Koh Mak

What is there to say about Koh Mak This is my favourite island, of those close to us.  A chance to relax, eat some good food and go to bed early, feeling like it's midnight! This is one of the odd things about this place.  I guess because it's so laid back and darkness falls here by 6 o'clock that by 10 you feel like you've had a really good night and should consider going to bed.  How rock 'n' roll!  

It was a bit of an early start as we didn't want to waste our first day but the taxi got us to the pier in lovely time to catch the 10:45 Boonsiri catamaran. At this time of day, it stops at Koh Kood first, so it was like a mini cruise of the area. We stayed at Good Time Resort just like we did in May.  I really can't recommend this place enough and it always seems as though Mr Peak cannot do enough for you. In fact, having headed to CoCoCape Pier to have a drink and watch the sunset, we found that their bar had not opened for the season. Having had a lovely lunch at German Steakhouse, we weren't looking for a big dinner.  So, we headed back to the resort when we saw Mr Peak and he arranged for pizza to be delivered to our holiday house!

We stayed in Pineapple House (though we had booked Villa Ginger).  It was a great space for all of us with one bedroom and en-suite on the main floor and another bedroom with en-suite upstairs.  To access this bedroom, you had to go up the outside staircase, which was also the way to the "crows nest" as I liked to call it. This spot, which had seating on three sides and a table in the centre, was a perfect place to catch the breeze and enjoy a glass of wine! 

Of course, that was until we had a massive storm one afternoon and the loudest clap of thunder seemed to be right on our roof.  I wish I'd had the camera ready for Ross' face as it was a picture and Mr John, ever the conservative one, had us heading back downstairs safely out of harms way!

In fact, we had rain a few times while we were there and because a large seed pod had got stuck in the "drain" pipe, we had about an inch of water on the patio. Once removed though, everything drained away pretty quickly.

A highlight of our time away has to be our trip to Bamboo Hideaway with it's La Dolce Vita restaurant.  Massimo and Francesca are the nicest people and the food, you simply cannot miss a visit here if you go to Koh Mak.  We had an amazing three course meal, complete with coffee and limoncello. In fact, the boys even had an extra main course to share! I like to think it was because they had a small taste of my lasagne and wished they'd ordered it too.

Our trip back was no less fun and by pure chance we got a taxi back, driven by Mr Egg.  He owns Leelawadee Speedboat and speaks good English. In fact when Ross and Mr John told him they were from England - his response? Lovely Jubbly! If you're unfamiliar with the British Sit Com, Only Fools & Horses, have a look.

In fact he has quite a sense of humour. Turning down one street he said he was taking a short-cut and we'd be in Chan in 20 minutes it's a good hours drive.  So I think next time, we'll be contacting him for our travel needs. The good news is he's from Chan and knows the area well so getting dropped off at the house was no problems.