Koh Chang is a very rugged and beautiful island that lies off the coast of Thailand’s Eastern Gulf near Trang. According to the guidebooks it is Thailand’s second largest island. The largest being Phuket at 540 sq km, Koh Chang is 492 sq km. Koh Chang is one of islands that make up the archipelago within the Koh Chang National Marine Park. There are a bunch of islands, but only a handful have overnight facilities and the others are great for day trips. Sadly I didn’t have that much time on Koh Chang to venture off to some of the other islands, but I would love to go back and make my way to Ko Kood(sometimes spelled Ko Kut). It's the furthest south island in that archipelago and a bit inaccessible and therefore the beaches, lagoons, and quiet coves are said to be in almost perfect condition.
Like many other islands in Thailand, you will see development on Koh Chang, but I didn't experience it too much and the island is so mountainous that only so much can be developed. I spent very little time in town where you are likely to see most of the development because I stayed in a hut on the beach about 10 steps from the ocean. I traveled with my friend Johanna who I became buddies with on Koh Tao. Flood escapees we were. Johanna is such an awesome girl and I’m so lucky to have met her. She’s from Germany, she lived in New Zealand and then Australia, and then came to Southeast Asia to tour around before heading home to Germany. We had many conversations over countless cups of tea and fruit shakes and while lazily swimming in the warm ocean waters.
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| Me and Johanna my sweet German friend |
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| What is this stuff? I could have sworn it was sand dollar poop but the piles are too big. Crab holes? Still trying to figure it out. |
Getting down to the beach of Hat Sai Khao (white sand beach) was a bit tough, especially at night when we were trekking down there. There are no lights on the bumpy road so I busted out my headlamp, but not long after that a man in a song tao from the neighboring resort stopped to pick us up. We had avoided taking a song tao in the first place because we didn’t want to spend the money, but once were walking we had a change of heart. So when we asked him how much, he said “up to you!” the classic Thai phrase when they either don’t have a specific answer (I used to get this a lot in school when I would ask to many questions of my Thai teaching partners) or they’re being modest and they don’t want to tell you a price.
We arrived to the lovely no-frills beach bungalow spot of Tiger Hut Resort and a crowd of diners all looking at us two gals with our packs with a look on their faces that I can’t really describe. When we glanced back at the folks at the restaurant we realized we were surrounded by couples! Guess we were at a romantic getaway spot. Oh well. Our room was a thin walled hut with a bed, mosquito net, bathroom and fan. I think we paid something like 500 baht a night (about 15 USD) no wifi, no tv, just beach, tasty food and fruit shakes from the restaurant and books. Pretty perfect.
We stayed for 3 nights and four days there and we were just happy campers to have some better weather. We woke up each morning to sunshine! This was something we weren’t very used to from the past week! It did rain a bit here and there, but only sprinkles. We’d felt very cooped up and surprisingly wiped out from our week of being stuck in the rain or stuck indoors and damp, and we were satisfied to sit on the beach or go walks along the shore. It was so relaxing to go to sleep and wake up to the sound of the waves just outside the door.
It takes about 6 hours to travel from Bangkok to Koh Chang, then the ferry takes about half an hour so it is a bit of a trip, but well worth it. Koh Chang was the perfect respite for us after Koh Tao. The mountain views every direction you turn are marvelous, lovely sunsets, and a very laid back, friendly beach vibe made for a great mini vacation. It was nice to be in a quiet spot without hearing (and feeling) thumping music coming from every bar like I felt on Koh Tao. I felt rested and excited for the next adventure- my mom’s arrival! I left Koh Chang and took a series of buses and song taos to get back to Rayong, for which I had a handful of little tickets stapled together for each leg of this journey. For how close Rayong appears to be on a map, it was quite interesting getting back. I was happy to be somewhat familiar with the area, because once again I was just being deposited at the side of the road and told in a mix of Thai and English (or just told with hand gestures) to go somewhere else and give them my packet of tickets to find out where to hurry up and wait for the next mode of transportation. I knew I’d get home just fine, but with which minibus, regular size bus, or son tao? In any event, I got home in the evening and then had a full day and a half to prepare for my mother’s arrival. I was very excited for her to come to Thailand and to show her around my hometown, which would be the first part of our time together. I hadn’t been home to my apartment in about three weeks so I had a lot of things to do and prepare to ensure a smooth transition to travel with mom!
Next installments…the mother and daughter chronicles.
But first, some more pictures of Koh Chang and my lovely friend Johanna. I hope you enjoy them! And thanks for visiting my blog, reading my often lengthy posts, and perusing my pictures. I appreciate your readership. I know pictures are usually a lot easier to digest and sometimes that's all you have time for, so I'm sorry I haven't posted new picasa web albums. They will be coming soon!
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| our bungalow |
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| Turn around from the bungalow and you got the beach! |
After a ways down the beach, the beach ends, and a huge canal opens up. You can go across by kayak, swimming or by hired boat. We chose to swim to check out the other side. There are other beaches and resorts, which are also reached from the main road behind them. From our side of the canal to the other side isn't very long, but it does get deep so simply walking across isn't really possible unless you're maybe 12 or 13 feet tall.
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| eye spy |
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| The khlong (canal) we swam across to get to another beach |
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| View from across the khlong after we swam over. Dry bag came in handy. |
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