Thailand: Part 2 - Hiding Away

The Ao Cho Hideaway proved to be a great spot. Below is a map of Koh Samet. Our hotel was located on the Ao Cho beach, which is shown about half way down on the right side. This quiet beach is home to maybe 3 or 4 small hotels. It has shallow waters and small waves, which we thought would be great for Alston. The next beach south Wong Deuan is much larger and has number of larger hotels with restaurants. All in all, the scene on both these beaches is sleepy in comparison to northeastern beach, Hat Sai Kaew, the most populated area on the island.Here is a shot of the grounds of the Ao Cho Hideaway. The well manicured gardens were quite stunning, especially given the location. One morning while we relaxed on the beach a barge pulled in to deliver building supplies and a new table for the restuarant. The barge came as close to shore as possible and the men started throwing the delivery goods into water. The staff at the hotel waded into pick-up the floating delivery. YES, including the table, which a few people floated on while they waited for the man power to arrive to swim it in to shore. This is how most the materials are delivered here. Upon witnessing this we had a whole new found respect for the beauty and existence of this property.
The staff really began to feel like family. It was low season, making us one of a handful of guests. Everyday the staff would swarm Alston with excited greetings. The amazingly friendly staff helped make this stay a true joy.
Above is a brief sampling of Alston's Hideaway Fanclub.

The food throughout our entire trip was phenomenal. Tons of curries, some silky with coconut milk like the one you see below (kaeng kiaw waan Gai - green curry with chicken and veggies) and lots of amazing yum woonsen glass noodle salads with loads of chilis, lime and/or lemongrass. During our Chiang Mai portion (which I'll write more about in "part 3")our friend, Robin found a yum som-oh, which is a spicy pomelo salad - quite tastee!
Oh, the fruit drinks!!!! Let's not forget the fruit drinks! This seems to be a popular Thai past time. Fresh, fresh fruit shakes. Nearly everywhere you look you see a fruit juice/shake stand. The plentiful fruit in this region makes it difficult to resist the plethora of flavor options too. We became quite fond of the pineapple shake (sometimes we'd get fresh coconut too!) Also, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could leave my traveler's paranoia over ice and water at the door. Most food places and stands that have high traffic seem to understand that health consumer = healthy sales.
We spent 5 days lolling around Koh Samet. It was the perfect place to ease into our new time zone. Alston did have a few rough hours the first couple of nights. The first mornings we were up walking on the pier in the still of the hours of light. There was something refreshing about watching a new day begin as the sunrise. Admittedly, it's not something I've had much opportunity to do before Alston arrived. (note: I've also caught a couple brilliant orange sunrises from my dad's place in Connecticut. Their guest room has a prime sunrise view during the winter when the trees are barren.)Back to chill-laxin' the beach. What fun! Alston would run around playing in the water and sand. And then just pass out!
Here is Alston playing with his first girlfriend, Poo. By far his favorite staff person at the hotel. Possibly because she was so tiny herself (literally twice Alston's height) and super playful.Above is random photo of one of the "beach vendors" who travel the beaches selling all sorts of tastee food, from fresh pomelo, icey coconuts to drink to grilled chicken served hot off her basket BBQ.

ah, the beach...it's soo good....