KO Chang, Thailand

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Day one – travel to ko chang from Bangkok hotel, slept in the van most of the way, got off the van when on the ferry, then back on, once on island only took a short time to get to the hotel. It was still songkran and there was a massive queue to get off the island. We were a tad too early to check in, had a small look around, had the worlds nicest juice when we checked in, locked our bags away Rach got her and Mias swimming stuff on then headed to look at the pool and beach. We stayed in The KC Grand Resort. http://www.kckohchang.com/ oh my word, it’s the nicest place I have ever stayed in. there were two infinity pools and two others, a water slide, a spa, take a look at the link, it was amazing. However Mia and Rach went to go and have a look at the beach – as you walk down some steps straight onto the beach – and they next thing I know there is a drama, Mia had stood on a piece of glass on said steps and cut her toe wide open. There was blood everywhere, the staff washed it put some iodine on it and held it so the bleeding would stop. However it was to deep therefore a trip to the hospital was made, via golf buggy to the Hotel bus, I stayed and got us checked in. as soon as I had checked us in and got a bell boy to bring our bags the next thing was dad rach and mia coming into the room as they had just got back. Mia had 4 stitches! Which meant that she could not go swimming as she couldn’t get it wet for a week. Gutted.

After we got settled we went for some lunch whilst discussing going to the manager of the hotel for some kind of compensation. The restaurant was ok, but nothing amazing for lunch, just over the road from the hotel. Mia was on painkillers and antibiotics so we just chilled in the room for the rest of the day, put a film on and had a little nap, it had been an exhausting start to the trip. Mia kept saying ‘I can’t believe I have stiches in my foot’ lol. Once we had woken up we headed out for an explore, had a cider in a place called 15 Palms which was somewhere that had bean bags on the beach and a pool table inside. Mia was very tired but we needed some food so me and Mia shared a Chocolate and Banana Roti and Dad and Rach had some other street food. Then we headed back to the hotel and slept again, Mia was tired which – for those that know her know – is very very rare!

The next day we got up and had breakfast quite early, there was lots of choice and even an egg bloke and a bacon bloke, however they were both rather slow and there was always a queue. We went to go to the Kiosk to see if we could book an elephant trek, we booked it for the next day. We sat on the beach right near the hostel and Mia sat reading for a while then played with the sand and then we did some maths on the beach. The sea was very warm, actually hotter than a bath in the shallow bits. It was beautiful. We wrapped Mia’s foot right up and she was even able to have a little swim with us. When we were all in the sea we noticed a bar that we had seen online which sticks out over the sea, and decided to go there for lunch. We had a walk down past some trees that go over the beach to the sea, then past some bungalows and hostels that you can only get to by the beach as they are built into the cliff side. It was so very colourful and there were hammocks and swings off the trees too. We had the most amazing lunch with the most amazing view, the sea went under the restaurant so it looked like we were floating. New favourite restaurant Rock Café. We decided to spend the afternoon in the rooftop pool bar after we had a short rest in the airconditioned room. The rooftop pool was stunning, me rach and mia were giving dad hassle – as usual – but as soon as the lift doors opened we just all instantly shut up and went ‘wowww!’ we spent the day sun bathing and dipping in and out of the pool, which had a few different sections of waterpools in. It was just incredible. We could see another pool which had a full on slide going into it so me and mia went in search of it. making every floor soaking wet as we got lost, we found it eventually and we went down the slide a few times and had far too much fun! We all got quite sun burnt but we went back to the room and cooled off after brilliant day.

Later on we went for a walk up the main street – as there’s only 1, we walked all the way to the end where all the bars were, on the way back we found a place called Monkeys which was ran by a bloke from Leicester funnily enough, he supported Leicester City, as does Mia, after we had eaten the owner got a massive LCFC flag and Mia was in her element. The owner also told us of a waterfall that was nearby as it wasn’t rainy season there were only 2 on the island that were flowing. After Monkeys we went to a place called Jungle rock that had a band on, Rach – being a professional singer – got up there and belted out a tune! It was great. Mia was very tired so we took her home pretty soon after.

Next morning, had breakfast and then headed to the Elephant Trek, we were picked up and headed into the jungle. There was a slight bit of waiting around but they gave us water and lots of pineapple, which we ate a lot of, throughout the whole trip to be honest. When it was time to get on we walked up some stairs to a platform where you got one the elephant, it was Mia and Rach and Me and Dad, me and Dad got a 49 year old female called Shirley, I am sure she was struggling under mine and dads weight, no creature deserves that! We thought we were going to get the biggun! (which we nicknamed Eric) however we made it round, it was very surreal, bobbing up and down. The guy hopped off ours and took a few pictures with my camera. Mia and Rach’s had done a horrendous crap, keep an eye out for it in the photos! After the ride we got off and went to feed the elephants bananas, it was really cool, Shirley even put her trunk up! Mia bought some toy elephant keyrings for her friends and I bought a ring made out of elephant tail hair. After that we went to the Rock café for lunch and had THE most amazing pizza we have ever eaten! And that’s saying something coming from me Rach and Mia, the pizza fanatics! It was so deep with cheese that me and Mia were worried they had forgotten the pineapple! Dad had the pineapple rice which was served in half a pineapple! Told you we love pineapple! We spent the afternoon on the beach under a tree with a swing on it. it was beautiful. After a while of sweating due to the heat and dipping in the hot sea Rach went to get us icecreams and dad a beer, what a great day. We stayed there all day until the sun was beginning to set when we headed back to the Rock Café to watch the sunset and have a drink. That evening we went up the main street again, dad went for a drink while we had a look around the markets. We ate on the beach at a BBQ restaurant, with the token spring rolls. I had a cocktail and some lovely food, including pork skewers. We looked down the beach and there was a fire blowing display happening, me dad and Mia went to have a look and take some pictures.

OK so up to this point I cannot remember all of what we did when.. so I will just continue by saying we did a few things I am going to describe, however they might not be in the right order.. which won’t really mean anything to you lot, but it has been annoying the hell out of me.. (Dad, Rach or Mia – feel free to correct me and I will edit it)

So next morning - I think – we got up for breakfast and me and Mia went back to our room and just chilled out for a few hours, Dad and Rach went for a walk along the beach. Later on we again went to the rooftop infinity pool.. which has become one of my favourite places on the planet, easily. Sunbathed, read my book, swam, rinse, repeat.. we also then had a late lunch at the pool with the money we had from the manager of the hotel. The food was lovely! I had one of the nicest pasta dishes I’ve ever eaten. That night we went to a place called Tamnat Chang something and I did want much so just ordered a pork skewer – it was one of those BBQ places, like the one on the beach, it was the nicest pork skewer ever! With this horrendously garlic dip, beaut! The waiter was very friendly and gave me advice as to where I might be able to get the screen replaced on my phone (I had smashed it in Bangkok).

Next morning we went to a local waterfall too, grabbed a taxi and headed up there, on the way we stopped at a the phone repair place, but they couldn’t help as my phone isn’t a common iphone etc. we headed onto the waterfall, small fee to get in as it is classed as a national park. Just a 1km walk, it was hot but horrendous, however you really did want to get in the water after the short walk. I think it was the first waterfall I had seen since being away! It was lovely, fish knocking around and a rope to help get you out as it was quite deep. There were some butterflies that were beautiful! But before we knew it it got quite crowded so we spent about an hour in the water then left. After the waterfall we headed back to the infinity pool, again, and stayed there until sunset, drinking beer with an irish guy dad had befriended. Not a clue where we went for dinner that night. Maybe Tamnat Chang again, I know we went there twice… no idea!

Next day was the boat trip! Wow! It was brilliant! The boat was huge and we claimed the group of seats at the back of the top deck, then head off. The views were fantastic. I did actually feel sea sick, first time in my life! I wasn’t sick but I could have been.. the staff were very nice, i sat in the middle of the boat on the bottom deck and they brought me cushions and water, so I just went to sleep with my headphones in until we were at the first stop. The stop was over a reef so we could snorkel, there was also a slide off the back of the boat! Great fun, however there were some people on the boat that were very pushy etc, but other than that it was brilliant. The reef was beautiful and there were fishes of every colour! We had a fabulous lunch on the boat and my sea sickness had worn off, we stopped a few more times in different places for snorkelling, dad also jumped off the boat too, the host of the boat was excellent, then on the way back we stopped near some island that had lots of monkeys on, the host stood and threw fruit for them and Mia was mesmerised, monkeys being her favourite animal. The sun was setting as we were on the way back it was beautiful, we had just enough time to go up to the infinity pool for the sunset.. stunning.

That evening we went back to Monkeys as that’s where Mia wanted to go. Had some lovely dinner and made sure we were packed and reminisced over the past week that we had had together!



Next morning we headed back to Bangkok, it was a long journey but the bus had a TV in it so Mia was happy, I suffer from travel sickness so I couldn’t watch it, we eventually got to Bangkok and checked into the hotel, it was right near the airport and I booked my transfer to the airport for a few hours later. We all said goodbye and off I went, was a bit tearful as I drove away as it had been such an amazing time!

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