New Year Festivities
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2009
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34
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Trip End
May 31, 2010
Ko Chang, Thailand
Monday, December 28, 2009
Our tuk-tuk driver duly arrived the next day to transport us to the border taking us along the duel carriageway which, according to the lonely planet, is a very scary journey. We thought it was pretty tame considering some of our other journeys and that there were absolutely no cars on it.
The walk across the border was pretty cool as it was the first time we had actually walked into a new country rather than being on a bus/boat/train. We successfully filled out the Thai border forms and congratulated ourselves on the fact that we had beaten the crowds by crossing the border early in the morning rather than at lunch time when the busses from Phenom Penh arrive with the masses. We then set about finding a bus to Trat where we were to catch the ferry. It didn’t take long to realise that we may have made an error....... We got chatting to a rather bored looking girl who was waiting by the only mini bus that was going to Trat. It turned out that she had had the same bright idea as us but that the bus would not leave until it was full, including us that meant that another 10 people had to turn up. Things were not looking hopeful. We waited about 50 minutes and not one person appeared. Just when we were about to give up the driver told us to get ready as he had found some passengers from another town en-route to make up the numbers and then we were off to Trat.
We had planned to stay one night in Trat and then make our way over to the Koh Chang the next day. That idea was also short lived when we arrived and realised that Trat is not really very nice. It was getting on in the afternoon and we were not sure how late the ferries ran so we hastily jumped in a Songthaew (a pick up truck with benches in the back – used as taxis in Thailand) and promptly waited at least 30 minutes for enough people to arrive for the driver to leave....Nothing is done at speed in Thailand.
We made it to the ferry and get ourselves on the island and close to where the hotel that we had booked for New Year was located. We were however there a night early. In an effort to save some coppers we decided to find some cheaper accommodation close by. We soon came across the Big Elk Steak House which had small villa type rooms available at the back which were just the job. After settling in we went down to the restaurant to check out the steak menu. It didn’t take long to establish that the Big Elk Steak House did not serve an ounce of steak. We settled for two green curries and a couple of Changs.
The next day we walked down to the Noren resort and met 'Mad Martin’ our Swedish host. We splashed out for New Year and the bungalow we had booked was really nice and we were very pleased. Martin was also very nice but a little bit crazy and did not stop for breath when he was talking to us. He did however make us feel very welcome... that was until he took our sofa away and swapped it for some garden furniture. (a long story....)
After settling in we were keen to see some more of the island so we decided to hire a scooter to zip around the one road on the island. Simon soon got to grips with the really steep hills and Ali soon got to grips with holding on tight. In the couple of days that we had before New Year we managed to get around the majority of the island and found some really relaxing beaches to while away our time. Most of the beaches had small cafes serving food most of which were great settings for lunch. One particular lunch turned out to be a bit more than we could manage. Simon decided that he fancied fried chicken with peppers and Ali had the red curry. We specifically asked for a ‘little spicy’ and looked forward to our lunch. When lunch arrived we were blown away (literally) as both dishes seem to have been made with most of the chilli’s on the island. We’re not sure if this was a tourist joke, but needless to say our appetite swiftly went away and we had to take a dip in the sea to cool off.
Luckily there was no shortage of coconuts on the island to quench our thirst. We were lucky enough to stop off at one place where the coconuts were just lying around. Simon quickly put on his Ray Mears hat and got to work on opening one up with a stone. It wasn’t long until we were lapping up the slightly warm milk of the almost fresh coconut mmmmm!
Our last stop on our scooter tour was the mangrove forests on the far side of the island. We arrived intending to walk along the board walk but struggled to find the entrance and ended up in a fishing village where we bumped into a lady called Sally. Sally was western but had decided to live in a shack on stilts in the village. Randomly, she invited us into her home to sow us around, she then told us that the best way to see the mangroves was by canoe. It didn’t take long for us to search out a canoe and get out on the water and into the spooky mangroves. We were given a small map of the mangroves and proceeded to get completely lost. Luckily the mangrove forest wasn’t too large and before long we had found the sea and were back on track hunting out the creepy purple eyed crabs and taking in the amazing intertwined roots of the forest.
Before we knew it the December 30th was upon us and we really were not sure what to do. We eventually decided to have a nice meal on the beach and then bring in the New Year with a bottle of champers on the beach. This was a good plan until we found out that the cheapest bottle of bubbly was over £90 so we opted for sparkling wine and made the most of it. The beach was alive around our restaurant as all of the resorts had cabaret shows, some of which really were quite bad. The best shows were the fire chains which were fantastic. At about 23.45 we found ourselves a quiet area of beach to sit on and celebrate in the New Year. This turned out to be a great location as we were able to see all the firework shows from one end of the beach to the other... it was amazing. A great way to see in 2010.
After one more day on the island relaxing by the pool, we were on the move again. Back to Bangkok for a couple of days before moving onto our next continent.
