Koh Chang - 15th to 17th March
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2007
1
37
38
Trip End
Mar 20, 2007
Koh Chang, Thailand
Friday, March 16, 2007
By Friday we were already getting restless feet so decided to hire a car - well the nearest thing, a pick up truck, from a little tour shop just outside the hotel. I think it must have been the guy's own vehicle as it was full of rubbish tools etc but for £22 for 24 hours why grumble!
A tour of the island mainly consists of following the one road around the island which varies from two lanes of well surfaced tarmac to non existent, subsided, stony, dirt tracks. The island is very mountainous so it does at least make it interesting and the far side of the island from where we are staying is very much quieter - the odd fishing village, a "marina" consisting of 3 boats and agricultural areas. There were several waterfalls marked on our map so we cut off on a very treacherous road to visit one - unfortunately after a 15 minute climb on foot to get to there, it turned out to be a waterfall with no water. We should have thought about that because this time of year there isn't any water anywhere!
In the evening we used our mean machine to go into the "town" - a collection of tatty beach type shops etc...in search of a restaurant for dinner. We had just made up our mind there was nowhere worth considering stepping foot in when we spotted a sign to a beachfront restaurant and decided to see what it was like. There was a whole new world through there - no wonder the town had looked so desolate and unprepossessing - everything happened on the beach. There must have been at least a kilometre of beachfront restaurants with tables actually on the beach. They all seemed to offer much the same - a fantastic array of raw fresh fish, seafood, kebabs which you chose and they BBQ'd for you complimented by salads, jacket potatoes etc... it was a wonderful setting and really good food.
Massive chicken kebab / Sheet of BBQ ribs / humongous prawns / Jacket Potato / salad / garlic bread + two cocktails and a beer for £14 how good is that.
Saturday was Derek's day to do something "exciting" so he booked onto a one day diving taster course. Off he went at 8.30 and had a great day snorkelling initially, then had paddi instruction before doing a 45 minute dive. Needless to say he really enjoyed it. I chose to spend my last day reading, blogging and relaxing.
Final Thai meal of the holiday tonight as it's back to Bangkok tomorrow and we are booked to go for a meal at the Bangkok sky tower (65 stories up) which is European food before we fly home on Monday morning...............
Looking forward to seeing everyone now and just want to get the last bit of travelling done but this must be the first holiday that I can honestly say I wish it was just beginning again.
