On May 2nd, while sitting at my resort's bar on Koh Phangan, I asked a traveler drinking with me her thoughts on where I should end my trip in Thailand. I told her I was going to have about five extra days at the end of my stay in Thailand, between my sister leaving and my flight to Vietnam, and I wanted her input on where I should go. She seemed like the person to ask, as she had visited Thailand some absurd number of times, and also lived there for a stretch as a scuba instructor. I told her I wanted something that wasn't too far from Bangkok. She didn't hesitate with her answer, "Koh Chang", and from that day on I was set on finishing my time in Thailand there. After researching a little about the island, I was even more excited to go there.
Koh Chang is the second largest island in Thailand after Koh Phuket, but unlike the developed Phuket, Koh Chang is still mostly jungle. About 85 percent of the island is part of the Mo Koh Chang National Park and is protected and wild. The interior of the island is mountainous rain forest with many waterfalls and hiking trails. Before World War II, Koh Chang was only inhabited by some families that made their living growing fruits and coconuts. Due to its location close to Bangkok, and near the Thai and Cambodian border, it would be a relatively short journey for me and very convenient to get there.
On May 24th, I woke up and was once again solo in my travels. My sister Caitlin, who I had spent the last 10 days with, had left the night before. She got picked up by a shuttle to the airport after dinner. After she walked away, I sat there alone for about thirty minutes and felt quite lonely. Although I had traveled to Thailand alone, I spent the first week and a half with a Niels, the Dutch guy I met on Koh Phangan, and the rest of the trip with my sister. I sat there with a beer and was contemplating my next move. I had options because my high school friend Jason was living and working in Thailand in a small city to the Northeast. He said I was free to visit whenever, but I also wanted to get back on an island because I really enjoyed the south of Thailand. Remembering my research about how undeveloped Koh Chang is, I knew that I had to go there. After finishing my beer, I took 5 steps over to a travel agent conveniently located within the restaurant. I purchased a ticket to Koh Chang leaving first thing the next morning.
After breakfast, I waited to be picked up in front of my hotel by a travel company. Right on time, a man came walking up to my hotel with my name on a piece of paper and told me to follow him. We then stopped a few hotels down the road from mine and picked up another traveler who was still finishing his breakfast. We were brought to a small van and driven around the block to where many travelers and a few buses were waiting. After loading up, we were off and stuck in wonderful Bangkok traffic. Luckily I was sitting next to an interesting Australian fellow and right behind a guy from Tasmania and his German girlfriend. All three of them were quite interesting and I enjoyed the couple describing there travels in Nepal and India. I chimed in a few times when they asked me some questions and we had a nice time making friends. It turned out that the couple was also going to Koh Chang and the Australian guy was heading to Cambodia. After we arrived in Trat, near the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, all the travelers going to Koh Chang waited in a bus station while those traveling on to Cambodia got on another bus.
Following a short wait in the bus terminal, we were put on a ferry to Koh Chang. The island is not very far from the mainland and it was clear in the distance immediately.
Not long after the ferry left, I was standing alone watching Koh Chang approach, and the Tasmanian guy from the bus came over to me and asked if I wanted to try to locate accommodation in the same area of the island with him and his girlfriend. I was, of course, welcome to the idea since I knew that one of the best parts of traveling is the fellow travelers you meet along the way.
We decided to find a place to stay on Lonely Beach, near the South East tip of the island. After wandering around and checking out a few options we decided on some rather nice places on the beach. We negotiated with the guy working there and got the rooms for 300 baht each. If this had been peak season I imagine the rooms would probably cost 600 to 800 baht a night, so we got quite a bargain.
On my first night I had an encounter with a huge cockroach in my room that was quite cunning, but after some patience I tracked him down. That coin is the size of an American quarter.
Most critters never make it into the rooms because of the dozens of Geckos that are patrolling the outside walls of each bungalow.
The island is very beautiful!
I spent the next 4 days on Koh Chang relaxing and exploring the island. One day we rented scooters and drove all the way to the other side of the island and did some exploring. We also stopped at one of the islands most famous waterfalls and went for a swim. The park where the waterfall was located charged Thai people 50 baht to enter the park, but 200 baht for foreigners. This was met with a bit of frustration from my fellow travelers, but I wasn't bothered by it. The way I see it, this place is their country, so they should have easier access to it. Not only that but 200 baht (6 dollars) is less money to me, relative to my income, than 50 baht (1.50 dollars) is to them, so I just shrugged it off. It isn't that I work any harder to earn a higher income than they do. I actually think many work much harder than I do and only earn less because I work in countries where the cost of living, and therefore the incomes, are much higher. I am sure many others don't agree with my point of view, but I thought it was a non issue and paid without a second thought.
During our trip around the island, my companions' scooter ran out of fuel, so we had to hunt for a shop selling fuel. On these islands the fuel comes in old glass bottles that you can either pour directly into the tank or carry along with you for future use. After refueling, and stocking up on water, we continued around the island. Eventually we reached a dead end because the road that circles the island's coast does not go all the way around. So when we reached the end we were forced to turn around. Before we turned around we parked the bikes and walked on an awesome little boardwalk that goes through some wetlands. It was amazing!
On the way back we stopped to eat. There are very few people on this side of the island, but the ones we met were really friendly and happy to cook us a meal.
Once back on the populated, southern side of Koh Chang we stopped to take some pictures before descending back onto the beach level road that is lined with resorts and restaurants.
