After our mini adventure at the shrimp farm we headed to the docks to catch a speed boat the the small tropical island Koh Mak that was going to be our home for 5 days.
I never really imagined Thailand being very hilly and mountainy – mainly because up until recently I never really imagined myself going to that part of the world, so the amazing scenery was definitely a big bonus.
We had some “meat on a stick” and sticky rice whilst we waited for the boat (Im doing a whole post just dedicated to food by the way – but wow! I definitely haven’t been anywhere in the world where normal street food has tasted this good!)
Then after some hustling we got on the boat and were off! It took us about 45 minutes to get to this island that is basically out in the gulf of Thailand just outside Cambodia.
Arriving at this place almost felt like arriving to your own private tropical island because it’s not been taken over by many tourists quite yet (although there must have been more Swedes than Thai people there…!)
I shared a room with Dave and Ina in this bungalow that was divided up in two – with Cata and her Dave living in the room above us. The view from our bed was absolutely stunning although some of the features to the bungalow where a bit questionable ;)
We quickly discovered that the hotel bar had happy hour between 5-7pm which from then on became the only set routine that we followed. Of course we couldn’t refuse having a dip in the ocean! The water was almost as warm as a bath at home and so clear you could see every little detail. We had a few cocktails and watched the sun set around 7 pm.
Next day we rented some scooters and had a long ride around the island.
First we headed up to the island temple and met loads of cute little puppies (and some monks too!)
We saw this little restaurant down by the shore and ended up having lunch there with the whole crew. Lovely little seafood place with super yummy crushed fruit drinks!
After lunch we went on exploring other parts of the island that were a bit further away.
We ended up at another resort that looked a bit more worn down and basic than ours. We had a look around and decided to head off to the complete opposite of the island, and so we kind of drove back and forth and around for a few hours exploring various places and beaches.
After exploring for more than half of the day we decided it was time to head back home, butwe made a quick stop at the local gas station to fill up the bikes ;)
We set home and once back at the resort we took another dip in the ocean and then watched the sun set again whilst sipping on some happy hour cocktails.
Wednesday was all about just relaxing. We had booked in a two hour thai massage in the afternoon, and before the message we had a relaxing time on the beach not doing much at all apart from sunbathing, reading books and taking dips in the sea.
The Thai massage was probably one of the best things I spent my money on the whole vacation – it felt like foam rolling my entire body! in fact it was so good I booked another session in for the next day (but only for an hour). After the massage I went and had a beer on my own and you guessed it! Watched the sun go down…
Then I went back to the room to freshen up and met up with the rest of the crew for drinks and food.
The following the day was the last full day we had on Koh Mak and we spent it snorkling and boating around the different islands.
Not gonna lie, snorkling isn’t really thing – im just not that interested in looking at fish and plants under the water. I mean, its cool for like 10 minutes but then I just get bored.
But having said that, the water was SO CLEAR and so warm considering how deep it was, that I really enjoyed the overall experience of boating around, swimming a bit, seeing cool fish for a bit and just having some fun with my friends.
We stopped at a nature reservoir for lunch – and I think my only complain would be too little food and booze on this day out ;)
Overall though it just looked magical and we even got to see loads of fish coming up to the boat as we fed them a bit of leftover rice.
All in all a lovely day that was made even better by the one hour massage I got once we got back to the resort.
I said goodbye to the amazing sunset one last time, and before we all went to bed full of food and tired from all the swimming, we had one last cocktail as the bartender agreed to have happy hour all evening for us because we had been such great guests.
No last day would be complete without a bit of action and of course our piece of action came as we had left the island. After speeding away for maybe 10 mintes towards the mainland we realised that Cata’s mum had forgotten her bag with all her money, camera, phone and other valuables on the beach!
Luckily because she had been so nice and tipped more or less the entire staff before we set off that morning, they found her bag and sent a boat to meet us in the middle of the sea to deliver it to her.
It felt very James Bond-esque and was a perfect ending to our 5 day island mini adventure.