Trat and the beach at Koh Chang

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We left Mukdahan and the Mekong river and decided to make our way south towards the sea. Surin was our destination, a town that comes alive once a year for about 10 days when they celebrate a big Elephant festival there but for the rest of the year it’s a sleepy town. Unfortunately we arrived on the wrong road and after a long drive Terry did not want to drive a further 50 kilometers out on another road to the Elephant Park and as it happened we would not have arrived in time to see any of the shows anyway. The town is full of elephant statues, mock tusks, street lights with elephants and of course real elephants – well there was one we came across being ridden around town. There was an old man who was quite enthusiastic about getting us to buy what looked like sugar cane to feed the elephant but I really think it was more like to get some hooch as when we came across them later in the evening again still selling food the old man was lekker drunk. I did buy a few packets and fed the elephant – a little scary with that big trunk coming towards you I dropped the first few but I got the hang of it and it was fine.

We were up early and on the road. I loved all the scenery as we travelled through sugar cane fields, pineapple fields, lots of rubber trees, tobacco, rice of course but lots of the paddies are dry now and being burnt or ploughed, corn and what I have just found out cassava plants used to make ethanol and weird looking trees that turned out to be dragon fruit trees (thanks google images for your help it has put me out of my misery!). Not to mention banana trees and papaya trees where ever possible plus all the other crops that we whizzed past. I loved the huge trucks full of sugar cane and cassava. Even in the countryside you are never too far from the next village or food stall. As you go through towns the road is often blocked down to one lane and check points set up where the police are looking for something or just checking driving licenses we suppose as we were never stopped always waived on. Each town seemed to have a good school which were always marked by flags. The striped red, blue and white one of the country and the Royal yellow one. All the grounds looked neat and tidy and we often saw the children lining up for class. Outside the schools there are always the food stalls. There is also at least one picture of the King and his wife as you enter a town or city, outside buildings even those that are not government offices and of course every shop and house has at least one picture often more – some of when the King was young one town had the whole family displayed. It’s quite lovely and as I said they are all different so you get to see the family growing up. They are all quite grown up now. In the mornings you see the monks going about doing their begging and locals out to meet them bowing before them with their offerings. As we wizzed past we did not get any pictures of this but it will be forever etched in my mind.

As some of the towns we stayed in were not on the tourist map we relied on our GPS to find accommodation and without it we would have been totally lost not only for directions cause even when you have a map it’s not enough and we recon it probably has saved a lot of relationships too.

We made it down to Trat and even went as far as the border with Cambodia where there is a huge market with lots of second hand goods as the Cambodians come over the border to buy them. This market was so big they even had golf carts to get around. We saw some guys pushing a cart laden with cool drinks we could not imagine how heavy that was and they were going to push it all the way over the border. Trucks were lined up for kilometers as well it was all quite mind boggling dusty and dirty and I was happy we were not going to have to stay there. There were some lovely beaches between the border and Trat but not much for us there as there were no hotels maybe just a restaurant and some basic bungalows

I really wanted to spend some time on a beach but Terry did not want to go to Koh Chang and leave the car on the mainland. I found out there was a car ferry to the Island so it was game on and the next morning we made our way to the ferry and drove around the Island. Its about 50 kilometres around the edge on a thin narrow road but you can’t go all the way so we went to the least inhabited side first – no beaches on that side! And then made our way to the other side. The tiny winding roads that were really quite dangerous and I was lucky that Terry was driving and he did a good job as he says you have to be prepared for everything. That means overtaking on solid lines on a hill where you can’t see what’s coming over the hill– yip just like South Africa!!!

Even though it’s the law to wear a helmet most locals do not and even tourists feel they are not vulnerable to accidents but you could see that there were probably many on the dangerous curves.

We chose a beach to spend the night or two but you could not really get into the water there as there was a lot of coral and when the tide went out you could not walk over the coral. We had our own bungalow which was lovely with a small view of the sea. We noticed a lot of signs in Russian and could hear the language being spoken all the time as they are the majority tourist here. But even so it was very quiet and not many tourists around at all not like all the other Islands on the west coast so we were very happy. We moved to Lonely Beach for a couple of nights as the beach was much nicer there and I was so happy to be able to swim. The water was lovely and warm but not as clear as I had hoped and not good for snorkeling with low visibility. I walked into town one morning and pampered myself with a reflexology treatment and manicure and pedicure all for about R250.

On our ramblings around the island we came across baby elephants at the beach with their mahout having a swim – they rolled around in the water did a few sprays with their trunks it was too cute to watch. We wondered if they were well looked after and followed them home where we saw that they were washed down afterwards which made me happy. But they are working elephants and the bigger ones who had been out trekking in the jungle were tied up by one foot except for one who had both feet chained and we could only imagine she had been naughty and was being punished. I felt sad seeing her sway about a bit like you see animals in a zoo who have cage sickness.

Roast chickens are the go on this Island and you see them cooking on rotisseries over a braai (bbq) everywhere. They are covered in delicious herbs and spices and I can assure you were very tasty. The ingenious way the rotisseries were set up was amazing.

Our last night on the island we went to see what was happening in the town – it really looks like fairyland all lit up. There were loads of bars and café’s and most of them were empty. We did see a lot of businesses for sale but who would buy a bar or café in an area that was overpopulated in this regard already?? We heard a band in one and sat down. It was ok nothing fantastic and then they had a break reorganized and suddenly the base player was playing rhythm and it all changed became a fantastic evening with good sounds. So that was the end of our sojourn on the island and the next morning we left. Unlike our arrival at the ferry when we came to the island which was quick going back was much slower and we did not make the first ferry and had to wait for the next one but the whole organization is smooth and well done and the ferries are roomy with shops on board in case you need a drink or snack. It was only a 45 minute ride so quick really.

Our plan was to make it to Sri Racha which once again is not a foreign tourist destination only really local tourists. It was a fairly painless drive on the major highway – the first we had taken really but once again did not know where to stay. We found a few hotel/apartment rentals but mostly it was apartments and the hotel side full and no room. The sun was going down and we were running out of options when at last the GPS came through and we booked into the City hotel which was full of Japanese business men. The streets nearby were mainly Japanese restaurants and out hotel had signs in Japanese too. Everyone was very friendly here and the service was impeccable – the door opened and even the lift button pressed for us! It was only about 60 kilometers out of Bangkok and our car had to be back by 12 the day after so we stayed a day and explored the area. We were really blown away by a lovely beach a bit further up the road in the next town called Bang Sean – about 2 kilometers of beach front filled with deck chairs and umbrellas and loads of food stalls stretching along its fringes. Old jet ski’s were used to pull a rubber boats with about 6 passengers behind it – we could hear shrieks of laughter and big inner tubes for rent which reminded me of my dad who every summer brought us a big one to play with on the beach. As we continued exploring we came across a mangrove rehabilitation area that we would never have known about with a boardwalk into the wetland. As we walked around we saw mudskippers, egrets, loads of mozzies, even a small snake and then as it was getting to be sunset we heard what we thought was a flock of birds but it turned out to be bats coming to roost in the trees.

We had passed a Chinese temple on the way and as we went home we stopped in there. It must be one of the biggest and most ornate Chinese temples I have been to. You were not allowed to take pictures inside which was a pity but even so the outside was hugely spectacular. A great way to end the day.

So the next morning it was back to Bangkok the last 60 kilometres went smoothly we handed back our chariot and found a taxi. The taxi driver hurriedly put our bags in his car and then he would not put the meter on and we would not accept his price so he dropped us off with another taxi driver who did not take us on the highway even though we said we would pay the tolls and we got the most scenic

As we pulled up at the hotel I could not believe it sitting at the restaurant across the street I saw Randy and Monika whom I met on my first day in Myanmar. I had thought that they were home already so I was ecstatic to see them and as our room was not ready we joined them and swapped stories of the rest of our journeys. What were the chances??? That they chose the restaurant across the street from where were checking in? when there are literally hundreds to choose from. Hope you guys had a good flight home!

So today it’s my turn to leave and I must say I am ready to go home after this wonderful journey.

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Photos

Surin elephant capital
I managed to get over my fear and feed this elephant. His big trunk comes towards you and wraps itself around the cane. The skin felt quite rough but the elephant was very polite.

Logs - pictures from the car
We saw many trucks loaded with logs

Koh Chang
The sign

Hammocks
A cafe where you can hang out if you will excuse the pun!

Do not feed the monkeys
And its a good thing as these monkeys who hung about did not interfere with anyone unlike the ones who hang out at temples and get fed they become quite aggressive

Our restuarant
right on the beach

Lonely Bay
How lovely is this bay?

Baby elephants
Just finishing off having their swim they were so cute.

The swimming pool
at our first hotel on the Island

Mangrove wetlands
Bang Sean is where we found this rehabilitated wetland

Bang Sean
Beach chairs and umbrellas for 2 kilometers