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Published: August 7th 2007
Hi all,
It's now Wednesday, and we have been relaxing for the last couple of days on the stunning island of Koh Chang (down near the Cambodian border).
Here is our diary for the last few days:
Sunday 18th March
We arrived back in Bangkok last night from Kanchanaburi and luckily got the last room available at D & D's. A triple this time, which was great - lot's more room, but also more expensive (1100 baht - $44) Got to the room only to realise that the air con was kaput. What was it with us and the air-co?? Not happy - twice in a row this had happened to us - so Shell off to see if she could get it fixed before we were all overcome by the heat. Gav & Mia went for a swim whilst Shell waited around an hour for a technician to come and fix. Once fixed, into the pool for a well earned swim!
We were up early this morning to catch the bus to Trat and then the boat to Koh Chang. We jumped in a meter taxi only to have the taxi driver not put
Mia & Gav being entertained
Street entertainment last Fri nightthe meter on and say 'bus station - 300 baht' (It only costs 100 - 150 baht with meter on) Needless to say we were not happy and demanded he put the meter on (Most drivers in Bangkok are honest and do use the meter, but you get the odd one who wants to rob you blind). He started to reduce the price but still refused to use the meter so Gav said 'stop the taxi - we get out.' After a bit of banter going back and forth the driver pulled over and unhappily let us out. A new taxi picked us up immediately, put the meter on without us even asking, and 115 baht later we arrived at the bus station. Needless to say, we gave him a nice tip!
Good timing, as we arrived around 10.45am and the 11am bus was waiting. No allocated seating (2nd class airco bus) but we luckily grabbed 3 seats together in the back row as the bus was very nearly full. We had a lovely english couple sitting next to us, Ceri & Jai, whom we have since spent a lot of time with hanging out.
Gav moved seats
to get a bit more leg room, and within minutes a lovely local thai guy came and sat in between Mia, I and Ceri & Jai. Oh well, thought we'd have a bit of room to stretch out, but no luck - completely full bus.
5 1/2 hours later (Mia slept for the last 1 1/2 hours but only after I bribed her by saying she could have a small glass of coke on our arrival - BAD MUM!!) we arrived in Trat. On to a song-theaw with a group of other backpackers to be taken to the pier to get our tickets for the ferry. Unfortunatley we all got scammed a bit (we avoided this last trip, but knew it had to happen at some point) as the song thaew dropped us off at what looked like the pier at a little travel agent who charged us 80 baht each for the boat ticket. It was only after hanging around 45 minutes that another song thaew picked us all up and then drove us another 10 minutes to the real pier and dropped us off. The ferry tickets would have cost us all 30 baht each if we
had been taken to the correct pier and bought them directly. Oh well.
45 minutes on the boat over and by the time we arrived on Koh Chang it was around 7pm and already dark (we had hoped to get there before dark) Ceri (welsh for Kerry) & Jai needed an ATM as had run out of money, but none around so we lent them some money to get them by. On to another song theaw to try and find the beach and place we had stayed at 5 years ago. The trip was great - very roller coaster like and great views (in the dark) and after about 40 minutes, we went past our old place and were dropped nearby. We all checked in to rooms were we had stopped - us in a really nice room (Near Maggies bungalows but closer to the road) for 700 baht, and Ceri & Jai in a 200 baht shack (they are on a tighter budget than us). We all sat around and had some food and drink and just spent time winding down and chatting. Jai ended up paying for the entire bill (they had found an ATM) as they
Pink taxi
Mia thought this was the best thing ever!! Pink taxi's everywhere! were so thankful for all we had done for them. We tried to refuse, but they wouldn't have a bar of it.
Monday 19th March
Up this morning, we all met at 10am whilst Gav sent off for a walk down the beach to try and find more suitable beachfront bungalows (our current ones were not near the beach) An hour and half later he came back dripping in sweat but was extremely happy as he had found a beachfront bungalow for us at the place we stayed last time. However, in the past 5 years a resort has bought out the bungalows and built a really nice but very expensive resort near them. The bungalows are still there though seperate from the 'expensive area' so we still got what we wanted for 600 baht ($24) but also got to use the POOL!!! We would never in a million years have expected to get a free pool to go with our ramshackle bungalow!
The bungalow itself is very basic - Wooden floor (slats) with open gaps between them, one big mattress on the floor with a mosquito net, fan and semi outdoor bathroom with free mozzies! All
the other insects were obviously invited to stay by the mozzies! The last time we stayed here we even had a resident 2 foot lizard on on of the rafters - but he must have moved on since ;-(
Spent the rest of the day swimming in the sea (30 degrees) and the pool. For dinner we headed down by song theaw to the fishing village on the southern end of the island for fresh prawns and fish. Gav had 5 massive prawns for 180 baht - $7 and Shell a whole fish for 200 baht. Absolutely delicious! Thunder had also started in the jungle mountains around us and before long we had found the rain bucketing down around us (we were under cover) and it was just so beautiful to see. If only we could have redirected some of it to Oz!
Tried to get a song theaw taxi back but there seemed to be none around. Luckily, a local family in a ute offered us a lift. We jumped into the back of the open ute and sat on top off all the containers hanging on for dear life and we went up and down the
First bungalow we stayed in
on Kho Chang - not close enough to the beach though! roller coaster back (these roads are so steep it is crazy) We all had a blast and it really felt like a true travelling experience! Gav offered the family some money for the lift but they refused and just shook hands saying it was their pleasure!
Tuesday 20th March
Woke up this morning to find it raining, windy and overcast - so much for our tropical paradise! We had all slept in to 10.30am - boy, it's hard here - so walked along the beach in the rain to grab a late brekky.
Spent the next couple of hours under the mozzie net in our bungalow, colouring in etc and starting to get restless. About 2pm, Gav dragged Shell & Mia out to finally go and do something. We went and grabbed Ceri & Jai from their place (they were getting restless too) and grabbed a song thaew into 'town' to get some lunch and have a look around. Lunch was great - Mia had the best lasagne ever and ate heaps of it and a huge salad (she had also had 2 eggs and toast for brekky so she was showing some improvement!) and we all
had pizza and Chang beer. Yum! It was really cool today - Mia, Shell, Ceri & Jai all had jackets on (Gav couldn't quite work that out) which was a really nice change from the stinking heat. By the time we ate it was 4pm, so we ended up ditching the idea of a beach bbq or dinner and went back for a night time swim (had stopped raining - finally). It was truly amazing - there was phospherance (spelling?) everywhere - just like in the film "The Beach" Phospherance are miniscule microorganisms or something like that that light up when moved under water. So as you swim of just move your hads there is a miny light show going on all around you. Magical. We have seen this before on past trips but never quite like this!
We all went back to our bungalow and spent a few hours togther drinking Sangsom (thai rum), and playing hide and seek and base in the dark with Mia. Ceri & Mia are getting along so well (Ceri is 26) and I think Mia will be very sad to see us leave them in a couple of days.
Tuesday 21st
March
Up again at 10am today to wake to a stunning day. Lazed around on the beach for most of the day and hired a kayak and kayaked around a nearby island. Mia was fantastic - not scared at all, even when we explained that she may fall in and what we would do if she did (PANIC!! just kidding!) She even paddled some of the way and is very good at it!
We have just been for dinner with Ceri & Jai and the most amazing seafood bbq. Total of 640 baht ($25) for one huge red snapper with lemongrass, palm sugar and heaps of other herbs - devine - 6 massive prawns. 10 scallops on the shell, one huge chicken and veg kebab, 2 corn on the cob, 2 roast potoates and two big salads. WOW!
Everyone is still there whilst I type this blog, they are drinking Sangsom and watching the fire dancers on the beach. Mia has befriended a gorgeous thai girl named 'Bamboo' (her dad is the bamboo tattooist on the island)
We will be staying here for another 2 nights before heading off to Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
There are
heaps of photos on this blog so you will need to use the 'next' button at the bottom of the first page of them (as per the last blogs)
Until then, hope you are all well,
Love Shell, Gav & Mia
xxx
PS Bunch of bananas (about 1 kg) 10 baht (30c)
2.5 kg washing - 40 baht ($1.50)
I could live like this!!
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tashia
non-member comment
jealous yet?!
My goodness, I was jealous before you even left! Now I think I have actaully turned green.