Koh Chang

 The car ferry crossing.

 Fishing boats on the mainland.

 Koh Chang.

 Views from the scooter ride.

 The fishing village and pier.

 Gotta have at least one Thai temple.

 The far south east end of the island.

One end of White Sands Beach.

Friday, April 27^th.

When I woke up I reorganized my bag as I had decided to only take what I needed for the islands and the beach, electronics, bathing suit, towel, etc. Then I checked the large red bag with the rest of my stuff at reception. They will hold it until I return on the 5^th.

I opted to take a taxi to the airport as it is only $20 and I don’t want the hassles of trying to figure out the public transport. I arrived at the airport with plenty of time for my 11:40 flight, which was only 45 minutes in duration. When I disembarked there was my pickup driver in a nice new SUV. He drove through an intensively farmed area with many different kinds of plant and tree crops, including forests of rubber trees. The canopy of some of them is so thick that the floor of the forest is dark. The drive took about 25 minutes to the boat dock. Then to my surprise he drove onto the ferry with me. I thought it would be three separate legs, but he also drove me for a half hour from the boat dock to the other side of the island where my resort was located. I arrived about 3:30.

I am staying at the Bialen Beach Resort. The ‘resort’ property and the little cabins are quaint and nicely kept, but the ‘beach’ is shit. I can see the sea from my second row little cabin, but the shore is all stones. At the far end in front of the main building that includes the restaurant, there is a sandy beach, that I’m sure was imported by dump truck. It magically appears out of the rocks. The water was really shallow and silty, not sandy and there were stones in it too. Disappointing.

I spent the hot afternoon in the really nice pool and in my room. They have scooters to rent but decided to wait until the next day. At dusk I had a good dinner at the resort and then went for a walk around the little town on the road. Seems like a lot of places are closed or for sale. I think it is the end of the season here. When I got back to the room we had a loud thunderstorm and it rained all night.

Saturday, April 28^th.

There was thunder all night and some heavy rain. I finally got up around 8:30 when it let up and went for the included breakfast, which was a nice buffet including muesli and eggs. It looked like it was going to clear, but it started raining again about 10, in what we recognize at the cottage as an ‘all day rain’.

I hung around the cabin, reading (Gut still), watching a few Youtube things, and dozing off. Then I started feeling not very well. I had a tummy and bowel upset. I just laid about and relaxed and stayed near to a toilet. If you are going to get sick, a rainy day is the best. And I can’t complain, as this is the first day where rain wiped out the whole day.

The good news is I got my Myanmar visa approved already. 

I skipped lunch and dinner and was in bed by about eight and slept on and off all night.

Sunday, April 29^th.

I woke up to the sound of rain on the roof. I stayed in bed and watched a couple of Two and Half Men compilations, which made me laugh out loud, which they say is the best medicine. By about 9:00 it looked like it was going to clear. So I got up and went for breakfast. I skipped the eggs and ketchup, which I think was the culprit yesterday. Is a ketchup bottle supposed to sound like a can of Coke when you open it?

Then I rented a scooter from the resort for 250 Bhat ($10) and decided to explore the island. I headed south first to a fishing village at the end of the island. The village was connected with a long pier with shops on it. There were clothing shops, souvenir shops, restaurants, tattoo parlours and food stores. It was quite amazing. After that I drove north again, past the resort to the top of the island where the ferry was and then around and down the east side. At the bottom of that side I came across another little fishing village that was built on stilts. Then I took another road for twelve kilometres to the end of the land. There I found a little beach and a memorial for some naval battle, unfortunately it was in Thai. I had a little swim there to cool off, but the water is so warm that it really is not refreshing.

Before I began the ride back I checked the map that the resort gave me, because I had yet to find any real beach. I saw one on the map that was listed as the widest and busiest beach, so I headed for White Sand beach. I found the White Sand Resort and drove down their very steep 600 metre road to the beach. At last I found a nice beach. I walked from one end to the other, about 2 kilometres just enjoying the surroundings. I had a couple of dips in the water to cool off. When I got to the other end it started to rain lightly. Funny how everyone on the beach heads for cover when they were there to get wet in the first place. I just walked back, had one more dip and then road the bike back up the hill and down to the resort. 

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. Thankfully I felt much better today. It felt great to be riding a two wheeler and riding up and down the hills through the rainforest, and to get in the water. As I was riding around I realized that this is an island that Thai visit for their holidays. I did see western tourists but not in the numbers that you see in Phuket, Samui or Phi Phi. When I got back I had a swim in the pool to get the salt off and then went for dinner. And finally back to the room to relax and get some more sleep.