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Published: January 8th 2013
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When you have spent 6 glorious days on a gorgeous island and enjoyed it so much,it is always going to be a little painful to pack up your bags,nearly break your back trying to carry them and then embark on a day couped up on a sweaty minibus with a driver who has absolutely no idea of where he is going. On Boxing Day morning however,it was time for us to say goodbye to koh samet and move onto island number 2, Koh Chang for 2 days before heading down to the Southern islands.
I'm not sure whether people would agree or disagree with my next statement but I feel that when you're lucky enough to visit these beautiful places, there is often a pressure in yourself to disregard any negative vibes and emphasise the positives, even if you're experience leaves you a little deflated. Firstly, when you've heard rave reviews and personal recommendations, you too want to discover the diversity, the individual cultures and the hidden secrets of each place you come to. Secondly, when you find that you're not particularly enjoying yourself, it isn't great to think about the money and the time that you have wasted or
that in hindsight you probably wouldn't have bothered at all. Sometimes though, you just have to give up, move on and focus on a new day. Sometimes you travel to somewhere and its just not for you. With this in mind and the importance of documenting both the highs and the lows, I will briefly tell you of our trip to Koh Chang, or Koh Crack den as we remember it.
After one of the worst journeys I can remember (getting lost, boiling hot coaches, the slowest ferry ride in history and sarah slicing her leg open on a piece of rusty metal) we arrived in Koh Chang at sunset. The thought that we already had a lovely beachside bungalow booked was a welcoming one. We found our bungalows at the bottom of a questionable, drug infested alleyway. Handing over our booking reference, the "receptionist" unenthusiastically proclaimed "sorrrrrrrrry....don't have". "Don't have?" We questioned, glancing at one another. "Sorrrrrrrry.... Don't have" she repeated, not even glancing up, "last guests no check out". Ahhhh, right. "it's ok" we thought, "looks pretty dodgy anyway, we'll just find somewhere else".
So on we walked, back up the alleyway. All of a sudden
a dreadlocked, neon clad man (perhaps not high on just life) strided towards us from a place called
'ting tong bar'. "Girlllls, you want room?I have room with its own bathroom" he slurred. "AAAhhhhhh LUXURIOUS!!!!!!" we all thought, exchanging looks of relief. Now, I'm not sure if it was the exhaustion, the fatigue or just the ludicrousy of the situation that made us accept this room but luxurious it was not. I think I will let the photos speak for themselves but the only thing I can even begin to liken this bathroom to is what I imagine a Thai prison cell to look like. The walls were made of stained concrete, the floor was a swamp of putrid water and tor cherry on top? There was no roof. Oh and not to forget the ants nest under the pillow, that was really special. As I write this over a week later it has become funny, not something I will forget in a hurry but funny all the same. At the time however we may have had a little cry.
For the sake of our health, you will all be pleased to know that we made another hasty exit,
eventually found ourselves a clean room with a roof and headed out for some dinner, content in the knowledge that our luck could not possibly get any worse. Oh boy..... How wrong we were!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was time of course for us all to get a nasty bout of sickness and though I would love to tell you about how beautiful Koh Crack den was, we spent the rest of our time in bed so I have absolutely no idea. This may all sound a little harsh, I'm sure its an amazing island, but when one place throws so much in your pathway its hard to warm to it.
We made our way to Bangkok the next day and revelled once again in the safety of Khaosan road. We felt so much better that we decided to treat ourselves to a ping pong show. Again, I won't go into detail but WOW, those girls have skills. With a quick stopover, we woke up refreshed and ready to move on.
We headed down to our next stop, Koh Phagnan on the evening of December 29th and arrived the next lunchtime. We had accommodation booked at
'Mai Pen Rai' bungalows
on Than Sadet beach for 4 nights but upon telling the taxi drivers where we wanted to go we were greeted with laughter which was a little disconcerting. We finally managed to get a 4x4 to take us and after 40 minutes of off roading through the mountains, we understood the reaction. Despite the isolation, the bungalows, set up on the side of a cliff and overlooking a secluded little beach cove were pretty cool and full of local wildlife, much to the girls delight. I think it was the kind of place that you either love or hate and because it is so secluded you get to know everyone staying on the beach. If you love it, it's the kind of place where you can get stuck and never leave. We met afew families with young kids who had been there for 4 weeks already.
One of the main perks of the beach came in the form of a litter of tiny Labrador puppies which belonged to the bungalow owners. We literally needed no other forms of entertainment to amuse ourselves and when they offered us one to take with us we had to literally force ourselves not
to smuggle one away in our backpacks. Now that we had come further down South the weather had gotten stormier too and we spent our first night cowering under our mosquito nets as the lightning struck and sparks flew out of the ceiling.
Our second night on Koh Phangan was New Year's Eve and we headed of course, to Haadrin beach to the chaos of the famous countdown party. It's a place with a reputation for being absolutely nuts and ruthless with its victims and this really is no exaggeration. Operating on 'Thai time' our 10pm taxi did not arrive until 11.15 pm and with 40,000 party goers and only one road into Haadrin, we had possibly the strangest countdown I've ever encountered; sat on the back of a pick up truck in a line of tooting traffic with some Germans. We made the best of it though and saw in the first few minutes of 2013 with hugs from each other and handshakes from the Germans, very formal indeed.
The night becomes hazy after this point but we all had a great time, saw some pretty funny things, saw some pretty horrific things, saw a lot of
blood, saw a boy talking to a wall for 10 minutes (mushroom shakes anyone?) and met some great people. After catching up on the news and hearing some of the horror stories from our bungalow neighbours I think its safe to say that we got off pretty lightly and emerged unscathed. Waiting for our 7.30 am taxi, drenched in sea water and painted neon from head to toe, we reflected on a hilarious New Years Eve. The next few days were spent on the beach recouperating and cuddling puppies to relieve the come down effects of Thai red bull before we headed over to kick off week 4 on the slightly more docile island of Koh Samui but more about that in my next entry.
Will be back soon with tales of Week 4, our best yet for sure xxx
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