Thailand forum

Thanks for the reply somtam2000.

I guess i will just turn up early January and see if we can get a few rooms. Have you stayed in the Trat Guesthouse before?

I know not many people seem to bother with trat, but we were keen to see a less touristy place with more authentic thai lifestyle without travelling north because of the time constraints..(10 day holiday only).

Thanks for the advice..

p.s since im here, may i ask if you have been to koh maak? We are planning to stay there a few nights. If so is it as nice for beautiful beaches as the nice ones down south?

We had to make a choice to either head south, or move around the gulf area and avoid constant travel for 10 days of holidays.

Hi Ben,

Trat Guest House is definitely a nice spot. The rooms are a decent size, cozy and comfortable. Unless he's added one or two, none of them have attached bathrooms, and there is no restaurant. But a restaurant is not really necessary as the guest house is only a couple of streets over from the market where there are loads of great stalls. Mr. Tjaa, the owner, is a really nice and helpful guy.

But, as Thaiman says, it's not the only place in town. TGH doesn't have a lot of rooms, so if you can't all get in there are other options only a few steps away, mostly in the small streets and alleyways to the south of the central market area. You shouldn't have any trouble getting a place without reservations.

I have written reviews on the Trat Guest House and Windy. You can find them here ...

http://www.travelfish.org/accommodation_profile/thailand/eastern_thailand/trat/trat/all/2099

... and here ...

http://www.travelfish.org/accommodation_profile/thailand/eastern_thailand/trat/trat/all/2098

As for Koh Mak, it's quite nice. It's definitely not as busy as Koh Chang, and it's a little busier than Koh Wai. You can't really compare it to beaches in those in the south as there are hundreds and hundreds of beautiful spots down there. The landscape is different, though. The slow, late afternoon boat trip there is terrific.

Going south, unless you are flying, could use up quite a bit of your time. If you go by land, you're looking at about 2 full days of travel time to get down there. It is possible to leave Trat in the morning and be on one of the southern islands by late afternoon the next day. Then you'll require about as much time to get back to Bangkok if you are flying home from there. If time is an issue, you may want to chill-out on one of the islands in Trat province.

Cheers

Also,

Not sure if i should write a new topic up, but was wondering about accommodation on Ko Mak.

We are really going there just to enjoy what ive read are unbelievable beaches and beautiful water etc for 2 nights.

I am looking at the Big Easy, but 3000bht per night is quite pricey. Reviews seem mixed on tripadvisor for alot of the places.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks again ladies and gentleman.

I forgot to add - we didn't stay in Trat, so I've got no idea where is good to stay :)

Hi Ben

I'm glad your staying there! Did you manage to get the first beachfront bungalow? I'll post some photos up in the next few days.

In terms of activities...
We hired out some snorkeling gear from the visitor centre (it's attached to Makanthee Resort - pretty hard to miss) and walked across to the little island opposite the Big Easy. It looks like an easy trip but it's not! Beware the sea urchins...

I know there were a few excursions available (like half day 'cruises' to the nearby islands, which I have to say looked amazing) but we just chilled out... I think you can organise all that stuff from the visitor centre. I know the guys at Ao Pong (you follow the track from Big Easy towards the rest of the resorts and keep on going past them) organised some fishing trips. I think that was at night time? They had heaps of luck catching stuff from the rocks but we weren't motivated enough to do the trip.

We pretty much just lazed about and ate and drank. There is a fantastic little eating spot on the internal track - it's got a dirt floor and is very basic but the food was amazing (amongst the best we had on the whole trip). You can hire out bikes/scooters from a few spots and use them to explore the island... make sure you check out the art installation thing (also on the internal track, you might have to ask some locals for directions). It's kind of bizarre but pretty cool (lots of naked full sized statues, kind of cartoony features, in some provocative poses...). At night there are bbqs and they often show English Premier League matches.

If you remember, say hi to Paul (at Big Easy) for us! We were the Aussies who drank a lot... my hubby was on crutches and his staff kept bringing him beers to the bungalow!

Have an awesome time :)
Jess