Hello again fellow travellers! I was away for 3 days at a place without any electricity and very little reception, so couldn't really do much Hiving, but I'm finally back. More on that trip after I manage to go through all the photos and videos - there's a lot. Meanwhile I'll be showing you around Koh Kood - one of my favorite islands so far. Since the island is quite big and the places around it are a lot, today I'll show you one part which is probably my favorite beach on the island - Siam Beach and part of a resort/beach bar that is set on one side of the beach itself.
Siam Beach
Siam beach was probably the closest of the bigger and more popular beaches on the island, from where we were staying at. We spent 3 nights on the island (really wish it was more) and on our second day we booked a car to take us around. The island is massive but not that developed - meaning there are roads, but unless you are on a motorcycle or hiring an offroad pickup truck to take you around, you stay at your resort. There aren't any boats like Phi Phi or Lipe around the beaches to take you anywhere. We had an option to get a motorcycle for pretty cheap but there was a little offroad area right past our hotel and I didn't want to risk it with us carrying a gimble and 2 cameras with extra lenses. Getting a car meant we'd have a local with us to take us to places he knows are good.
That's the only beach around Thailand I've seen with such big sign in such a central spot. It really makes it easy to memorize and gives it some more character
Anyways about the beach - Siam beach is famous with it's wooden pier/bridge that goes through the middle. The water is clear and so vivid - I couldn't believe it. Along the shore there are some bungalows and swings attached to the trees (it was kind of a theme around the whole island). With covid times = no tourists from outside Thailand = noone on any of the beaches. Think out of the 3 biggest beaches on the island, we saw about 6-7 people in total. Thai people want to stay white and just lay around at the hotels usually, coming out in the evening. It was unbelievable to me that some of the most beautiful beaches I've seen from all of my travels were left all to just us.
The small boat and the bigger one in the distance were our vehicles for the next day but we didn't know that yet. It was an interesting surprise when we found out our photo subjects were gonna be our transport for our snorkeling trip.
The bigger red boat was a two floor boat from the BB Divers tour. Since covid they didn't have as many tours and not every day was a day to go out in the sea. The day we went to the beach was one of those days and we spent quite a lot of time taking photos of their vehicles.
I really enjoyed photographing this little boat. It was the first time I was using our Fujifilm camera and had some fun experimenting with the lenses we had at hand. The colors from this camera are so vivid, I didn't even touch them post production.
To the left there was a long beach line and some swings attached to the trees. Nat is on one of them on that picture, see if you can find her. ^^
Here's a close up of one of the swings.
On the right side of the bridge, the beach line is smaller but still fairly big. It leads to Koh Kood resort and 'The Deck' beach bar, but it's hard to get to unless you go for a dip in the water.
Here I am on the bridge. The water is so inviting and quite shallow. You can see through it even though its colors are so vivid.
They even have a jumping board at the end.
So here am I trying to make the newly bought gimble work. We wanted to make a nice travel video for our page 'Run Away With Me Travel' but unfortunately something happened when we recalibrated it and the footage ended up super shaky. We fixed the problem when we came back - there was something that had to be done with the motors through the app again and we didn't know. Anyways here I am thinking I'm doing something..
At least I looke like I know what I'm doing right?
There isn't really anything else other than the beach and the bungalows here - no bars or nothing like that unless you walk past a rough area with some rocks or go around the beach to our next destination - Koh Kood resort and 'The Deck' beach bar.
The Deck
This beach bar is practically part of the Koh Kood resort but it is a pretty popular destination for tourists to visit. It was actually recommended by the staff of our hotel. It is part of Bang Bao Bay but it is so close to Siam beach (I mean you can see even the similarity with the wooden pier), that I decided to add it to this post instead. There were a few people here staying in the shades - I assume guests of the hotel. Other than them though there wasn't a soul here in the morning.
The bar has it's 'beach area' with sea beds near it. It isn't really a beach since there is no sand at all but a wooden deck that goes into the water. The depth is pretty shallow and the water very clear. We could see schools of fishes swimming by.
We spent a good hour and a half here getting a refreshing Ice Coffee. The place is quite big, there is a second floor just behind the sign and a dining area with nice view on the side that can accommodate a bigger group of people.
The first row of tables were set on bean bags, it was too sunny though so we sat behind in the shades.
The view is pretty nice and relaxing. Probably the best place we could've stopped by for a refreshing drink
The bar was quite nice and had these hanging hamock-like seats infront of it.
Here's a closeup on them. Never tried them but they look quite comfy.
On the side there is a green area that is part of the resort, leading to a small beach.
This is the deck area where you can go for a dip. some parts of it are in the shades of the palm trees and some are more in the sun. The sunny spots were empty obviously.
In the shades was a father and his son having some fun in the water. That family was the only other visitor at this time.
This is the part further to the right. Here are some more photos around the place.
The pier is also part of the bar. It was super sunny and hot midday so we were the only crazy people to go and spend time on it.
This setting is quite good I'd assume at sunset. The net Nat was laying on in the very first pic is right beside these pillows. It's an amazing spot to have a drink at... maybe a bit later in the afternoon though.
Some of the photos may be a bit off since this was the very first time I was using both the cameras we took with us. One was a Fujifilm XT-100 - using 23mm/f1.4 lens and the other one a Canon 60D with the kit zoom lens. I promise I get better as time goes by so if you see something way off it's either me editing on a lap top with bad coloring or just plain taking bad photos until I get used to the settings.. 😅
Anyhow I hope you enjoyed the sunny trip around this beautiful beach. It's snowing everywhere around my social media - Europe and around and I quite miss it. I hope i bring a bit of sun and warmth with these posts if you are in one of the colder parts of the world. Meanwhile I can't wait to book my next trip somewhere cold (I think we picked Iceland for next summer.. but let's see how good or bad covid will be). Will try to put up more stuff from Koh Kood in the following days and I hope you have a great start of the week meanwhile!