Many countries in Southeast Asia celebrate their traditional New Year around the same time, April 13 through the 15th. For this reason, we were excused from school for that entire week. My good friend Adrienne and I decided to take full advantage of this long break and head to Thailand to participate in Songkran, a Thai festival celebrated to kick off the New Year. The main tradition associated with Songkran is throwing water to symbolize purification and a clean start to a new year...so basically the worlds largest and longest water fight. Your choice of weapon: a bucket or a super soaker. Your target: Anyone and everyone. Bonus Points: Drenching someone who is dry or someone wearing a poncho.
For the water fights we were in Bangkok, but at the beginning of the week we were in Koh Samet, the rebellious "don't-bring-up-its-name-or-you'll-upset-mother" child of Thailand's Islands. Samet sips its Red Bull-vodka from a bucket, stays out until the sun comes up, and lives in the shadow of its older more respectable siblings, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Chang and Koh Lanta, all of whom have grown into the ritzy, mature and glamorous holiday getaway destinations. Not that Koh Samet doesn't have its perks; with its white sand beaches, turquoise waters, and quiet tucked away alcoves, the island is charming and cleans up well when it wants to and was the exact holiday I needed.
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| Hai Sae Kaew Beach. |
Samet does offer a wide array of accommodations. We experienced this first hand due to our incessant quest to find lodging on the island which would be more suitable for the wages of a Peace Corps volunteer and a 5th grade English teacher. We literally stayed in a different room every night. We began our stay in the VIP room of Jeps Bungalows, with its own bar and wrap around veranda and ended in the Shitbox room at Seahorse 2 with a broken fan and an invasion of questionably poisonous centipedes. On the downgrade slope we were on, I am certain that if we had stayed one more night on Koh Samet, we would have ended up just crashing on the beach. I would have been completely fine with that to be honest.
My stay on Koh Samet was a perfect holiday away from the hustle and bustle and straight up chaos of Phnom Penh. It was refreshing to hear the sound of waves crashing onto shore instead of motos crashing into cars, and it was nice to feel clean sand between my toes instead of whatever indeterminable gunk I normally trudge through. I ran into some friends of mine who were also drawn to the appeal of Thailand's clean air and picturesque scenery. We were a very interesting lot for numerous reasons and we shared more than a few laughs and a few more drinks!
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| Trouble. |
That was the best part of the trip, being with good company that is. And can I say cheers to my travel mate. Despite her being ill and incapacitated for nearly four days due to a mysterious yet not-so-uncommon Cambodian bug, she was a trooper and still managed to have a bit of fun as I dragged her out to share a bucket-o-booze with me on the last night of our stay on Koh Samet. A sign of a true friend.
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| Me and Adrienne! |
