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Published: February 22nd 2006
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Christmas Sunset
The view from outside our bungalow on Koh Chang Note - We had trouble loading pictures for this entry, more will be up in the next day or two so check back. T & J
Well, the change of pace from the African cities to those of South-East Asia was great. Bangkok is very high paced, crowded, muggy and smothering hot. On the same hand, it is lively, friendly and very easy. We were told to expect a crazy and confusing place. In our experience, it was hardly that. If you can think of any service you may need, it is at your finger-tips. The airport was amazingly easy. We passed through customs, got some local money (bahts) and grabbed a cab to the city for a reasonable price.
During our last week in Lushoto, Tanzania, the power was on for about 2-3 hours a day if we were lucky. The phones were iffy as well. So we had no Christmas accommodations confirmed for Thailand. Luckily, we had a reservation in Bangkok the day of arrival. We settled into our new home. Compared to what we had become used to, it was 5 star. Even though it was 35 degrees outside, we still enjoyed the unfamiliar luxury of
a hot shower and a nap on crisp, clean sheets. There was even a travels agent in our lobby offering all the services we needed.
After a bit of relaxing with the jetlag, we were very happy to find out by email that Tracey's mom had helped us out by making a booking on Koh Chang Island for 5 days over Christmas. We had tried and tried unsuccessfully from Africa. We were worried because it really fills up around here for the holidays. We arranged our travel to Koh Chang in about 5 minutes. We are used to taking about a day or two to set something like that up in Africa.
In Bangkok we strolled around Koh Sahn Road, the heart of the backpacker area. No cars, hundreds of vendors selling everything you might need (or not), bars, restaurants and tons of people from all walks of life. It is a pretty cool place and excellent for meeting fellow travelers, however, somewhat devoid of Thai culture.
After orientating ourselves with maps and asking around about taxi prices and what not, we set out to prepare for Christmas. We thought it was going to be hard to
get decorations as it is not an Asian holiday. To our surprise, every store and guesthouse was loaded with trees and decorations! Catering to the customer. We hit the huge MBK mall and got decorations and some Christmas CDs. We even bought a small tree at a local market to take to the island with us. We got some strange looks from other travelers when we got on the bus with it. We had all we needed, a tree, lights, decoration supplies and a few things from Santa. It was a little sad to know that our families were all gathering together in Canada, but we were determined to make it a good one.
After and uneventful trip to the Koh Chang port we were loaded into the back of pick-up trucks in accordance with what beach we were heading to. The island is the second largest in Thailand, but only has one main road that pretty much circles the coast. We were let off at Khlong Phrao Beach, just 5 minutes from our resort. We decided to upgrade our accommodations for the holidays as a little treat. We were booked into Chang Resort and Spa. Because of Christmas,
Local Police
The street cops drive ATVS around and they don't mind you having a beer while you walk around. there were no cabins available anywhere, so we had a room in the hotel. However, the lobby clerk, who wore the shiniest gold silk shirts, hooked us up with a beachside cabin for 4 days. It was great, we could here the waves lapping while we slept.
Christmas Eve, we went out for dinner at another beach. We got a cab there, ate and then walked the beach. We ended up celebrating the holiday with other travelers until late in the evening/morning. Then we realized that the cabs stop running around 1am. The 2 hour long walk was no treat at the time, but a good memory now. We were a little under the weather when we woke up, but the realization that Santa had come cleared that up. We had Christmas dinner on the beach under the stars. A very nice day.
The rest of the time on Koh Chang, we rented a scooter and explored the island, we had dinner at a few places and walked some of the different beaches. It is a really cool island, but one of the most touristed in the country. It was a wonderful tropical Christmas.
Then of course,
we turned on the TV on Boxing Day morning. Word of the Tsunami started to come in. It seemed bad, but we had no idea the extent of the devastation at first. One thing that needs to be pointed out is that there are very few TVs around and no radios. Thus, people in North America had a much quicker and clearer realization of the impact than a lot of the people in the actual affected areas did. You would hear stories of people that were missing and assumed dead. It must have been absolutely terrifying for families at home. We met people who didn't find out about the disaster until days later and hadn't contacted their families. This was understandable from our perspective as on our usual route, it would be normal for us to not see a TV or hear the news for weeks. As the days went on, the death toll rocketed. It was very heart-breaking to see some of the images, but also we must admit that it was accompanied by a feeling of relief that it happened on the other coast. Our cabin was 20 feet from the shoreline and we were in bed. We
Street Drinking
We mentioned that they don't mind you drinking in the street. Apparently, they don't care how old you are either! were lucky.
As for the locals - "the life goes on". The trauma level of the disaster seems subdued in the people here. You can't just fall into despair. You pick-up the pieces and move on.
Aside from the Tsunami, we had a great Christmas and kept on track. We headed back to Bangkok to get ready to go to Cambodia. We were meeting up with Megan and Tom (Tracey's childhood friend and boyfriend - they were the ones who hooked us up with the place in Prague) for the trip along with some of their friends. We didn't get back until around 10pm and our bus to Siam Reap in Cambodia left at 7:30 am. We were officially on the move full time.
Bangkok - Recommended for travel business, shopping for fakes, and experiencing the hustle-bustle in a safe atmosphere.
Koh Chang - Recommended for a tropical resort get-away.....
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