Sensitive readers be warned, we weren’t exactly happy with this accommodation so this post might feel a bit whiny🫣. But let’s start from the beginning.. We booked a GRAB that will take us from the northeast of Koh Samui to the southwest. The journey will take about 80 minutes and we have given the driver the address of our next accommodation, a Tiny house that is located directly on the beach. Based on the pictures we saw when we booked, it looked like an absolutely fantastic place.

The driver drops us off in an area with lots of small houses and we happily jump out of the van. After the vehicle leaves, we realize that this is probably not where we are going to stay at all. After a closer look at the map, we understand that we need to walk just under an hour to get to the right place. In retrospect, we have realized that it was probably us who gave the driver the wrong address so we don’t blame anyone but ourselves. And we like to walk around and discover new places, so it doesn’t really matter that it turned out the way it did.

Once we arrive at our Tiny House, we are met by the landlord. Now a rental contract has to be signed and the electricity meter has to be read, because if we want to use electricity we have to pay extra. We will also have to hand over 3000฿ as a deposit, that is, in addition to full payment, to get the keys to the accommodation. This was never stated on Booking.com, which we booked through. It said the opposite, “no additional fees apply”, so we get a slightly uneasy feeling when the landlord contacted us a few days before arrival and wanted us to create a WhatsApp group and writes that they will want more money. When we contact Booking, they confirm that it sounds wrong and promise to contact the landlord and then get back to us.

When we look around the property, we discover that there are only two beds, a double bed and a smaller loft bed. When asked the landlord about this and we were told that there was a sofa bed in the kitchen area, which could be used as a bed for two people. Well, that would be fine, we thought, we didn’t rent this place to sit in the room, but to swim and play on the beach.

Once down on the beach, we discover that the nice beach we had been looking forward to is not so nice at all. Plastic, glass, fishing nets, car tires, etc. adorn the beach. Once out in the water, plastic bags and bottles float around. We think there is some kind of garbage dump nearby, because when the wind blows from a certain direction, it smells disastrously bad. Feelings of anger and resignation come at the same time. How have we humans managed to destroy a place like this that could have been a real tropical paradise? Since we are all sticky with heat, we take a quick dip anyway. We go back to the accommodation, disappointed with the beach area.

The Tiny House is made up of two containers that have been covered with various surface materials that stand like an (L) facing each other with a balcony in between. So each part has its own entrance. When we first arrived at the accommodation, all the doors were open, when we went down to swim we closed them behind us and when we came back we opened them again. First we open the kitchen part where we adults are supposed to sleep. We are met by a wall of heat. It is 33℃ outside but compared to the temperature inside it feels very cool. We also realize that there is only AC in the other container where the children are going to sleep.

We grumble and move on to the other container and open the sliding door. A strong and damp smell of mold and trapped fabric meets our noses so that we almost recoil. “What the hell is this” someone exclaims! We now need to make a decision. Should the children sleep in the “sauna trailer” or the “mold trailer”. The children choose the latter, arguing that there is AC there and that we only have six nights to endure it.

To get rid of the salt and dirt after swimming in the sea, we want to rinse ourselves off in the fresh water of the shower. Penny starts showering while the rest of us sit on the balcony. Suddenly we hear a dripping sound. Soon we discover that it is the shower water from Penny that instead of going out the drain, it is rather flowing through the floor of the trailer and onto the ground. No wonder it smells damp and moldy in there.

The days are going well anyway. We spend the time with a lot of schoolwork and make some excursions to Nathon Town where we check out the shops and go to the food market. We also go on an arranged excursion to Angthong National Marine Park (this will be in a separate post).

We also go on a date without the kids one night at a restaurant on the beach just a few minutes walk away. We enjoy some Western food and a drink each while watching the sunset. The hotel has cleaned up the beach, which immediately makes the view much nicer to look at.

The nights, however, are brutal. At the end of the stay, Andreas went to lie down in a sun lounger on the beach and slept outdoors. When he woke up, he had four wild dogs around him who had also settled down around the sun lounger. Perhaps they chose to sleep there to protect him from lizards and snakes? After all, the dog is man’s best friend, as they say. The sunset in the evening before bedtime is actually wonderful though..

In conclusion, we can say that we feel a great disappointment about this accommodation. The disappointment is probably even bigger since we had such high hopes. The pictures and the description painted up a picture of paradise. And to this, previous guests had written reviews with words like “Dream location, the beach is magnificent” and “Beautiful house right by the beach”. We discovered quite quickly that we did not share their experience of the accommodation and the beach. Sure, the location is actually absolutely perfect right by the sea, but when the beach is so dirty, the feeling of perfection quickly disappears. We also experience the house as dirty and quite unfresh. The floors are stained, the walls unclean and everything feels damp. The only thing we really liked about the accommodation was the patio as it was spacious and nice to hang out on in the evenings. We can say that we were all happy when the last day here came and we could move on to the next place!

//Sabdreasworld