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April 12, 2005
Thailand – Bangkok and Koh Chang | 21-27 Feb 2005
Sorry this log is so late – both for your AND my sake…. So much that I’ve clearly forgotten – Does that mean it wasn’t/isn’t important? Anyway…
Bangkok was Bangkok, as Bangkok is known to be. Nothing extraordinary, but I did spend the time to explore a bit more and find more shopping centres that I hadn’t known about :) I bought a replacement DVD drive, stayed at the Shanti Lodge (worth checking out if you’re gonna stay in Bangers), saw a movie at a real theatre, caught the trains and riverboats, ate mostly cheap local food, and planned the next few weeks.
I originally thought that I had HEAPS of time before Kelly (sis) would get to SE Asia, so perhaps I could even head down to Koh Pha Ngan for a couple of weeks partyside. After some planning and calculation, however, even spending only a short amount of time going through Cambodia, I would only have a few weeks in which to explore Vietnam before Kelly arrived. I had planned that we would probably do some exploration near Saigon together, so I wanted to do the rest of Vietnam before then.
However, I DID want a few days of R & R on a Thai beach somewhere, so, having not been there before (as well as it being directly on-the-way to Cambodia) I went to Koh Chang.
Having experienced only the islands of Koh Pha Ngan & Koh Samui, I would say that Koh Chang is most like Koh Samui – developed, package-touristed and full of traffic. You can get to Koh Chang from Trat via a 45 minute Ferry, of which they also have car-ferries (to get your Jeeps and Honda CBR-600s there – yes, I saw one of them!). The roads are very good, albeit still windy. The ‘main’ beaches are chockas and there are more than enough large resorts full of seedy old men if you like that kind of thing.
I went straight to Lonely Beach, which is known as the backpacker area, although the whole place is pretty well developed with backpacker things that it’s definitely lost the Lonely factor now. All the places mentioned in any guide are pretty expensive (>400 baht), as they’re usually right on the water as well, but fortunately there are still some cheap bungalows (1-200 baht) tucked behind these places, so its not as expensive as it could be.
I spent enough time on Koh Chang to relax, meet some cool people, enjoy some Thai curries and seafood, go out a few times at night, write up my Laos logs and even ride around the island. I didn’t have enough time, however, to visit any of the islands, do any diving, or partake in any of the other cool activities available there. From friends who had been there before, the other local islands are some of the best part of Koh Chang, so it’s a shame I missed them – there’s always next time :)
Koh Chang IS a typical Thai island… Beautiful beaches, bars and babes (and of course boys, but that’s clearly not my thing). However, if you’re looking for a recommendation… If you CAN get south to Koh Pha Ngan/Samui/Tao, DO it. I still much prefer them. Having said that, I can see why the proximity of Koh Chang to both Bangkok AND Cambodia attracts people that live in the area, as well as those that don’t want to make an overnight trip to go south.
Lonely Beach (looking towards the small sandy part of the beach) and the sunset (from both lonely beach as well as the Treehouse – a major backpacker institution there)
I left Koh Chang, spent a night in Trat (not too bad a place for a night), then did the Minibus-Border-Taxi-Boat to Sihanoukville (Cambodia), then lunch at the Bamboo Light Café before a bus to Phnom Penh. Pretty good distance for one day.
Posted by Dan at April 12, 2005 11:27 AM