When we told our hosts on Koh Samed that we were staying in Ban Phe for a few days they thought it rather strange as most foreign visitors head out to the resorts some miles out of town. We had no doubts that a more Thai experience awaited us with our choice, the Huan Soontaree Resort, and we were definitely proved right even though we were the only gusts there for the duration of our stay. At least we had the pool to ourselves no matter what the heavens threw at us!
Its the wet season and it made its presence very well known during our stay. It was a wet and bumpy ride on the boat to the mainland, and a soggy but short journey on the resorts transport – a motorbike with a type of appendage often used for selling goods rather than transporting passengers and their luggage. Our plans had to be very flexible.
We had wanted to visit the Rayong Provincial East Plant Centre to do some kayaking in the mangrove swamps. This can only be done in the morning and we never had a morning that looked good enough to risk it. Oh well, its something
Instead we negotiated a taxi to take us out to Pricha Village, on the western side of Ban Phe. This was a chance of a bit of Urbex (urban exploration!) that we couldnt miss regardless of the weather. Thanks to fellow blogger Derek at theholidaze.com we knew there was an abandoned aircraft to be found close to Mae Rumphueng beach. Getting there wasnt quite as easy as described by him as tracks have rather overgrown since his visit and a fishermans village has occupied the beachfront access. We did go through their area but eventually we had to turn back as it felt increasingly insecure.
To get to the aircraft we walked through a abandoned posh housing estate. One or two of the properties looked maintained and possibly lived in, but in general mother nature was in the process of taking over. At the far side of the estate we found an once of Thai Airways abandoned in the colourful livery of Nok Air. Dereks blog tells the full story and Ill not repeat it all here, but they did have to build a special runway to fly the
aircraft in so at some stage someone was going to do something special here. It was a great bit of exploration for us, but Russ smacked his shin on a hidden wooden post in the high grass and it drew blood. Luckily for him it wasnt rusty metal or anything nasty like that.
On the shoreline near the aircraft is what was supposed to be a luxury holiday resort. Inside some of the rooms there are with mattresses still in their plastic covers. A dolphin and a ray act as guardians of a couple of blocks so clearly the plans were quite grand. Its quite a sad sight as it illustrates perfectly the desperate situation that Covid left in its wake. Will tourism ever recover so that projects like this to fruition? Quite possibly not as they will probably need to knock it all down and start again.
We decided to walk a few kilometres along the seafront road back towards Ban Phe. The Mae Rumphueng beach road is separated from the sands by thick vegetation and rustic food shacks. When we got to the main touristy area we were amazed
to find fish restaurants with tanks outside allowing of anything from fresh crab to red snapper. We were not hungry though and we managed to find a Bolt driver willing to collect us and take us back to our resort.
The next day left disappointment again with the weather but we took a taxi to the local Aquarium. With low expectations we were pleasantly surprised. Everything looked quite well maintained and the selection of fish, big and small, was mesmerising. There was even a shark tank but it was crowded as it seems to be the local I think we were both surprised at how long we spent there. Not bad for 30 Baht (60p).
From there we walked (in the rain with our umbrellas up) for about an hour and a half all the way back to the resort, stopping for some provisions along the way. Multiple stalls sell the same selection of dried fish and fruit.
