sun day 16

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Woke after a good nights sleep and made my way down to the port (10 mins away) to catch a boat to the mainland, then a 2 1/2 minibus ride down the coast to catch another boat out to ko Chang ( i thought there would be a boat connecting the 2 - but no!!!) chatted with a nice German girl called iris on the boat to ko Chang who is fluent in English - so we shared some funny stories, it definitely helped to pass the time. As soon as you arrive you get collared by taxi drivers wanting you to hire them. They squeezed 12 people into the back of an open pick up truck and we were on our way! The island has one road which runs around its perimeter and which is where most of the hotels are, so dropping people off as it went. First impressions of ko Chang were good - the landscape is lush green hills, with turquoise seas, cliff edge roads with hairpin bends, we saw elephants ( Chang is Thai for elephant) and wild monkeys on the route to the hostel. Kelly, an American girl who's living and teaching English in Beijing was the last to be dropped off - just a few hundred yards from me. The hostel is very modern, with all new showers and toilets and the room is basic but fine. 4 bunk beds in the room but only 3 other people to share it with - so plenty of storage space - and air conditioning also! Arrived at about 5 o'clock, so put a clothes wash on and went for a bit of a wander around the local area - found a nice restaurant, had dinner and wandered back, wrote up my blog and chilled - it was a long day!

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