but no range maps) for Daniel, and two reading books for Lilach and Tamar. We had a pleasant flight, which we all spent reading our new books, except for Daniel, who preferred Harry Potter (so I had to read his new book too). Koh Samui airport was exactly the way one would imagine it – small, quiet, and full of beautiful flowering bushes and trees. We had more than two hours till our ferry ride to Koh Phangan, so we had lunch at a small bistro in the airport before searching for a taxi to the pier. We discovered the airport taxi service was properly kartelized, so the 5 minute ride cost 100 baht per person – nearly the same as the 40 minute ride in Bangkok. In protest, we took a bus that coat us only 100 baht less, but made a special stop for us right in front of the pier. The only thing I regretted was leaving the airport without photographing the sunbirds that were feeding on a yellow-flowered bush not far from the taxi stand.
The ferry to Koh Phangan’s Thong Sala Pier, on the island’s southern coast, took about 30 minutes, and after a short search we found the light truck that was supposed to take us to Smile Bungalows in bottle beach, on the northern coast of the island. The driver informed us that he was waiting for another family arriving on the next ferry, and we would be on our way in about 20 minutes. After 40 minutes, Tamar said she was hungry, and we bought her noodle soup from a nearby motorbike-stall. That was the cue for the driver’s return with a Dutch family of 5. The resourceful young cook immediately offered us a plastic bag to carry the soup bowl in, and Tamar proudly carried it throughout the steep and bumpy ride.
The road conditions caused one of the other family’s backpacks to fly to the road on a sharp turn, at which point we discovered the driver didn’t bother to tie the luggage to the rooftop rack. I didn’t want my camera or laptop to end up on the road, so I insisted that he find some ropes, climbed the roof with him, and we secured the luggage. By the way, the road conditions didn’t prevent Daniel from taking a nap on Lilach’s lap, to the amusement of the Dutch.
The bungalows were set on the edge of the rainforest, right by the beautiful beach. We immediately fell in love with the place after seeing around 6 different species of large and beautiful butterflies on the way from the truck to the reception. The bungalow itself was basic, but the bedsheets were clean and the view was breathtaking. We spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoying the beautiful beach from the hammock on the balcony, swimming, and photographing butterflies.
During the good dinner we saw some fireworks coming from one of the other resorts in the small bay. Strange fire lanterns floated in the air and landed in the sea after a couple of minutes. A short night walk with headlamps yielded, in addition to the three species of house geckos we have already seen during the day, several beautiful specimens of Tokay Gecko – one of the largest gecko species in the world, with a striking pattern of red and orange dots on a blueish-grey background. I caught one (in a daring operation that involved one-leg stand on a meter high bamboo pole) and we brought it back to our bungalow to show it to the kids and take some pictures of it, before releasing it.
Next morning, we decided to take it easy and stay an extra day. Accordingly, we had a fun lazy day, reading by the sea, watching the lizards and butterflies, and swimming in the perfect, lukewarm sea. We identified a favorite location in the laid back dining area, with its low tables and cushions, and occupied it several times throughout the day, eating, drinking fruit smoothies, or just playing D&D at the kids’ insistent demand. That night, the staff lit a large barbeque, and the dinner menu offered specials of grilled fish, squid and prawns. While I enjoyed a large red snapper served with spicy sauce, we watched an acrobatic display of juggling a lit stick, performed by one of the young staff members.
Having spent that day in a way that would have fit Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, we decided we needed some action, and after breakfast we set on the short track through the rainforest to the nearby cove, several kilometers away. The route was pretty steep, climbing the mountain and going down on its other side, and offered beautiful views and an encounter with a couple of monkeys near the top. At the end of the hike we reached Haad Khom bay, where we found a nice restaurant and had late lunch before calling a taxy boat shortly before 6pm and heading back. On the way back by boat we saw terns and reef herons, and a lone monitor stalking a rocky shore. We agreed with the boat owner that he would pick us up the next day for a snorkeling trip to Mae Haad on the northwest tip of the island, considered one of its best snorkeling spots.
The snorkeling trip itself was rather disappointing, due to very poor underwater visibility caused by the wind, but the scenery on the way there and back was beautiful. The kids spent the afternoon hours in the shallows of our beach, sheltered in the shade of the rocks or the boats or the rocks, while Lilach read nearby and kept watch. After dinner we walked down the beach and stopped at another resort, where the kids watched the movie “Coco” on an outdoor screen and we had beer and dessert.
Family Trips 