koh chang

Two weeks ago Ricker and I took a four day weekend to Koh Chang, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. We left at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning, spent 4 hours on a bus, which I can't recall, although apparently the bus attendant had to wake me up and I jumped out of my seat when she touched me, which according to Ricker was a pretty funny sight. The bus dropped us off in Trat, which is on the mainland, where we could catch a ferry to the island. Without any specific plans, we caught the ferry, met a couple Belgians, and made it to the island by lunch time.

From koh chang

We took awhile to find a place to stay, because we were comparing prices.

Koh Chang means Elephant Island in Thai, and it's as big as one. We had no idea how massive the island would be, judging from our maps it seemed about the same size as Koh Samet, a nearby island that we traveled to several months ago. We decided to stay at Lonely Beach too, which was on the southern end of the island about 30 km from the ferry. After price shopping, we found a bungalow for 2 people for 200 baht a night, 100 baht per person which is about 3 dollars. The room had a big bed, mosquito net, porch, toilet, light, and even a fan. We found a less touristy/expensive place to eat most of our meals because going to a tropical island usually means higher prices.

From koh chang

Our first afternoon was a lot of fun, even though we didn't do too much. We ended up going to a waterfall. A short hike led to a small stream which we forded and then found a swimming hole underneath the waterfall. We arrived in the late afternoon (around 4:30) and the rangers were gone so we didn't have to pay the entrance fee (it's designated as a national park area). Not too many folks were out either, for about a half an hour we didn't see any other tourists.

From koh chang

We swam, I forgot my tevas in Bangkok, but it wasn't a big deal. We ate some more food and went to one of the bars and met some locals who live on the island. Such a different lifestyle, when they are pretty much just dependent on tourists like us. And they live on a tropical island.

Keep in mind that it is still the rainy season in Thailand, so despite our luck the first day, the second day poured rain non-stop. I read most of the day, there wasn't too much to do. The "resort" we stayed at played a movie at night. Our German neighbors asked us to eat dinner with them and it was neat to talk to them about Europe. We ate at a restaurant a little nicer than the only other place Ricker and I found. The food was delicious, and the vibe was cool, there were plants growing throughout the entire restaurant. Funny though, was the decor. For some reason while waiting for our food I looked up and noticed a peculiar chandelier. This candelier
consisted of wooden phalli dangling from the light fixture. Then we noticed the logs surrounding our table were phalli, and nearly every table was supported by a phallus shaped object. It was a little bizarre, but apparently it's a very lucky symbol of fertility that appears in all sorts of places throughout Thailand. (A week later, we came across a phallic garden in Bangkok--weird, but pretty normal to everyone else).

The rain kept pouring and eventually Saturday the sun came out for awhile and we finally hung out on the beach and went swimming. It started to rain not soon after, but fortunately the island has plenty of waterfalls to check out. We came to a massive waterfall, with many tourists, regardless it was fun. This waterfall was gigantic and there is a large area to swim under a mini-water fall fed by the main one.

From koh chang_2

The next week at school wasn't too bad, I got some work finished and our good friend Pete who we met one of our first weeks was going back to the US, so we had a going away party. I received a student id so now I am "officially Thai" or at least can qualify for all the Thai prices at touristy places and won't have to pay a foreigner fee. A lot of bureaucracy at KMUTT caused the delay. To break in the identification cards we went to probably the most visited site in Bangkok, the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Keow on Saturday.

From bangkok - wat phra keow and gp

But really, the exciting news is that because my Thai visa will expire in several weeks I have to leave the country to renew the visa. Thursday, I'm going to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Besides all of the traveling, work at school is coming along smoothly, classes are interesting and every weekday is fun to hang out with fellow Thai students after class.