Koh Chang…..island laxing & transfer to Koh Samet

Ko Chang, one of the largest Thai islands in the Gulf of Thailand, contains dense, steep jungle. Mu Ko Chang National Park, a preserve with hiking trails and waterfalls such as the tiered Klong Plu and some offshore coral reefs. The coast is dotted with beaches and villages including Bang Bao, built on piers. We are spending a laid back couple of days ….no real sightseeing just some slow island time:

Baan Rim Nam is a guesthouse with 5 rooms in and old renovated fishing shack …..in the mangroves in what was once a working fishing village now co-existing with tourist accommodations. Sort of an Old Florida feel. We are about a 150 meter walk or 5 minute paddle to the beaches. When we were booking this guesthouse although it had great reviews we opted for a conservative 3 night stay as we were a little leery of the mangrove location. It is actually turned out to be quite charming and the beaches/water were quite clean > could have easily stayed a few more nights in this one, interestingly very few mosquitoes. 

About a 3 minute walk on a dirt track brought us to the beach on “our” side of the river…

…you can walk about a kilometer southwards before running into a small river…nice beach (clean), a few small places with cabins for rent and two quite posh resorts…..

 

There is also a funky beach restaurant here with surprisingly good food where you can also post up in some easy chairs and soak up the rays or soak in the warm water…when you look at the “kitchen” in the back, well it’s best not to go there….just enjoy your meal and hope that the Dukoral (vaccine) keeps on working !!

….btw the Xmas tree did not make us pine for the Great White North !!!

….going the other way it was short walk to the mouth of the river we were staying on with some long stay cottages and a nice long sandy beach on the other side….

You can walk to a small town within 15 minutes which is not much to look at, but with some restaurants, bank, 711 etc. On the way we passed this Thai Kickboxing Club which can be truly called grass roots…but I guess these are the type of places that these guys come from…

Across  the river an old lady would come every day setting her net and hoping to catch a few small fish ….she actually always seemed to get a few…

On the other hand if you were romantically inclined you could book a gondola dinner cruise……

….or head out on one of the kayaks …

…the sign in front of the hotel in the pic below reads Merry Christmas….if you can read backwards !

One night we had a pleasant dinner at the Phu Tulay Restaurant….you call the resto and they send a boat to pick you up, a bit different and fun….

…everyone staying here was European and we had a few interesting chats over beers. We found one topic which was interesting, as the same opinions espoused here, had been previously echoed by tourists we had met en route. Admittedly our sample size is modest but it does seem indicative of a considerable problem. In essence people seem fed up with what they feel are  immigration excesses in Europe resulting in lawlessness, intimidation particularly by young, unemployed African/East Asian youth, and a general sense that the cost to the countries is becoming excessive and will continue to grow into the future. While sympathetic to the plight of refugees they felt that governments have not taken into consideration the complexities of integrating undereducated, racially, religiously and culturally different people in large numbers. A sobering thought when we see Trudeau in Canada pushing aggressively to bring in large amounts of the same type of people without regard to the consequences nor having the infrastructure to enable the smooth assimilation of these folks……I do hope we are not creating a monster which our children will have to deal with…..we would be really interesting to hear what people think about this issue !!

In any event tomorrow is another transfer day …………so time to call it a night.

 

December 20th

Another great morning as we finish breakfast (not included and modest choices) as we wait for the mini bus to pick us up ….today we are heading for Koh Samet.

At 09:45 the driver arrives on schedule and we set off to pick-up the balance of the passengers…this process goes rather slowly and the last 4 passengers seem not to be where they should be….hard to know what is happening as the drivers’ English is poorer than normal and our Thai collectively amounts to zero. In any event we get on the ferry bidding goodbye to Koh Chang, grab some sandwiches and muffins and enjoy the ride….

On the mainland we meet up with another van and our four passengers materialize….a family of four.  We pack them in and then the fun starts …..the lady discovers that the back seats are not really intended for four….interestingly, our luggage had been placed on the middle seats…the driver basically says, “too bad, so sad” >>> SHE GOES BALLISTIC, absolutely refusing to accept the situation when luggage is occupying the prime sitting area…..phone calls, drama and more drama > as time goes by. Finally, a solution is found > a small Cambodian woman is shifted to the front middle seat (actually a 1/2 seat), madame takes the front seat and the rest of her family the rear seats …all is good…..the Cambodian says nothing, I guess she feels she is the lowest on the totem pole. We drive on and after a bit stop on the side of the road, where a lady pops out of a storefront and they proceed to load three large styrofoam containers of seafood on one of the aforementioned middle seats…

>>> now we know why the luggage was placed where it was. Much muttering by one and all, the driver goes on like a bat out of hell and on one corner one of the containers shifts and hits THE LADY in the back of the head….well she goes wild ….”I paid for a mini bus for humans not seafood transport etc.”, the driver has had enough of this farangi, and a woman to boot >>> we have a standoff. Then divine inspiration intervenes and he produces a roll of tape with which he secures the boxes to the seat…..

….we drive on, then there is  a big bang from the rear of the minibus…hmmm…he goes faster  >>> we get to a town and stop….”tire broken need to fix > 20 minutes ok” >>> and roars off with vehicle our luggage included >>> no shit, well an hour later the mini bus returns and we are good to go. As an aside, I started speaking with the lady during the conversation I inquired if they were Russian, she said NO, Slovak, so I answered in Polish > well that’s a lot better than being Russian…they all laughed and we became buds, discussing travel destinations for the hour (she being a travel agent with emphasis on Turkey and Greece). Nicely behaved children & husband but with a woman like that, I guess they have no choice.

Onwards we drove and without further incident, only stopping for “gas”…

… and at about 16:30 reached Ban Phe where we and the Cambodian girl were dropped off. The “package” we bought included transfer to the pier and boat passage to Koh Samet. Our transfer vehicle was a mini scooter, with a mini wagon, driven by a mini woman. Nevertheless, somehow everything is loaded with the three of us sitting on top of it all….only a few minutes to the pier and we are dropped off at the boat. This is a wooden fishing trawler converted to a ferry….the deckhands toss our luggage on the top deck, we scramble down the wall and over some truck tires onto the ferry and grab some seats at the front…

and wait….and then wait some more, people start trickling in laden with plastic bags full of veggies, meat, fishheads poking out of bags, school kids in uniform, and all sorts of other baggage….a fellow beside me clutching a bottle of Chang beer (our preferred brand) starts speaking with us, turns out he is a Czech (my day for Czech….Slovakia) and has been splitting his time living on this island and in Ostrava for 35 years….unfortunately another Czech couple come on board and they enter a spirited discussion. More and more people keep coming on board until finally a wizened monk lady sits on the deck in front of me, there being no more room anywhere else…..

 

…and we are off. Nice run of some 40 minutes as the sky turns golden and we are on Koh Samet. We quickly find a songthaew with an American/Thai couple who are on their way to party….bit wacky but harmless and loves Canucks….Finally get to the hotel, check-in, grab some Changs and decompress from what has been an interesting day. Dinner is good and we are looking forward to the next few days….alls well, that ends well !!!