Candlelight Beach

Rydym wedi darganfod paradwys o'r enw Ko Samet lle mae bywyd mor rhwydd ac mor bell o'r hyn rydym yn gyfarwydd a. Dim byd yw wneud ond ymlacio ar draeth gwyn o dan haul disglair ger mor wyrdd las sydd fel cerdded i fewn i fath pan rydym yn medru dod o hyd i'r egni i godi o'n stolion haul. Dim lot rhagor i'w ddweud ond fod y cwrw lleol cystal a'r lleoliad. Mae Nia yn argymell y Singha (4.9%) ond mae Marc yn stico i'r Chang (6.3%!!!!!!!).

Candlelight Beach, Ao Thian, Ko Samet - look it up on the internet, or even better come here and see for yourselves.

Arrived on Monday afternoon after a 3 hour bus and boat ride from Bangkok. The island taxi possy were waiting for the boat with their songathews which are basically pick-up trucks with a bench down each side with the object of stuffing as many tourists and their luggage in as possible. For the first 200 yards being wedged in was good, as it meant that we weren't bounced off the back of the truck as the state of the road (we use the term very loosely) is soooo bad. Then we came to the first beach stop and the people who had to get out were moaning and protesting that if they knew it was so close to the port they would have walked and saved the half hour they had to wait until the songathew was jam-packed and also the 20 bahts they paid to go around the corner! 160 bahts and 20 minutes of clinging on for life later, we arrived - and WOW! (Jo - you were right).

Candlelight Beach is very Jack Johnson and coconuts. The pace of life is so laid back it makes the people on the Bacardi advert look as if they're on speed. A typical day is wake up to the sound of waves and the odd nut falling onto the hut roof (yes, I know, they shouldn't have been up there in the first place), swim, banana pancakes for breakfast, beach, swim, read, snooze, swim, walk, swim, snooze, read, and one last twilight swim at 6.00pm before it gets dark. Then dress for dinner - t-shirt and flipflops. The most strenuous thing we do all day is attract the attention of the fruit selling man who must stagger miles up and down the beaches every day, but his fresh mango and pineapple is chin-dribbingly juicy, sweet and wonderful.

One useless observation from this week - all the dogs on this island are the same shape and size! They come in different colours but all are the size of a spaniel with a curly tail and pointy ears! Oh, all the cats have only half a tail - in fact you could say that they're stumpy .....