We are constanly looking for voluneers here on beautiful Koh Mak in east Thailand (Trat Province, south of Koh Chang).
Here the information that you need to know
To do the job at our venue, you will need experience in dealing with horses. Find here the detail
We expect that you are experienced in dealing with horses. In short words you did more than just ride twice a week and brush the horse.
So what type of experience are we looking for? You took care of small wounds, you administered things like deworming medication, you are not afraid of taming a frightened horse, you know how to deal with picking the hooves
We do require a minimum stay of 2 weeks but we will definitely favor volunteers that stay 4 weeks or more. The reason is to possibly have longer relations with the horse. If you stay just two weeks it will take the horse up to a week to get accustomed to you and once you are familiar you leave… You will also greatly appreciate to stay longer as it gives you more time to socialize with locals.
We try to plan your stay so there is some overcut with the current and/or next volunteer(s). This allows for some know how transfer.
We have a maximum weight of 80 kg to be allowed to ride our horses. The horses have transported more weight in their (work) life and they are adapted to the local climate. Still we set this limit to be allowed to ride. So unfortunately we cannot offer you a spot if you are over 80 kg. OK if you are a couple and your partner is over 80 kg. He or she will just not ride.
We expect you to work 5 hours per day and 5 days per week. With this you "pay" for your stay in a clean fan room with private bathroom, electricity, WiFi, 3 meals a day and shared use of motorbike.
You will have days where you work more than 5 hours, but then you went on a tour with tourists riding through the plantations, forest and the beach.
Your free days will be other than Sunday (where our workers have their free day). If you are a couple, you will have one of your two free days together. The other separated.
Your day at our venue will be pretty easy going. Even though this list of tasks sounds day filling, you will find out you have enough free time.
It might happen that some unplanned jobs must be done. Maybe a repair job after a storm, holding something heavy, helping out if some of the staff is missing. If it is soemthung you could do, we will ask you to help.
The above daily tasks are your job when there are no tourist activities. If an excursion with tourists is booked, the daily routine will greatly vary in getting the ponies ready for the ride, riding or walking with the tourist showing them island attractions, have lunch at the beach, return and finish the day with feeding and cleaning the ponies. You will learn on site how to handle this.
You need to go to Laem Ngop (20 minutes south of Trat city) to catch a speedboat at the Speedboat Pier to Koh Mak
To get there you have the choice of private Taxi, Bus or flight
The cheapest alternative. Around 280 Baht from Ekkamai Bus terminal or Mo Chit (ideal when you land in Don Mueang). Travel time 5:30 to 6 hours. You arrive at Trat Bus terminal. From there 35 Minutes by public taxi (around 100 Baht) to Laem Ngop Speed Boat Pier to Koh Mak. Buses are every hour. There is one that ends on Laem Ngop Pier. Unfortunately schedule changes to often to keep track here on this website.
An alternative is a bus from the company Seudamgo. They leave the Bus Stationat Khaosan Road at 05:00, Shopping Center Rama 9 at 05:30 and Suvarnabhumi Airport at 06:00 and take you by minivan to Trat and from there with their Catamaran to Koh Mak. You are on Koh Mak at 12:30. Costs 1.100 Baht and is pretty practical since you only have one company.
Let us do you booking since we have a very good relation with the company.
Taxi will cost around 3000 Bath from Suvarnabuhmi Airport or 3500 from Bangkok City or Don Mueang Airport. Travel time around 4 1/2 hours. So you want to board the taxi latest 10:30 to be able to catch the last Speedboat at 16:00
We can book your taxi. Payment must be cash.
Only Bangkok Airways flies from Bangkok (Suvarnabuhmi) to Trat. One way ticket is between 1500 and 2300 Baht (depending on season). Flights are at 11:40 and 16:55. Only the 11:40 (55 minutes flight) allows you to get to the pier before the last boat to Koh Mak leaves (16:00). Since international flights typically land around 6 am, you have more than 5 hours wait at the airport to arrive at 12:40 in Trat. From there a taxi (600 Baht) in 30 minutes to Laem Ngop to pick the 14:00 speedboat to Koh Mak. If you are two people it is cheaper and faster to take the taxi. Even the bus is faster.
Only way to get to Koh Mak is by speedboat from Laem Ngop Pier to Koh Mak. It takes 50 minutes. Can be more if there are more waves than usual. Please contact us. It does happen that speedboats do not travel at all because of too much wind. Cost is 550 Baht. We cover these costs.
Here the current timetable
If you land early morning, you will get to Koh Mak on the same day. If you find a cheaper flight (typically one of those with 1 stop inbetween) and you land in the afternoon, then you will need one night in Trat. All together that will cost you around 500 Baht. We can book a guest house for you.
Your work will leave you plenty of free time. We have a motorcycle available for your use. During low season (Green Season - Rain Season between June and September) expect the island to be pretty much deserted. Some restaurants and bars are open. You still will have very beautiful days where you can go for a swim or use our pool (that you will have all for yourself since there are only very few tourists).
During main season you will meet plenty of people. Be it the recurring tourists that spend 4 to 6 month every year here or the short term tourists that are here for a few weeks. Many beach bars and venues are then available.
During main Season you will enjoy the Beachbar at Hidden Beach, Art Bar with Alès (also open during low season), Beach Bar at Baan Koh Mak, terrace Bar at Makatanee or Ao Kao, Beach Bar at By the Sea.
When our chef Ha-Na is available, she will cook for all of us together. You might also want to cook yourself. You can use the main kitchen if it does not collide with the activities of the restaurant. Our chef will cook Thai or western. She will also cook vegan or vegetarian (still considering it is being cooked in a non vegan environment. So it is not a fully vegan kitchen where utensils and equipment are also vegan. This in fact is currently not available on Koh Mak at all. There is though a vegan popup cafe that will start operating around November 2023).
Sometimes we will invite you out for dinner or lunch.
You have free soft drinks from our restaurant. Beers you can have at our purchase price. Other alcoholic beverages on request
We strongly suggest a pair of strong shoes to protect yourself from the horses hooves. Getting your foot under a hooves just wearing flip flops is not suggested. Shoes will get very muddy especially when it is raining
We have rubber boots and raincoats available for you.
Overall though you will not need any special clothing. Temperature is rarely underneath 20 degrees. This happens only exceptionally one or two times in November/December. Even in this rare occasion you will not experience temperatures below 18 to 19 degrees. Normal is around 30 degrees and humid. Don't be surprised to find out you will be sweating all day.
Don't forget a swim suit. No need to carry a towel. We provide that.
Rain season lasts from May to October, where September is the most rainy one and July and August the second most. May and October are typically almost free of rain.
So much for the theory.
In reality you don’t know. When we first arrived we experienced 3 days of rain in September that is supposed to be uninterrupted rain. You just cannot predict.
If you decide to visit us in rain season be prepared to experience rain. Sometimes we have extremely heavy rain where you just do not go outside (when it is raining cats and dogs). But you still will at least feed the horses. The red (volcanic) soil we have here sticks so hard on your booth that you have a hard time removing it. Normal is that you have gray days at around 28 degrees with intermittent rain. Often it changes to sun for a couple of hours.
We have two rooms for voolunteers. They are 4 x 4 meter with clean white walls. You have your own small bathroom with (currently) cold water (cold means around 25 degrees). If you are lucky we might have installed a water warmer by your arrival. The room is in sight of our restaurant/main house and you are directly near the horses. There is an outside small terrace.
There is no Aircon. Only a wall fan.
One of the rooms comes with a 140cm bed the other one with 2 x 105 cm single beds that can be put together to a big double bed.
You have good speed WiFi and of course power. A printer is available in case you you need something on paper.
There are many minimarts where you can buy most things you need. Still we are on a small island with no supermarkets and no 7/11 (thankfully). So there will be items you cannot get here but that we can order for you from Mainland. Fresh items get delivered the following day. Items from Lazada (equivalent to Amazon) take 2 to 3 days. See here. You might want to use Chrome to have automatic translation.
We have a local Health Center (small hospital). They will take care of minor injuries and provide you with prescription free medicine. They can clean and sew a wound and also have pain killer medicine if needed. Some of the minimarts have a small choice of aspirin and other standard medicine. During main season we have a fully equipped pharmacy.
For more important things (also for teeth care) you will have to mainland. Ultimate help in case of catastrophic issues is an emergency helicopter service that is 35 minutes away.
We are in the east part of the island. Right here:
We are close to the water, but the mangrove style "beach" is not really a nice sandy beach. To get to the beaches you will need to drive a motorbike. We have one available for you.
If you are not experienced in driving motorbike we are happy to teach you. But only if you really feel secure enough to do so.
The most distant place you can drive to from our location is 5.5 kilometers away. The wonderful Koh Mak Resort beach is 2.7 kilometers. White Sand Beach 3 kilometers. “Donwtown” (the place with many restaurants) is 3.5 kilometers away. Laem Son Beach is 3 kilometers.
Before you start your adventure in Thailand, you should be clear about you visa. If you are not familiar with this matter, please read this carefully. Consider this is only for your information. Check on the website of your Thai embassy to be sure.
If you arrive in Thailand with no visa, you will get an entry stamp. It is valid for 30 days. On the last day of these 30 days you can go to the next available immigration and apply a 30 day prolongation. The prolongation costs 1900 Baht. Additionally the costs of traveling back and forth to this place
You can apply on https://thaievisa.go.th/ for a 60 Day Tourist Visa. Check on the Website the prerequisite that you need to match. On the last day of these 60 days you can go to the next available immigration and apply a 30 day prolongation. The prolongation costs 1900 Baht. Additionally the costs of traveling back and forth to this place.
You can only apply for the 60 days Visa from your home country (with an plane ticket departing from your home country)
Once your prolongation is finished, you can make a border run. Here it will take you one day: travel to Khlong Yai Border Checkpoint. Costs about 5000 Baht all together. So you get a new “Entry Stamp” valid for 30 days. On the last day of these 30 days you can go to the next available immigration and apply a 30 day prolongation. The prolongation costs 1900 Baht. Additionally the costs of traveling back and forth to this place
You can only do 2 visa runs in 360 days. So you can legally stay in Thailand for 120 dsays in total (or 130 if you applied for a 60 day torist visa). This just for your information. We do not expect you to stay 6 month with us :-)
