Koh Samet with Safta

My mom's visit with us was pretty short, so I asked her what she wanted to do with the time when we were all in Thailand together.  She said she would love to go to the Ao Prao resort on Koh Samet.  She had seen our pictures, and now she wanted to see the real thing.  We brought Young and some friends with us as well and made a fun weekend of it.

We didn't get off to the best start though, because there was a big rainstorm, which caused traffic, which meant we missed the speedboat we were trying to catch.  We had to wait a couple hours for the next one.  Luckily, there's a nice waiting area with a coffee shop and some stores around it.  Elena kicked back and relaxed.

It was still raining a bit when we got on the boat, but we made it smoothly to the resort.

We had gotten a room for the four of us and a room for my mom and Young to share.  They were pretty close to each other off the path.

We got the same kind of beach cottage we had the last time, and I got a picture of Mom on the balcony enjoying her beach vacation.

We had a little bit of time to play before dinner.  One of the nice parts about Young coming with us was that she could keep Elena in the room with her for dinner while the rest of us ate at the restaurant.  Vivi got a "fancy" apple juice, and I tried the pineapple rice.

We were up bright and early the next morning to stake out the best spot on the beach.  There was a huge mangrove tree that provided plenty of shade, so we dragged some beach chairs underneath it and settled in.  Mom enjoyed playing with the girls while I enjoyed my view.

For lunch, we decided to get a truck into town.  "Town" ended up being one street lined with shops and restaurants.  We walked around for a while, and I took some pictures.

Tempting as all the grilled food looked and smelled, we ended up at a restaurant with open air seating and a view of the street.

I got pad see ew gai and a coconut shake, yum :-)

All the sauces and utensils we needed were right on the table.  You just had to know where to look.

After lunch, we walked to the public beach area to check it out.  It was still pretty, but no where near as nice as the beach at our hotel.

I'm glad I saw it, and now I know for sure that I'm not missing anything.  We caught the truck back, and then changed into swim gear for more water fun.  This time the girls hung out in the pool.

The hotel had two beautiful pools.  We had plenty of fun at both of them.

When the kids weren't splashing around in the smaller pool, it was a nice place for my mom to relax and read.

I got some fun pictures of Viv on the beach as the sun was setting.

We had another nice dinner that night.  It was grill night.  They had all the options out, so you could see what you were getting and how much it would cost.  It was quite a display.

Most of us got the mixed meat option.

One person got mixed seafood.

Vivi got all pork, which turned out to be the best choice, since the beef and chicken were a bit dry.  It was a good meal for under $15, and we were sitting looking out at the beach with fans to keep us cool, so we were totally happy.  

We were back at our table for breakfast the next morning.  Elena loved the small pancakes they had there.

It's such a nice, peaceful getaway.  I think we'll try to go there one more time before we leave.  It's definitely been one of our favorite vacation spots.  It's especially fun now that Elena is enjoying the water and being good in the car.  Of course, having ponies helps ;-)