Koh Chang

21 December, 2015
David and I weren't too sorry to leave Bangkok. It was great to visit and see the palace, but we were both looking forward to some chill-out, island time after our intense 'tourist-time' since leaving Koh Lanta. Jessica met us in Bangkok in the afternoon of the 20th and later that evening, treated us to a dinner cruise down the Chao Phraya River, which was a fun experience.

At 09:00 on Monday (21st) our private driver picked the 3 of us up at our hotel and drove us in a comfortable mini-van from Bangkok down to Trat where we took the 20 minute car ferry to Koh Chang. We were then driven to our hotel on the west coast of Koh Chang on Klong Phrao Beach. We had booked a cabin with a bedroom, large bathroom with sunken bath and walk in shower. It has a wooden sun-deck overlooking the river on one side and a private beach on the other. The location is amazing and picturesque but we are a little cut off from restaurants, shops and other amenities. David hired a scooter so that we could buy groceries and get around. Since there were 3 of us, he had to shuttle us, in turns, to and from restaurants for dinner...

22 December, 2015
R&R (Reccy and Relaxation) day today. David did the 'reccy' stuff on the scooter while Jess and I did the relaxing; walking on the beach and swinging on a home-made swing hung from a tree (both), swimming (Jess) and lounging on a sunbed (me). Great stuff!! :)

23 December, 2015
We went out for a late lunch yesterday and Jessica, who isn't very fond of spicy food, ordered fried pork wantons and vegetarian spring rolls. She didn't finish either (there was a lot on her plate) so I was curious and tried a couple of the wantons which she had left....BIG MISTAKE!! I write this on today's date because it was after midnight when I woke up feeling very nauseous with stomach cramps and a headache to boot. I lay awake most of the night with my fist jammed against my mouth. Not the case of 'Prevention is better than Cure', just 'Prevention' for prevention's sake because I hate throwing up!

The next morning Jessica woke up with the same symptoms and more (she had eaten more wantons than I had). It had to be (albeit in a mild form) food poisoning, and I am equally sure it was from those wantons. The pork tasted a little off and I don't eat pork anyway. What possessed me, I don't know! Anyway I sure paid the price. All day today, Jessica and I did nothing but shuffle listlessly from bed to bathroom and back to bed, sleeping most of the day. The idea of eating anything made both of us shudder and it was only in the evening that we managed to swallow a little fruit. Morals of this story: 1. Don't eat fried food in Thailand!! 2. Stick with chicken or fish and stay off the pork (this one's for me).

On a positive note (or two)... if I was going to be bed-ridden anywhere, this is the place to do it. The view from our bungalow is pretty 'sweet' :). Also I needed to detox after eating far too many carbs on this trip so far!

While Jess and I were in a semi-comatose state, David was feeling very energetic and productive. He went exploring, bought some necessities, hired a kayak for our stay and even had a haircut!

24 December 2015
All better today, so David and I took the kayak out for our first spin up the river (Klong Prao), which is behind our bungalow. It was quiet and peaceful and on our way, we passed fishermen's huts, private homes, restaurants and riverside 'resorts'. Nobody was around except for birds and fish so we had the whole place to ourselves - lovely!

In the evening we went out for some Xmas Eve drinks at a riverside bar owned by an English expat and his Thai wife. They offered their patrons free Thai food to go with our drinks. Great atmosphere with several Brits, Danes, Germans, Thai wives, a Texan, 2 Maltese....'and a partridge in a pear tree'!

25 December 2015
Christmas Day in Thailand and I have to say it was the strangest one I have ever experienced. I had to keep reminding myself it was Xmas and in the end I gave up. It was 'business as usual' and just another day in 'paradise', over here.

David and I scootered up and down the west coast of the island looking to book a private transfer from Koh Chang to Siem Reap on January 3rd. We had decided to travel overland instead of flying so that we could take in the sights on the way.

We were looking for the same company who had brought us over to the island, from Bangkok, as we had found them pretty reliable. 'Better the devil you know....'. They were supposed to have an office on Koh Chang, but we couldn't find it. We gave up after several hours of being sent, in typical Thai fashion, hither and thither by the locals who are ever willing to help you, even if they have no idea what you are saying or where you want to go! Bless their little plastic flip-flops :)

We finally found a tour operator who seemed professional enough and booked it with him. Part 2 of this saga to follow tomorrow week.

In case you are wondering why on earth we would put ourselves through this on Xmas day, it was because we needed breakfast supplies and cash from the bank, both of which couldn't wait until next day. So, since we were out and about anyway, and since this is high season and we didn't want to risk not finding transport to Cambodia (two other companies had already told us they had no availability on that day) and since we are gluttons for punishment.....

By the time we got back to our bungalow it was around 2pm so we just had a quick lunch, relaxed until it was dinner time, and then went out for a great seafood meal at the restaurant across the river. We called them to send a boat to pick us up (and take us back), which they did for no charge, except a tip to the boatman. On the menu: Fresh rock lobsters, tiger prawns

(bigger than the lobsters), stir fried seafood and vegetables....not quite the turkey dinner but YUM!! Merry Xmas :)

26 December 2016
'Chang' is the Thai word for elephant, so Koh Chang means Elephant Island and one thing Jessica wants to do before she leaves us tomorrow, is have the Thai elephant experience. We researched carefully because we wanted to find an elephant 'camp' where these beautiful and gentle animals were happy and well-cared for.

We were picked up at 08:30 and taken up to the North of the island, then into the jungle to Baan Kwan Chang elephant camp. We were a group of 10 and it took us about an hour to get there. We were then led down on foot to the river where we stripped down to our bathing suits and jumped into the river with 2 elephants. The river was cold and crystal clear and the elephants seemed to be enjoying it as much as we did. Jess and I swam around one of them for a while and then sat on her back and brushed her down. Every so often she filled her trunk with water and squirted us playfully. Her skin felt like old wrinkled leather with bristles spiking out of it.

After we were all done getting wet, we got dressed and walked back to the 'camp' where there was an elephant for every pair of us. We sat on a seat on the elephant's back, while our Mahout (keeper), Johnny(?), sat on her neck and urged her forward with his bare feet. She had an ambling, rolling gait which surprised me a little, so we had to hold on tight to keep from sliding off. The ride took about an hour and half way through, Johnny got off and I took his place on the elephant's neck while Jessica stayed on the seat. I rode the elephant bareback while Johnny walked behind her. For me, this was the best part of the day. I loved feeling the elephant beneath me, my knees behind her flapping ears and my bare feet against her skin. I felt like a Mahout and the fact that we were in the jungle made for a more authentic experience.

27-28 December, 2015
Jessica left for Koh Samui on the morning of the 27th while David and I took it easy and stayed close to our cabin, kayaking in the sea or river and watching the sunset. Consequently I don't have a great deal to write about, but I will share my recent photos which pretty much speak for themselves.

29 December, 2015
Today we scootered down to Bang Bao in the south of Koh Chang. It was formerly an old fishing village built around a pier but has now become a type of tourist 'mall' with shops, restaurants and cafes all leading off from the pier over the water. Very pretty and well worth the visit.

30 December, 2015
Today was the day allocated to exploring the east coast of Koh Chang. The west side of the island is where most of the nice sandy beaches are found so, of course, this is where tourists would want to be, and these in turn bring resorts, restaurants, bars, shops and therefore towns.

The east coast, on the other hand, is more unspoilt, with only a handful of resorts catering to people who really want to get away from it all (there is absolutely nothing there) and have no particular interest in swimming in the ocean.

Anyway, we saddled up, and battled our way through a couple of towns with milling crowds and crazy traffic, before reaching the 'open' road, so to speak, where we could breathe a little easier. There is one, reasonably good road with ocean to the left and rainforest-clad mountains to the right which runs all the way down the east coast of Koh Chang. A lot of the time, there was nothing to see because there were too many trees obscuring our ocean view, so we both thought that this was getting a little boring. Well, you know what the proverbial 'they' say...."Be careful, what you wish for...". We should have remembered that, as we searched for a more interesting route! We finally chose to go to Long Beach at the southernmost tip of the east coast, since it was the only sandy beach showing up on that side of our Koh Chang map (yes we had one).

As we rode uphill and downhill, we actually came across some scenic sights and took some photos along the way, remarking that this was definitely better than before....

Until we came across a sign

which read: "Pleace, the road broken now, next (something, something which was scratched out)...left". This was written under something written in Thai (also scratched out) which was probably just as illegible to the locals. We didn't pay much attention until we came to the end of the road, because part of it had collapsed, and the only way to get to the other side was over an unsteady, makeshift bridge made from a few wooden planks screwed together. We found out later that the road had collapsed 18 months ago, which was probably why we couldn't read the sign!

I walked across the bridge (to test it :) while David rode the scooter. Then off we went on our merry way, glad that the worst was over....or so we thought. We saw a sign telling us that Long Beach was 2 kilometres away and as we were riding over a hill and coming over the cusp, we almost fell off the bike in shock (or at least I did). There was no road! The paved, concrete, perfectly comfortable road, had given way to boulder-strewn, rocky, ridged, rough, bumpy wilderness which was not even fit for a 4WD, let alone a little scooter with two people on it!

We almost turned back...but didn't, thinking that this was just a short stretch of rough patch and that our road would suddenly re-appear...but it didn't! We had 2 kilometres of this terrain which went up and down hills for the most part but I will let the photos speak for themselves! Suffice it to say, that David's legs were like the training wheels of a child's bicycle, balancing us as we teetered and tottered between crevices, ridges, humps and bumps, interspersed with gravel and sand. His hands were in a death-grip on the handlebars and my backside had grown teeth which attached themselves to the seat while one of my hands gripped David's waist and the other the back of the scooter.

By the time we realised that our road wasn't coming back any time soon, we had arrived at Long Beach which was a tiny, unimpressive strip of sand with some backpackers' huts and a

ramshackle bar. Soooo not worth it! David promptly disappeared into the 'Happy House' (literally translated Thai slang for toilets) leading me to believe that he was not as calm and collected as I had thought he might be (although his 'deathgrip' might have been a clue). Oh and by the way, Long Beach was 'the end of the line' so we had to go back the way we came - another 2 kilometres of 'training wheels' and white knuckles.

Despite this, we got to civilization in one piece (or 2 pieces) and rewarded ourselves with a Western lunch, a Guiness and a Cider at an Irish Pub in the main town. Morals of this story: 1) Do more research before exploring! 2) Do NOT ignore hard-to-read, scratched-out signs in bad English in a foreign country!

However, as you can see from these other photos, the day wasn't a total loss :)

31 December 2015 - 2 January 2016
Not much to write about our last few days on Koh Chang. We had seen and done all we wanted to and preferred to stay 'close to home', enjoying our rather perfect location between the river and the ocean. Every morning, we enjoyed cool morning breezes with our coffee on our wooden deck overlooking the river. We were a few steps away from walks on the beach and magnificent sunsets and had a kayak and a scooter on hand if we needed them. What else could one want.....?

NYE: we celebrated the end of 2015 with a quiet, but excellent dinner across the river, followed by quite an early night. We were woken up at midnight by spectacular firework displays on the beach, so we sat on our deck (albeit a little groggy) where we had a 'ringside' seat and saw the new year in.

After two months, it is finally time to leave Thailand - land of smiles, temples, markets and very hot green curry :)