A bit of Island Exploration, thank you

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Greetings and salutations! Another day in sunny/stormy Koh Chang! Another day with a motorcycle! Aleko and I ventured out, with the morning light (after having consumed adequate quantities of cornflakes and yogurt, from our hotel room stash), to explore the eastern coast of the island. Passing through Bailan, Lonely Beach, where we had stayed previously, and then on to Pearl Beach, and White Sands - all of which have misleading names during monsoon season (there being very little beach, and none of which is "white" or gives the appearance of a "pearl"), we stopped briefly, to confirm our seats back to Bangkok tomorrow, and the ferry ride to the mainland, also. Once fully booked, we ventured onwards.

The ferry port, where we arrived, is at the Northern-most tip of the island, and so anything further than this was new territory for the both of us. As luck would have it, the overcast skies cleared, to reveal ethereal beauty - the dark jungle on the right of us, shrouded in mist, complimented by the azure waters, with spots of turquoise. We road on, up and down the the rambling hills, around break-neck corners, with exhilaration (exhilaration punctuated by me telling Aleko to "slow down!", and to beep around corners - I'm sensible, me), only stopping to stretch, and at one point, enjoy the scenery of a sea-view cafe. We sat, reading our Nooks (Three Men and a Boat is actually really good!), trying to make sense of the Thai music channel that was playing on the TV (the singer seemed to be the Thai answer to John Mayer - all lankiness and oversized quiff) and, of course, taking in the gorgeous scenery.

And onwards! We spotted a roadside sign to "The Treehouse", at somewhere called Long Beach. Being an enormous fan of treehouses, I requested that we visit this promising-sounding establishment, and so on we went - following each sign, until we were somewhere out in the wilderness, on a dirt road, getting flung around by stones, and finally, with unmistakable finesse - slid in the remnants of yesterdays downpour, into a heap of mud! Fortunately, the injuries were minor (myself having none, Aleko having a few tiny scrapes) but the motorcycle was clogged up with orange colored mud. Somewhat optimistically, we charged on... until there was still nothing more in sight, than teasing signs to "The Treehouse - Long Beach! Good food - great atmosphere!". Finally, we noticed our gas-tank was intimidatingly low. Did the Treehouse actually exist or was this a test? We decided on the latter, and chose to make our way back to civilisation. Our beautiful bike, was now little more than a pile of mud. The first place we found, sold us gas, and then further on, we stopped for food... in a restaurant where the wait staff chose to stand over our shoulders until we'd read through the menu and decided our lunch.

I don't think the Beef soup we ate, actually contained beef... but what the meat in fact was, is open to discussion.

May I also interject with the fact, I have been mostly vegetarian, since I arrived. I am not, however, being completely strict.

And back to the story...

And so, we had about 20 Kilometers or so, until we were back in Bang Bao. Our motorcycle was a mess. Just when we thought things couldn't be worse, the bike started to "chug", and we noticed the back wheel was flat. Damn.

All was not lost, however, as it turned out there was a motorcycle repair shop/shack, a mere 20 meters from where we stopped. A miracle! 250 baht later, we had a new inner tube, two new friends, in the form of dogs (of which there are an abundance, on this island), and three more people giggling at the mess we'd made of our vehicle. Now to find somewhere with a pressure washer! We made it to the nearest community - White Sands, only for every shop to point us another "3 kilometers", when we asked where we could clean our bike. Finally a run down car wash shop! Three Thai men first giggled at our bike, then got out the pressure hose, washed off the mud, sponged the now-pristine bike, with soap suds, before soaking it again, and drying it (we also got them to spray our mud-crusted sandals and feet). What a relief to have our bike back to it's beautiful shiny self! We sighed, as we finally bade farewell to our trusty bike-washing friends, and started the journey home.

Up one of the torturous hills, surrounded by dense jungle, on our final stretch, and the bike comes to a halt. What's this?! We forgot to refill the gas, in all the commotion?!? Surely not?! It appeared so.... and as luck would have it, among all the friendly scores of dogs we have encountered, the first savage beast comes bounding out of the jungle at us, growling and barking, and begins to charge.

O crap.

"Go go go!!!!" I yell at Aleko, as we turn the bike around, to roll it back down the hill, in the hopes of gaining some momentum, so we can locate somewhere to refuel. He lets off the brake, and we go flying, with the large beast, running after us, snapping at our heels.

What's this?! We gain speed and the dog gives up. Phew! And first as our bike slows to a halt, after the large hill, we stop right outside a shop selling bottles of gasoline. Perfect!

The final leg of our trip, was most uneventful, bar a run-in with another poor sod who'd run out of gas - "the gas meter has broken! I live here!" the gangly whitey said. Turned out his girlfriend was coming for him. Also turned out she was a spritely young Thai girl. Let me tell you, there are an abundance of creepy old guys, with young Thai women on their arms, over here.

Back at our hotel, we took off the discomfort of hours of saddle time, by taking a nice dip in the outdoor pool.

And now, here I am writing this all up. That, my dears, was what happened today! Tomorrow we make our way back to Bangkok, and from there, I don't know. We will talk to Air Asia about the possibility of bringing our flight to India forward, and try to also find a camera charger for my camera. So frustrating! I had it, and must have thrown it away with all the craziness of moving! The replacement charger for "all batteries" that my dad kindly bought me, from Office Max, has not been working, and so, I'm afraid, there have been a limited amount of photos taken.

Now for dinner! Will keep you all updated! Take care! xx

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