Advertisement
Published: February 22nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
We for scuba
Checking our masks After a few days in Thailand's capital, we were ready to move once again. Our Chinese friends Rick and Miki met us in Bangkok to explore a distant island, punned as the next Pattaya. We were off.
We set off to Koh Chang. Chang is the Thai word for Elephant. It is a very special animal that emodies Thai culture. One would think there would be elephants on Elephant Island right? One would be correct.
After an hour of waiting, 6 hours of bus, 1 hour of waiting, 1 hour ferry, and 30 minutes of taxi--without the wondrous convenience of aviation--we arrived. From first glance, it was stunning. We arrived during magical hour, when the sun is setting, spraying the water with sparkling diamonds and peppering the sky with exotic purples, oranges, and reds. To add to the perfectness of the setting, we had a pair of our closest friends, rythmic waves slowly crashing into the sand, a rustic, mysterious, mountainous interior, and a $6 bungalow exactly 7 paces to white sand beach with crystal clear water. Sound like paradise? If not, it was the closest we have come to yet.
We decided not to reserve rooms beforehand.
This was probably a bad idea, since we arrived in the late afternoon on a Friday. We met a young American who offered to help us find a place to crash. We found the generousity a bit suprising, but I decided to jump on back of his motorbike and go ahead. He said something like. "Man, I can't believe it is already Friday." I agreed, not really sure what else to say, and glad i found out it was Friday. The start of his next sentence went something like, "So my buddy called me earlier today when I was deep in the jungle scraping magic mushrooms off of elephant shit when..." You get the point. An interesting crowd here, neo-hippies in the making I guess. Though we enjoy our share of relaxing and chilling out, I doubt a clause like that will ever grace our lips.
We arose the next day and set off on a snorkelling tour of 4 other islands. Our last stop was the most memorable. We had to jump off the boat (Rick and I jumped from the 3rd floor) and swim a few hundred meters to get to a wonderful little beach. More peaceful
and clearer than we had seen in Chang. We chatted for 30 minutes and then swam back to the boat.
The next day we did a little adventure climbing. A Frenchman decided to make a little obstacle course amongst the huge jungle trees in the southern part of the island. We scaled trees, climbed latters, and went down 300 foot zip lines 50 feet up in the air.
After a short lunch break, we went back into the jungle for a 2 hour elephant trek. When the elephant reaches a certain age, his economic value drops substantially. He can't work in the mountains with the effeciency that younger ones can. So, he is retired to a tourist camp such as the one we visited. At first, we were against it. Thinking it was a bit cruel, but then we read that they're actually a good thing or else these elephants can't make a living. (elphant's havig to earn a living, pretty crazy world) Tourists climb on the back of a 40 year old, ride an hour in the forest to the bathing pond, assist in the cleaning of the elephant, and then ride an hour back. It was
a great experience. Elephants really are intelligent animals. They understand more Thai than most. Stop, go, turn, foot up, kneel.
They are just massive animals. It is hard to comphrehend until you stand next to one, but they are just really, really, big. Elephants in the wild do some damage to trespassing people, but these guys were basically oversized old dogs.
The next day we spent just relaxing on the beach. We caught the last ferry into the mainland at 7 PM. We planned on taking a night bus that left at 11:30. As we were leaving the ferry, a German guy said he was going to Bangkok if we need a lift. Weighing the pros and cons of hitchhiking, we decided to hop in. It is great fun to do something so spur of the moment like that. Definately out of character for a self confessed planner like myself, but still fun.
We helped our friends shop their socks off the next day, gave them a goodbye hug, and caught the 6 PM night bus to Krabi. Our asses like refined concrete, we stepped on the bus (well stocked with goodies) for a cool 19 hour
ordeal.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.136s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 17; qc: 72; dbt: 0.0798s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb