Blogs from Ko Chang, Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Goede tijden slechte tijden... Het is erg wennen om jullie niet zo vaak te kunnen porren vanuit Thailand dan ik zou willen. Om me heen zie ik medereizigers die meer moeite hebben facebook te negeren. Wat facebook betreft: op Khao San Road heb je niet alleen kaartjes voor Lowlands in de aanbieding, schijnbaar kun je er voor 1000 baht 25 virtuele vrienden kopen! Degene die interesse hebben, mail me even het aantal en ik ga het regelen voor je... Om de hoek van Khao San zitten allerlei andere kleine straatjes waar van alles te koop is. Ik loop daar lekker doorheen te struinen en hoor een hoog Thais stemmetje schreeuwen. Ik kijk om en zie een meisje met blauw polootje, digitaal cameraatje in de hand, rennend mensen omver duwen. Een paar meter voor me botst ze ... read more

After a 5 hour coach ride and a 1 hour rusty ferry ride we found ourselves at our first island destination, on Thailand’s second largest island, Koh Chang, which lies in the Gulf of Thailand. We headed for Lonely Beach, or to give it it’s official name Hat Tha Nam. The English version is certainly a misnomer as there is nothing at all lonely about it and in fact “Lonely” should be replaced for “lots of young backpackers”, but I admit that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite so freely. Obviously we fit right on in!!! Arriving at gone 5.00pm meant that there was no room at our preferred beach shack, so we had to settle for an overpriced one until the following morning when we could search for one more in our price range. First ... read more

Island hopping is making us get through our time here. We've spent more time at beach resorts than planned but you know, it's kinda nice. Crossing the border into Thailand from Cambodia was straight forward and took only moments. Like any border town on the Thai side it was a bustle with activity but there was only one very expensive mini-van into the closest city of Trat from which we headed to an island known as Koh Chang (Koh menas island and chang is elephant) as the island (after a few beer) looks like the shape of an elephant. It took us all day to get here and to say the least, compared to Cambodia beach resorts, this was heaven ... but very very expensive ... but so so worth it. We stayed in two areas, ... read more

There isn't a lot to report today. I decided to have a day by the sea, soaking up some sun. Knowing that I'm away for 10 months has meant that I haven't been silly and rushed to get a tan, which would usually result in getting burnt. It's given me a much healthier perspective to the sun and the importance of being healthy rather than sore and unwell from heat exhaustion or sun stroke (is that the same thing?!). I also saw some really burnt people the other day, it was a a good reminder of why you should use a high factor! What a good day to have a sun day, it was lovely. If you come on holiday to Ko Chang completely disregard any weather reports; they have been wrong every day. During my ... read more

Hi all, This is a very quick hello as it's late and I have just enjoyed such a nice skype conversation with my folks. Just what the doctor ordered! I will blog tomorrow but a little taster of today: I was up early and hired a mope head and explored the south part of the island, freeeeeedom! I went with one of the other travelers, Chris, we crossed a small river (ok, it was a dribble of a river, more like some water) and a little Thai man was there asking for a lift somewhere, which Chris obliged. There was a lagoon near the road with a rope hanging...you can guess what happened next, in we got and climbed up the tree to reach the rope, with a lot of encouragement from the Thai man, sat ... read more

The island was covered in heavy cloud today. We arrived at the boat for our 4 island tour, the sea was very rough and it took nearly 2 hours to reach the island. At one point I nearly fell of my chair and one of the other passengers caught someones camera, which was about to go overboard. Before we even set off the staff came round with travel sickness tablets, which I took. The ones I've had in the past were chewable, so I crunched on my tablet and my mouth was filled with a yukky flavour and the residue of the tablet was stuck in my teeth so it took ages to get rid of the taste, I think my facial expression said it all! I think it should have been swallowed with water, hindsight ... read more

Hi, Well, today you have the writings of a much happier Mandy. I slept much better but I won't keep boring you of my sleeping patterns, although the better I sleep the more cheery and confident I wake. My Thai massage last night was amazing, I've never had my body twisted and bent like that before! There were some out loud giggly moments with the girl massaging me, when she tried to bend me in half backwards and counted me down...unexpectedly I might add...Oneee, Twooo, Twreeeeeee (please use your imagination to fill in the high tone and pitch of the Twreeeeee), I laughed and then she laughed as I struggled to comply with her attempts of folding me in half backwards. I then bought my first bit of food from a street vendor...chicken (I think) and ... read more