Picture Perfect

 What can I say about our week away.  It's just been fantastic.  So much so, that I'll actually breakdown our trip into a few blog pieces so that, hopefully, you'll have enough details for planning your own trip.  Koh Mak (pronounced Ko Mark) is such an idyllic place that we feel like we've been away for much longer.  There's little to do except swim, eat, drink, sleep and it suited us down to the ground.



Mr John, in one of his hyper organised moments organised for us to stay in Trat the night before our boat to the island and we stayed at The Artist Place which was just fabulous stay tuned for details on this newly constructed oasis.

Our boat tickets included free pick up from a nearby boutique hotel.  All the ferry points in Trat province seem to be a long way from Trat city centre and the trip took us well over 30 minutes which wasn't helped by the fact we had to stop at a garage for a spot of welding on the back seats!  I think the driver took pity on me because I got to sit up front with him in air-conditioned comfort.

The boat, a fast catamaran took about 50 minutes to arrive at Ao Nid pier on the island.  The water was the most amazing colour and we couldn't wait to get unpacked and settle in.  We were met at the pier by our resort representative and boarded the open taxi for the 10 minute trip to Good Time resort. 

Now I know the name sounds a bit dodgy but it had got really good reviews on the internet and you certainly could not beat it for it's convenient location between two fantastic beaches.  We had a room in the Islanda Suite new build on the property.  It was one of the cheapest but we didn't feel like we were slumming it at all.  The resort is huge and there are individual houses dotted on it, some of which we coverted - well, at least those that had an outdoor Jacuzzi.  The staff were very friendly and nothing was too much bother and the breakfast adequate.

Actually, the only downside of the resort was the swimming pool.  On the day we arrived it was closed for cleaning but, to be honest, it never looked particularly clean.  Well, I say that but I could see my feet when I was in it, it's just that it had a weird green colour to it.  Perhaps that was why we had it pretty much all to ourselves. 

With the sun being so fierce, the water was really warm, though not as warm as the shallow water at the beach.  I kept joking that you could catch fish, drag them into the shallows where they'd be broiled to death so you could consume them straight away.  This is not a topic that has appeared in any reviews we avidly read before booking our holiday weird.

We ate really well while we were on the island though finding a good coffee was a little impossible until we went to the Steakhouse I'll tell you more about this in a later post as it deserves it's own review.  Unbelievably, walking back from dinner one night, we saw a large wine selection in one of the mini-marts and Mr John reappeared with a bottle of Mud House white wine.  This is a fabulous vineyard in New Zealand's Marlborough district which we were fortunate enough to visit in 2004.

We had a thunder storm and heavy rain one afternoon and we took refuge in Reception (which also has a Library upstairs full of DVDs and books).  One of the dogs at the resort is obviously terrified of thunder and tried to worm his way into Mr John's pocket.  There are a couple of dogs at the resort and they all have a lovely nature and are no bother.  The only other rain we saw was on the morning we left when, at 06:00 we were woken by thunder and torrential rain which continued until we walked up to Reception for our breakfast curse you 09:00 boat trips.  Needless to say, although it had all settled down by the time we were driven to the pier, Mr John did not dry out until we got home.