Iceberg: CO Team Event at Koh Samet (May 20

My third Rayong trip within 2 months. First trip, I went there with Susan, Mervin and Chiqui and stayed at Hinsuay Namsai, Rayong. Second trip, I went there with Paui and Rochie and we stayed at Phala Cliff Beach Resot and Spa, Ban Chang (w/ preivous Blog posting named: Ban Chang Trip (May 5 -7 , 2006) posted on May 12, 2006). For this trip, I went with more than half of the CO Team,Susan, Angela, Cho Cho (she is not the owner of the beach), Aew and Hai San, guess I was the lucky one since I am the only guy, hmmm, am I sure it is lucky? Anyway, we went straight to Koh Samet and stayed at Aocho Grand View. Finally, I was able to go there after two tries.

Big Brother, CO Team Edition

Aocho Grand View Resort

So the day started, as usual, in Ekkamai Bus Station. We met there for the six o'clock bus ride and reached Ban Phe around 9:30. It was raining, quite funny that no one even minded the weather for this trip. It was rainig for several days already and no one bothered to complain or voice out. Maybe we are too busy in the office or everyone was really excited and looking forward to the trip. So when we reached the pier, we bought our tickets and went straight to Ao Cho, this is another beach which is farther than Hat Saikeaw. The beach is almost private since there aren't many people, or maybe it is because of the weather. So the boat stopped near the beach and we have to take a smaller boat to send us to shore.

OK, almost can't see the boat but we are in a small boat

Then we walked to our resort and checked in. Upon check in we chnaged to our beach outfit and then walked out to find some food. We had brunch, since we did not eat any breakfast and it was lunch time, at a local beach side reaturant. We ordered siko (pork ribs), pla kha tiam (fish with garlic), som tam (papaya salad) and kai yang (barbeque chicken). We were accompanied by some of our friend who joined us for brunch.

Our cottage...

Friends who joined for lunch, would you believe that the cat eats the chicken and the dogs eat the fish, yes believe it.

After brunch, we walked and sat around the beach since evryone was really and we don't have anything to do. So being the photo guy, I took some photos along the beach.

Photos at the beach.

We then decided to go to Hat Saikeaw. Initially, we plan to walk but along the way we saw some signs for watching the beaches at around Koh Samet,snorkling and fish watching. So we decided to get the package tour. I can say that this wasn't really the best time to go to any beach since it was the rainy season. We were able to do some snorking but soon the waves were really big and fast that it was a bit dangerous the boatman asked us to board the boat. We went along with the beach tour not knowing that the waves were really big. It was quite dangerous since the boat was jumping like 8 to 10 feet. There was a storm coming our way so we have to cut our trip short and miss some of the beach. I think it was a good decision by the boatman cause it was really getting more scary.

Snorkling and speedboat pictures.

We then went to the fish watching site. We walked around planks that are afloat to see various species of fishes. We saw very large groupers, spotted shark, sea bass, I had to shake a turtles flipper and some popular fish that I can't remember the name. After a few minutes rain began to pour again and we were not able to go back to the back since the wave was really big. So we decided to take shelter in one of the floating structure there and tried to survive the cold rain and wind. We left after a few minutes and we headed to Hat Saikeaw. We stayed for half an hour and then went back to Ao Cho.

Look at the fish, no look at the cam :)

Popular fish??? Can't remember the name.

Snacking before going to the shore of Hat Saikeaw.

Upon reaching Ao Cho, we went back to the resort and started washing up so we can go for dinner. We walked to the other side of the beach and tried to look for the best spot for food. We stoped at one of the sea side restaurant which they lay out all the seafoods in front. Here you can order and ask them to cook. So after deciding where to stay for dinner, we ordered our dinner. We got a fish, prawns, crabs, cuttlefish, potatoes and corns. Not much huh, I went with a group of growing kids.

Getting ready for dinner.

Walking along the beach looking for food.

Ahan tha le, aroi na.(Delicious seafoods.)

Dinner shot

After a very heavy dinner we walked to the pier near our place where I tried to play with my camera setting again, what's new. I was able to set the camera on a post and took a shot of the shore. We then tried some shots ourselves but it came out to be silouette. Ohh, btw, to day was Angela's birthday. We almost forgot, well actually we did not. We just tried not to greet her for the whole day and surprised her with a birthday song and cake, beachside.

Don't move, until I move. Shutter is at 15 seconds.

Happy birthday, Angela. Hey, Hai San, it's not your birthday.

So that's it for day one. Everybody was dead tired so after eating the cake, we went back to the cottage and did some preparation. I fell asleep I think within 5 to 10 mins when I lied down.

Next day, I woke up and went for a swim. After swimming, we went for breakfast. Breakfast was a bit light after the deadly, lunch and dinner of the previous day. I gained 1 kilo by the way for this two day trip. So after breakfast, I was accompanied by Aew to walk around. I took few more pictures of the surrounding area and some rocky place and went back to the cottage to prepare for departure. In the meantime, Angela, Hai San and Cho Cho went for a beachside massage.

What a life, breakfast by the sea.

I like taking photos of sceneries.

Rocky place, as I said.

Massage by the beach side.

My CO buddy, the best anyone can have, in her cute bleeding teddy bear shirt. Also the event organizer, bravo. :)

Almost the end of the trip, we are just relaxing and watching TV while waiting for the boat to pick us up. The trip back to Rayong started very smoothly but still we have to face a final adventure before we can reach Rayong. Another storm was on our way and again the waves were very strong and high. So everybody was instructed to wear life vests. Also, there were no roof for the boat and since we are sitting on top and you know what happened next.