| -------------------------------------------------------------- Okay....now it's Friday the 8th of July and I'm back home in San Mateo, FINALLY continuing my update! It's been a week since I started this travel update! Better late then never I guess!  |
| Trat Airport's Arrival area. |
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| Ferry pier on Ko Chang |
Thursday, June 30th was a full day of traveling. We flew to Trat on Bangkok Airways with a stopover in Bangkok. From Trat airport we were transferred 18km to the ferry pier then a 45 minute ferry ride to Ko Chang. The island is off the southeastern peninsula Trat. Trat can also be accessed via a 6 hour bus ride from Bangkok for those that don't want to fly. It's a lot cheaper to take the bus ride. (Note: I'm traveling with an impatient man who would not be able to sit still for more than 10 minutes.) 1 taxi, 2 airplanes, 1 van and 1 ferry ride later we arrive on Ko Chang.
It was so worth the long day. We would be on this beautiful quiet island for a week. First day we spend orienting ourselves with Hat Sai Khao (White Sands Beach), swimming at the beach and pool.
On Friday we decided to visit one of the many waterfalls on the island....Klong Plu Waterfall. According to the tour book it's the most impressive of all. It's also the nearest to our hotel. The waterfall is reached via a 600meter walk through the jungle. That's not counting the 6 miles we walked from our hotel ...with over 90 degree temperature and humidity! (Alex says it was less than 6 miles but I think it was more, he even had the nerve to say if I can run a half marathon this should be nothing for me). The highlight was not the waterfall but a cute baby elephant we passed along the way. Actually, the highlight was that I got into the waterfall with the local entry price of only 40 bahts (1.35USD) instead of the foreigners price of 200 bahts (6.75USD). It was probably not something I should be proud of. In Chiangmai and in Ko Chang many mistaken me for being Thai. Which meant that most assumed that I was a local girlfriend (prostitute) with my foreign boyfriend. I told Alex he was the only fool that brought his own girlfriend ;-) And he said I'm more expensive :-) That's right!
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| 6 month baby elephant we saw on the way to Khlong Phu waterfall. You are cute but pls don't touch me with your trunk! |
Anyway, by the time we reached the waterfall I should have wanted to jump in but was too chicken to. Lot's of rocks and dark water. Alex enjoyed it. We brought a mango with us that I cut up. I decided to wash the knife and my hands in the water. I ended up slipping and fell partially in the water :-( On the way back we decided to take a taxi. Taxi's there are pick up trucks with a canopy and benches in the back. We figured if we started walking one would eventually come by. One stopped and wanted to charge us 50 baht each (for two of us...3.27USD) and I said "nope...only 40 baht each. The taxi left without us (as my friend Omar would say, "pssshht!) We probably walked another half mile. The next one came by and the driver said something like 100 baht each. Alex said 40 baht each, driver said okay 60 baht each. Alex looked at me, I looked at the driver and said 40 baht each (with big smile :D) and he said okay. Thank goodness! So in the end we walked another half mile BUT I saved us 66 cents! Time for a thai massage.Saturday I wanted to relax. It was spent swimming at the beach and pool. Perfect day for me, boring for Alex.
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| Infinity pool at our hotel Chang Buri Resort & Spa. |
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| This is how quiet Ko Chang is. |
We discovered a restaurant next to our hotel called Noung Boure. We ended up there for most of our meals. Not only did we eat there everyday, we ate the same thing almost everyday and even tried to sit at the same table (I'm traveling with a Virgo that needs regimen).The sea bass with sweet & sour sauce was to die for. That and white rice and sometimes crab too. For drinks it was a juice filled coconut and usually coconut shake too. I also liked the mango and lemon shakes :-) We have ruined the population of sea bass in Thailand.
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| Our fave lunch at our fave restaurant at our fave table. |
sweet & sour seabass all gone!
On Sunday we signed up for an all day snorkeling tour. From 830am to 500pm, with lunch included and snorkeling at four different islands. Alex said eat a good breakfast because we won't get back until 500pm. I said why? There's lunch included. His response was "don't expect much for 500 baht." I said that the tour guy showed me photos of the lunch with large prawns and seafood and even coffee/tea available throughout the day. Lunch was not full of seafood but a plate of rice with an omelet, watered down potato/chicken curry and veggies. It was still comfort food and enjoyable to me. We did get an afternoon snack with a plate of 2-3 prawns each :-) Coffee was instant coffee you had to make yourself and I didn't see any tea on the boat. Poor Alex felt a little seasick but felt better after laying down, I was okay. I did feel nauseous though after seeing and hearing an Indian man throwing up in the back of the boat.
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The snorkeling part was great. I wore a life vest (I can swim) the whole time and did the usual heavy breathing in the beginning until I got use to the deep water....deep water sometimes creeps me. After that I enjoyed the snorkeling. The water could have been more clear but it was still amazing. We saw schools of fishes, and some that looked like the parrot fish, large clams, sea urchins and beautiful coral. On the way back to shore it rained cats and dogs. Our transportation back to our hotel was via a pick up truck like their taxis. We got soaked. I was just saying how lucky we've been to not experience any bad weather days (June and July is their low season because it's also their rainy time). A woman we met said that it was rainy just a few days before we arrived and that some visitors will come for a week and it rained the whole time. We still had a 3 days on the island and hoped that this was just passing rain.
Monday was a beautiful day. I enjoyed the day of nothing planned, just relax at the beach and pool. Alex enjoyed the day because we had sweet & sour sea bass, coconut juice & shake and he got another thai massage. So far he's had one almost everyday. Every time he has one he says "she has strong hands, this is the best massage!" Then the next morning he will say "I think she messed up my back, I need to get another massage today."
On Tuesday we rented a motorbike to ride around the island. Ko Chang is an island full of steep hills with sharp turns. The tour book said under the category of Dangers & Annoyances....Ko Chang's biggest danger is its skinny and often steep and slick ring roads. As one guesthouse owner bluntly put it, "Many tourist rent motorbikes and then they die. You want to tell them to at least put some clothes on so they'll keep some skin if they fall." Reading that and the fact that neither one of us have ever been on one before scared me. I told Alex I will wait in the room, and that it's good for him to practice riding around for a while and then when he's ready I will get on. It took us about an hour and a half of tense riding to get to the other side of the island. We eventually arrived in Salak Phet. I told myself that if we made it back at the end of the day in one piece I would thank God for keeping us safe. In Salak Phet, we ate lunch at an outdoor seafood restaurant that was over water. We stopped at a mangrove to go kayaking but found the water level too low and disappointing. We decided do go to another part of the island for kayaking instead. Back on the bike for another hour and a half ride to Kae Bai.
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| Somebody's enjoying their fish way too much! Lunch at Salak Phet Seafood Restaurant. |
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| From Ko Chang you can see the island, Koh Man Nai that we kayaked to. |
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| After kayaking exhaustion. |
Kayaking in Kae Bai was worth the ride there! We rented a kayak for two and paddled to a private island called Koh Man Nai. The water was so serene and we were probably the only ones on the remote island!!!! What an amazing thing to do!!! It was a great way to end our last full day in Ko Chang! We made it back to the hotel in one piece and we returned the motorbike. We went for a much needed massage afterward. By the way the massages on this island are only 200 baht and hour, less than 7USD!!!
As I was laying in bed that night I remembered that I had to thank God as promised, for keeping us safe that day. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep in the middle of praying. I woke up in the middle of the night and finished. I truly had so much to be thankful for. We were blessed with beautiful weather, despite it being their rainy season. I didn't have any tummy issues or food poisoning on this trip! In two weeks we packed in a trek through the jungle, an elephant ride, river rafting, hike to a waterfall, snorkeling at four islands, motorbike ride and a kayaking to a remote island. And not to mention the delicious meals and numerous massages! Such great experiences and memories to cherish! How lucky am I?!!!! I have created a monster..... Alex has been spoiled by the airline upgrades, good food and cheap massages!!!
Our last morning on the island came too fast! We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, went for a last swim at the beach then pool. Alex went to see his Ko Chang girlfriend (his favorite massage lady) one last time and I went back to the hotel to shower and pack. We left Ko Chang that afternoon for our last night in Bangkok.
We arrived at our Bangkok hotel and went out for last minute shopping. We finally went to bed at 1130pm and had a wake up call set for 230am. Waking up with less than 3 hours rest was dreadful but we had a 600am departure out of Bangkok.
Almost 24 hours later we arrive back in SF. It's the 7th of July.
It was an amazing time in Thailand again! A few more mosquito bites to add to my collection and lot's of good memories! We were blessed with beautiful weather and we did everything we wanted to and much more!!! Couldn't have asked for a better vacation :-)
Below are links to the hotels we stayed at. I would recommend all of them. Thanks also to my friend Tom for his recommendations!
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| Need new dentures anyone? |
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| George's new friends not liking him very much. |
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| Oh oh! George almost became lunch.... |
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| Kayaking to Koh Man Nai |
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| Chang Buri Resort and Spa |
