(Lonely Beach @ Koh Chang)
After almost a solid two weeks of riding, my body was in need of a rest. Going to the beach was always a non-negotiable goal from day one of booking this trip. Originally I thought I could visit one of the southern islands (like Koh Phi Phi or Raleigh Beach) but time, nor my budget, would afford such luxury. Instead I decided to take my friend Kanar’s advice and visit the island of Koh Chang which is located about 4 hours south of Bangkok in the Bay of Thailand, near the Cambodian border.
I set out early Sunday morning with my French cousins, Mathieu and Estelle (Unfortunately Tibo and Ben couldn’t join me because they were flying out early Monday morning). We were to take the bus to a town called Trat and then ferry over to the island. We decided to first check for a bus at the airport. However we quickly became aware of the textbook play it safe tourist trap and overpriced travel fares. Fuck that.
So we then boarded the city train and headed straight into Bangkok to the main bus terminal. Bangkok is a ginormous city and can be especially intimidating when you factor in the language barrier. But BKK is after all an internationally modern city with a state of the art sky train system that is very easy to navigate. Sure enough we made within 20 minutes of leaving the airport and were able to hop on a bus to Trat as soon as we got there for only 241 Baht, compared to 400 Baht tourist price they wanted at the airport.
(ferry to Koh Chang)
From there it was easy sailing all the way to Koh Chang. We checked in to a cool little tiki hut for only 380 Baht (12$/night) a night at a backpacker spot called Siam Hut, located on Lonely Beach. After that we rented some motorbikes to explore the island at our own leisure for only 200 Baht (6$/day). That night we attended a beach party with good vibes all around and people from all over the world.
The next morning we woke up at a decent hour considering a late/early morning the night before. We first explored where we were on Lonely Beach, and found a cool cliff jumping spot that overlooked the ocean; it was bliss. From there we just spent the day cruising around the island and stopping at various beaches. We stumbled upon a quaint little reggae bar on the southern tip of the island, had a beer, and just took it all in. The scenery, the music, the beer; it was all just too perfect.
(chillin' @ ZION)
Perhaps the only hiccup of the day came when I crashed my motorbike. Nothing serious luckily, but the scooter was damaged enough that I had to pay 2,000 Baht which was a small price to pay for the perfect day I thought.
To finish it all off, the sun disappeared into the ocean as a giant pink and orange fireball. The picturesque sunset was truly the icing on the cake for an amazing day in Koh Chang, and a fitting end to a great two weeks in Thailand…
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