Small Koh Mak Travel Report

[Morpheus73]

Hello everybody,

this is just a little tiny report about our last trip to Koh Mak. Not something ready to be posted in a high class travel magazine just some experiences from a Thai tourist and his little family.

- Period of stay: 7 Jan 2011 till 12 Jan 2011, Re-visit 20 Jan till 27 Jan 2011

As we have an apartment in Bangkok travel arrangements where quite easy. We booked a bus ticket from Ekamai to Laem Ngob for around 300 baht s.th. As we did not had much luggage we used our BTS card to go from Phrom Pong to Ekamai BTS.

The bus we booked left around 07:00 in the morning and the ride was smooth and comfortable. As a place to stay we booked in advance the Koh Mak Holiday Beach Resort.

The Laem Ngob pier is a very small pier. We booked the tickets for the boat via telephone. The number we found on this website is valid Koh Mak Speed Boat . The company was Lelawadee Speedboat. Of course their are other options for a cheaper commitment as well possible. I had a backpack but we have chosen the "upscale" variant.

The prices mentioned are is what you get and our 3 year old son had a free-ride. The boat need around 45 minutes and i have noticed that this time can be sometimes up to 1 hour as it stops at small islands on the way as well.

We arrived at the Makathanee Pier which is as well directly attached to the Makathanee Resort.

The owner of the Holiday Beach Resort was already waiting for us and a 2 minute ride from the pier was enough to reach our final destination. The Holiday Beach Resort is a very nice, small cozy Bungalow place. The bungalows range from 300 Baht (fan) up to 1,500 Baht (bigger, aircon). Prices are dependant on season as usual. At our first visit we had a big bungalow. Nothing really fancy but quite ok for the price. I have seen other bungalows there as well.

The beach is beautiful and really quiet so is the whole island. A person who seeks for big waves, entertainment, party is definetly wrong on Koh Mak. It is pure relaxing. For my 3 year old son who can barely swim it was just perfect and tears at the end of our visit were the result followed by "Papa, papa i want stay talay".

The "problem" and it is one are the sandflies.

Koh Mak seem to be a preferred place for them and they are nasty!!!! I knew them from my military time and there is not much you can do. A few people believe in Coconut oil some prefer a strong chemical hammer with a high rate of HEEDTA.

You can't see them, you can't feel when they bite but after it gets really bad. The itching is horrible and the the injection point looks ugly. At all costs you have to stop scratching as they can transmit some serious diseases.

My girlfriend (thai) and i (german) where hit in the same amount. Only my son (thai/german) who had a lot of Nivea (no advert) sun lotion on his body was completely free of them. Even he played hours in the sand.

Koh Mak has a lot of places to eat and the taste of everybody can be satisfied. We went a few times to the BBQ (daily) at the Makathanee resort and we like it. You can choose from Seafood, Beef kebap, Chicken, Pork and fish nearly everything. All is fresh and tasty. The BBQ includes a free salad were susprisingly reasonable compared to rip-off places such as Samui and Phuket. At the BBQ you can have as well dishes from the regular menue which covers western food as well. There are a lot of scandinavians on this country and Koh Mak is definetly a family island.

There is a fire show at the end of each BBQ which is quite nice to watch.

You can rent Scooters of all types everywhere. Different prices though usually not more than 300 Baht per day as a high, this usually includes refill of gas. Travel with a local makes things easier and we found without a problem a restaurant where the owner rented "of course" as well. Price 150 Baht per day, excluded gas.

We changed lunch and dinner many times but normally ended up in a small Isaan place on the main road, close to a german diner which i laways reject to attend as i am german by nationality but not in all instances.

They served a nice BBQ chicken for a normal price.

The island itself is small. A motorbike is a plus to discover but you can discover it as well via bicycle or even walking. Dependent on the physical fitness.

Koh Mak has a few upscale resorts but to be honest...no i don't need it on an island like this. I have stayed in 5* resorts in Thailand as well even those ones where you will pay around 20,000 baht and up for accomodation.

The bungalow has NO fridge. So fresh and cool drinks during the nite..no.

Most of the places close at 21:30 latest.

There is a small bar, disco, the only one actually called the Monkey Bar. Hippie flavor, young backpackers and a Thai/Farang Ganja Band play their songs their 7 days a week. It is nice to go there and a funny place for sure. You can dance in the sand and listen to nice Thai reggae vibes and some international songs. I think that place close late, never stayed until the end. We left latest around 01:30 in the morning.

For the internet junkies more and more places offer this service, so did our resort in form of a small computer for everybody. WiFi was possible as well. They charge quite high for this of course 15min/20Baht. I have a company Blackberry so i didn't needed this service. it is just mentioned for others who have the requirement.

There are no ATM on Koh Mak so cash makes the world go round. You could pay though at least at the majority of the resort with Credit Card (Master/VISA) and it was as well possible to receive cash with the credit card, for a small fee of course.

They offer Elephant rides as well now on Koh Mak in case somebody needs Chang experience and not in liquid manifestation.

There are no jet-ski rentals (YES!) and no banana boats (YES!. No para-sailing and all the other inventions of modern society.

Koh Mak is also a big Scuba Diver island and shops are all over the place, PADI licenses dependant of length of stay can me aquired as well.

We really love our stay, apart from the sandflies, and came short after back for a second visit. Got cheaper price as well from the owner. 200 Baht per day for a bungalow.

I really love this island and of course this peace will be not forever. I can see clearly the upcoming bar beers, discos etc. and it is sad to see that this will most likely happen to this small paradise. And don't understand wrong i like Gogo's too but not at every place please.

Koh Mak seems to be tolerant for pot smokers. Banners that it is illegal but actually local arrangement with the police are made.

Koh Mak has just a small clinic and the doctor is as well i guess owner of a gas station attached to the clinic,lol.

Power on Koh Mak is now 24/7 but still running through a small generator station in the center of the island. The local grocery store offer the majority of the items, a little bit more expensive of course as on the main land.

I will attach a few pictures but please excuse the quality. They have been made with a mobile phone. They are not bad but for sure not meeting standards of a pro-shooter.

If there are more questions and if i can answer them, yes come on and i will answer.

Cheers, Morpheus

Edited March 18, 2011 by Morpheus73

[keestha]

Thanks for your report, there should be more posts of this type.

You mention sandflies, I would like to add that this problem comes and goes, depending on changing weather and sea currents: can be that a sand fly infested beach is free of them the next year, and the other way around.

[Morpheus73]

@keestha

Thx for the flowers. True what you said about the sandflies. For us it wasn't that big drama but for others it might be.

It was still a very nice time over there. For sure worth a visit.

Cheers,

Morpheus

[craigt3365]

Yes, thanks so much for the report! Beautiful pictures. :jap:

[rayongtoffee]

Just read your report and saw your photo,s.I will definately look up on this resort,thanks Morpheous.As mentioned before more posts like this on tv would be welcomed.

[WilliaminBKK]

Thank you for the report.

[Morpheus73]

@all

Glad you like it. The report was made with knitted needle. I will try to post similar reports in the future but i am limited in time doing so.

Cheers,

Morpheus

[Dag]

I have stayed there several times now over the years and never had an issue with sand flies....they come and go as mentioned, also certain times of the year they are worse than others...wet seasons etc.