Koh Chang

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The Beach is a Calling again.

The lure of the Big Blue and palm shaded beaches meant Koh Chang was the next destination on our list. Checking weather on Tinternet during our brief visit to Bkk all we got was Rain with good chance of thunder storms!!! Omg what do we do? “Computer Says No!” all of Thailand is the same: Showers and Storms in the mid 30’s.

We decided to risk it for a biscuit and get on the next bus to Koh Chang. 8am the next morning blue skies greet us. The bus is pretty empty so a comfortable journey got underway with no signs of the Red Shirts through Bangkok. A couple of hours into our journey the heavens open and a big storm is upon us. Are we doing the right thing? were the thoughts going through our heads, they sell beer in Koh Chang so we’ll be fine even if it does rain and also we’re not made of sugar. When’s a bit of rain ever stopped us doing owt!? 20 mins from the ferry port the black clouds parted and blue skies were overhead once again. Yippee. We only saw rain twice in the next 6 Days.

After a short ferry and a rather overpriced Songthaw (Pick up truck with 2 benches in the back and a cover) we got dropped off at Joy Café just by Lonely Beach. They had everything we needed: Drinks, Free wifi and Motorbikes. Dee took a bike and checked out all the Beach huts/ bungalows in the area. Bailan beach the next bay round came out pick of the bunch, Right by the beach, lush tropical gardens, discounted price, lovely staff, free wifi and a big dog that played football!! The only negative was that it felt like 40 degrees in the room, can’t really complain tho. Having spent on travelling that day we thought we’d try a local looking cheap food joint for tea. That was a bad idea, watery curry and uncooked potatoes, maybe Koh Chang’s not a good place for food! Guess what? We didn’t go back there in a hurry. Early to bed so we’re full of energy for the next day.

It’s funny that, when you get an early night why do you feel extra tired the following day? Lazyitis hits us; good job lying on the beach and swimming in sea doesn’t take up much energy…..ahhhh. Unfortunately the tide has gone right out so the beach and sea combo has disappeared by our bungalows; it would mean a 100m walk over rocks to get to the sea so we decided to get on t’bike and head to Lonely Beach.
Lonely beach is a fairly narrow 800m stretch of fine white sand lined with palm trees. Nature resort (where we enjoyed a few meals) is at one end and another resort at t’other end. Only a hand full of likeminded people here but we didn’t feel Lonely. The sea is azure and hot like a bath, luckily there were no rip currents like the signs said. The days pass by so easy….

Not that Lonely beach wasn’t lovely, it still is but the next day we explore a bit and head south but don’t find any beaches only a covered jetty/pier out to sea with tat shops and restaurants on. The island hasn’t a road all the way round so we headed back on ourselves and north to Hat Klong Phrao which is a beautiful wide stretch of white sand miles long with clear blue warm sea and hardly another soul in sight. Behind the palm trees that lined the beach were posh looking empty resorts. That was fine for us we just used their deck chairs and had a lovely relaxing day. Amazing Mexican food for dinner washed down with Margaritas, Arriba Arriba yee haw. To top the lovely day off we relax in sofas and read magazines in the restaurant, something quite the novelty whilst backpacking round Asia because hardly anywhere has sofas???

Next day is road trip day to see what the East coast has to offer. We know there is a Beach literally all the way round the other side so Long beach is our Destination. The Island is absolutely beautiful, mountains and hills covered in lush dense tropical greenery. The roads are proper undulating and windy and our little 110 ped doesn’t like some of the hills but 1st gear gets us up alright. On the way round Holly has a little motorbike lesson and does substantially better than the last one i.e. not nearly killing us both!!! Further along the road stops and there is the bumpiest dirt track down and up steep hills. We go on not knowing how much further till the beach, our bums are numb from being on the bike for a few hours and now the dirt track, please don’t be too far away Long Beach! 4 km later we arrive at the Tree House and have some much needed food and drink before chilling on the beach before having to head back. It was a beautiful day, well worth the trip round the island. The scenery was out of this world and long beach was a tranquil paradise. On the way back we scope out an elephant trekking centre and book an elephant safari for the the next day. On the road back, out of the blue we stumble across a driving range. We whack a bucket of balls each (yes Holly played golf!!!!)quite well actually) while the sicko owner trains his cocks (chickens) to fight each other by holding one by the throat and legs stabbing the other trying to get it to attack, as I said SICKO.

Up early to go Elephant trekking. There are a few centres that do elephant trekking, the one we chose was out in the jungle and looked more natural than the ones on the main road. After a 45 min motorbike ride we arrive 20 mins early and get to look at all the elephants on our own which was nice before everybody else turns up. Most of us follow a Mahout (elephant driver) and elephant to a big natural pool in the river and we get to ride the elephants in the water and give them a good scrub down. Proper good experience being so close to one of the biggest mammals in the world. After this we head out on Saffari, not relly a saffari because we're not looking or hunting for animals just riding our Ele called Sweet Water. The route is a lovely scenic path through a bit of jungle and around the local lush countryside with fantastic mountainous vievs and through a couple of little streams. The Mahout kept getting off and taking pictures and even let Holly have a go at Being a Mahout. What a good Mahout she makes too. There tere 5 elephants with couples on them in all and one of the Mahouts is only a wee kid of about 10, he was just as good as any of the others, he must of been born on an elephant and his name Maougli When we got back to the elephant centre the bananas came out, the elephants got excited and we got to hand feed them.
We felt a bit sorry for the elephants really because they go round the same well trodden route twice a day (if enough tourists go) and probably chained up for the rest of the time. They get well cared for and fed (300 kg per day) for a 3 tonne welle but its not a life in the wild. The centre does give money to an elephant welfare charity which is nice. We're really glad we did elephant trekking in Koh Chang because Chang Means Elephant. Holly especailly enjoied bathing the elephants because she was sick and missed out on doing it in Nepal. We had a fab time.

Head back to lonely beach for lunch and an afternoons sunbathing and swimming. Check out what snorkling trips are on offer and book one for the next morning. Have an apperetife in town before heading back to ours for sunset and dinner.

Get picked up in a songthaw and there is only 3 others going on the trip and they are doing their open water diving course. We get down to the jetty and get on this massive boat and head out to our first snorkle stop at small rock about 30 mins out to sea. Free refreshments all day excellent. We get straight in the water at the small rock spot and start exploring the amazing underwater world. The sea is crystal clear and there is tonnes of marine wildlife, fish and coral. The boat is owned by a family and their two little sons joined us for snorkling. They were having competitions with each other to see who could dive down furthest to get the best shell and then hand it to us. We were in the water about 45 mins and loved every minute of it.
After the first session a lovely lunch was served up on the top deck. The divers were all sick with hangovers and were learning about diving so we had the boat pretty much to ourselves. After we finnished lunch the divemaster threw his scraps over the side and loads of fish were going mad for them. Who knew tropical fish liked pineapple and rice! We hit up two more snorkle spots that were equally as good. Here's a list of some of the well cool fish that we saw: Damsel, Wrasse, big fat Parrot and Rabbit fish gnawing away on the coral, Butterfly, Angel, baby Barracuda and cool black and white banner fish along with loads of big black spikey sea urchins that have luminous eyes that seem to follow you around arghh. Absoutley amazing day even if Holly got a bit burnt! Snorkling is our favourite passtime.

Had a lovely last nights dinner in Koh Chang at Nature, our favourite eatery right on Lonely Beach. Had BBQ kebabs and HUGE shrimp, yum. We're absoutley whacked after snorlking all day and a Mamouth journey ahead of us in the morn. After a really good time on Koh Chang our time in Thailand was comming to an end, just one more place to hit up now and thats Railey, bring it on.......................sorry it took so long folks but Dee wrote this blog!

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Comments

[Cherise]

Bananas
You can attract tropical fish to you when snorkeling with banana and bread. Factarooney.