Blogs from Ko Chang, Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Last year was the first trip back to India since the Covid escape of March 2020. This fall as I told Taylor my plans for this year's trip, he said "but I've been to India 4 times, can we explore somewhere new?" I was unimpressed at first with his disappointment in returning to my homeland! But when I realized he used the word explore, I knew this was exactly the kind of child I was attempting to raise...one who was excited by new adventures and discovering all the world had to offer. He also asked to skip traveling altogether and just visit his family in Vancouver....so, after many conversations and many feels and many flight searches, I landed on a 2 month trip to Vancouver, Thailand and India. Some new mixed in with family time and ... read more

Plan was to do a bit of walking today, see some waterfalls, maybe a beach or 2 and fingers crossed for a sighting of a monkey! Shared my first taxi with 2 American girls who are on holiday from china learning Chinese! After about a 20 min taxi ride and a walk of 2km to a national park, quite a pleasant walk past mangroves, an elephant sanctuary and a local village. Had to pay 200 baht entry ( locals its free or 20 baht) and then a further wooded walk to a beautiful waterfall with a plunge pool where people were swimming and cooling off. Headed back to the main road and walked out to the local beach where i sat for a bit and soaked up the sun. Taxi number 2 was shared with 2 ... read more

Today was to be taken up with a boat tour of 5 islands, snorkelling, kayaking and eating! A tour costing 600 baht ( £12!) which id booked yesterday. After a good nights sleep made my way down to the end of the pier to catch the boat - i was the first on it followed by about 100 other tourists! So the large wooden boat made its way easily to the first island where it anchored and most of us did a spot of snorkeling - the fish were beautiful colours and as intrigued in us feeding them as we were in them. Lunch was served as rice, a veg and a chicken dish - really tasty ( the boat has a small kitchen and a chef on board!) off to the next island and did ... read more

Gett om vi koser oss. Hotellet vi bor på er et lite hotell med 17 rom, vi elsker jo slike små, intime hotell. Å har av den grunn for lengst byttet ut store upersonlige "fabrikk" hotell med disse små koselige hotellene. Her blir man tatt så godt vare på, kommer lett i snakk med personalet og man føler seg ivaretatt på en fantastisk måte. Vi hadde booket 3 dager her, men valgte å forlenge oppholdet med 3 dager til. Hva vi velger å gjør i morgen er vi ikke helt sikre på enda, her er jo så mange fantastiske områder både på øyen og små øyer rett utenfor Koh Chang. Vi får ta det opp i familierådet over et glass vin i kveld tenker jeg. Vi trives fantastisk på dette hotellet, så man skal ikke se ... read more

Multicolored umbrellas cast shade upon the beach chairs below. A rainbow of frozen beverages locked into death-grips are slurped up by their consumers in a race against inevitable melting. Bikinis, speedos, flip flops, sunglasses. Forgotten smudges of creamy sunblock cling to unflattering body parts. Hot sun, scorching sands, boiling sea water. Lobsters turn belly up right in the surf and offer themselves with a side of melted butter... It's officially the first place in Asia I've been where there are visibly more foreigners than locals. As if a virus-induced zombie apocalypse has hit Europe and a lucky bunch escaped only to rot away on this island. And like the doomed populations they left behind, the escapees drag their limbs down the sand grunting for piña coladas instead of brains. But isn't that why we traipse off ... read more