Ko Chang

Ko Chang

So here is my first post in a very long time. I primarily blame teacher’s college applications. But those are in the past now, so I can focus on other things. Hooray!

December is probably the most holiday filled month in Thailand, with Father’s Day/The King’s Birthday, Constitution Day, and New Year’s. Father’s Day and Constitution Day are fairly close together, so I took a couple other days off to create a 5 day holiday. I decided to go to Ko Chang, one of the last places I still really wanted to visit. Ko Chang is about 5 hours east (and slightly south) from Bangkok. It’s the second largest island in Thailand, I think. Most of the island is a national park, so Ko Chang is a bit less ridiculous than the southern islands.

Anyway, another one of the foreign teachers, Krista, and I left Thursday morning – there is a bus that runs from Bangkok to the Ko Chang pier. We arrived at the pier around 1pm, and boarded the ferry. The ride took about half an hour, and we arrived. We then got to enjoy the insanity that is the roads of Ko Chang. Ko Chang is a very mountainous island, and the roads are notoriously dangerous. The main way to get around Ko Chang is to take a sawng teaw. The roads were insanely steep and twisty, but they followed the coast, so the views were gorgeous.

We arrived at our hotel, Oasis Bungalows, around 3pm. Oasis is up a hill near Lonely Beach, the main backpacker beach (fewer fancy resorts). The bungalow was very nice, and surrounded by jungle. In the evening, we walked down to the beach to enjoy the sunset. 

Friday

Friday morning, I decided to explore the island a little bit on my own. The biggest waterfall on Ko Chang Nam Dok Klong Plu, wasn’t too far from Lonely Beach, so I decided to head in that direction. After another precarious sawng taew ride, I got off at the side road leading to the waterfall. After a short walk down a shady road, I arrived at the entrance to the National park and waterfall. There was a 2km path that led through the forest and to the water fall. I always love getting back to nature and the walk was quite beautiful. The walk to the waterfall wasn’t long, and the falls were pretty. But there was a fair numbers of tourists, so after a quick dip, I decided to continue on the path. It led up a hill/mountain and back down. At that point, I was super hot and sweaty, so I went back to Lonely beach to watch the sunset. 

 Beach near the waterfall

Saturday

Saturday, Krista and I decided to venture to the east coast of the island. Most western tourists stay on the east side as it is much more developed and easier to get around. I had read on the East side, there were neat-sounding mangrove forests that you could kayak through. We ended up having to hire a special sawng teaw to take us there, as they usually don’t drive on the east side. It was expensive, but we both really wanted to go. The drive was beautiful, very natural with hardly any big buildings. After a while, we stopped at the forest. There was an elevated concrete path that led through part of the forest. It was amazing to see the trees growing out of the water. The mangroves survive in the salt water by pumping the salt they absorb into a few leaves, which turn yellow and die. After the walk we went to a small village where you can rent kayaks. I think the village was primarily a fishing village, as there were many boats and fishermen tending to their nets. We kayaked through the forest out to the ocean, where there was a smaller, floating fishing village. It was a beautiful paddle, and I’m glad we got the chance to visit.

Sunday

On Sunday, I had signed Krista and myself up for a guided hike. The description said we would walk up a mountain and get some really nice views. However, once we arrived at the starting point, our guide informed us that today we would actually climb TWO mountains with lots of steep up and down parts between them. I was excited – often when you sign up for guided hikes, they are piddly little walks through the forest. There were 4 other people in our group, all from Germany. We started by walking through a rubber farm. I had never seen one up close – the farmers cut small strips in trees and the sap drains out, and is collected. We then started up-hill. The path was quite steep and wild. It was challenging, but not any harder than the paths in the Adirondacks. We arrived at the peak of the second mountain around noon or so, and enjoyed some spectacular views of the island. The way down was also very steep, and challenging. Mid-afternoon, we reached a small river with a pool for swimming. Finally, we arrived at the end around 5pm and were driven back to our hotel. The hike ended up being 18km, I think, and it was a very beautiful walk.

 Rubber tree

Monday

We decided that Monday would be a lounge on the beach day – to recover from the previous day’s hike. We picked a spot on Lonely Beach and then swam, napped, read books, and were beach bums. We on;y left to find food. I also played with my new waterproof camera. In the evening, we were rewarded with the most beautiful sunset on the island yet. 

 Lonely Beach

The next day, we traveled back to Bangkok. And I have officially decided that Ko Chang is the best island in Thailand. Beautiful nature, and not too many idiot travellers.