Going where I’ve never been

I’ve discovered the secret to staying sane while living in Bangkok, and it’s called Ko Si Chang. Ko Si Chang is an island in the gulf that takes only 2 hours to reach by bus from Bangkok; by car it takes nearly half that time. I heard about it through a friend who was taken there by some of his Thai friends last month, and it sounded too good to be true – a quiet island in a weekend-trippable location?!?

In any case, the time had come for some REAL time away from the city – my recent excursions have been 80% travel and haven’t offered any real respite. A few other friends were planning to go as well, so the timing was great! We took it easy Friday night and headed out after my run on Saturday morning.

It was nearly painless to get there – we took a taxi to a bus station where we got onto an 8 a.m. bus that was headed straight for the pier in Siraicha. There was just a small hiccup in the form of the bus breaking down halfway there…luckily there was soon a second bus pulling up behind us, ready to take us the rest of the way. We took a 40 minute ferry ride to the island, memories of Bangkok fading with every minute that passed…

The island was beautiful and I found it hard to believe that it was so close! It’s largely a vacation spot for Bangkokians – very few foreigners or even Thais from other areas. This means that it is super quiet and has less traffic than any place else I’ve been in Thailand – in fact, we saw hardly any cars whatsoever, just motorbikes and bicycles.

We got a ride to the place where my friends were at, thinking that we’d put our bags down and scope out other options. As soon as we walked up and saw them eating lunch at a table overlooking a gorgeous rocky coastline and a wide selection of empty bungalows with views of the same, we decided to stay put. The son of the family showed me a bungalow with a balcony and an amazing view of the sea – we moved in, paid for a motorbike rental and then all six of us took off to go swimming.

My friends had found a quiet, rocky little swimming area off of a dirt path – I couldn’t believe how clear the water was! There was no one around and we enjoyed it for a bit before moving on to a sandy beach.  We all had a few beers, hung out, then left when some storm clouds moved in, stopping along the way to buy dinner and bottles of whiskey.

The evening was wonderful; the storms never materialized but we had an incredible ocean breeze as we all enjoyed drinks and conversation on the balcony. I decided that I would definitely be calling in sick on Monday! One night couldn’t possibly be enough…

Once I made that decision, karma struck – I woke up Sunday morning with a high fever and heavy cough. It took me all morning to get out of bed, but eventually I made it up and we joined everyone for breakfast on the other side of island. I never hit a point of feeling great that day, but I sucked it up and enjoyed myself anyways. The others were going back to Bangkok that afternoon, so Gabe and I struck out alone. We drove our motorbike to the ancient palace, beautiful grounds containing tons of old royal ruins. Gabe had heard mention of a ‘secret’ beach that could be reached from this area and he was determined to find it!

It actually didn’t take that long and thanks to his hand-drawn map and superb navigation skills (I wasn’t much help considering the fever and sweltering day) we headed down an overgrown path that eventually spilled out onto a completely secluded little beach! It wasn’t exactly pristine – the proximity to Bangkok results in a significant amount of garbage washup – but the water was beautiful and there was no one else in sight. We spent several hours there and I couldn’t get over the seclusion of it all!

Eventually hunger and thirst got the best of us, so we hiked our way out. We made a detour along the way, as we had also read of a huge cave that could be reached from somewhere along this little-used path. We were rewarded twice; first with a gorgeous rocky overlook high above “our” beach and then with the actual cave entrance, which was quite big at the opening. Supposedly this cave extends all the way to the opposite side of the island, but it quickly narrowed off and we didn’t go too far.

It had been a great day with some neat discoveries, and I was feeling much better by that point. We showered then went to a cape on the island, reputedly a great sunset spot. It was another short hike out over a surprisingly overgrown path; there were a few fisherman around, but no one else. We settled on the rocks at the very end, with waves crashing below, and enjoyed a brilliant sunset and complete solitude.

Once darkness set, we decided to try the little restaurant at the top of the cape. We expected it to be a bit pricey, but we were pleasantly surprised! We had a table set out over the water, again completely to ourselves, and ordered incredibly fresh seafood from the incredibly inexpensive menu. On the way home, our motorbike ran out of gas right in front of a minimart, stocked with bottles of petrol. It was, without a doubt, a near-perfect day.

I woke early on Monday to take care of a few chores (ie calling in sick), then decided to spend the beautiful morning playing with my camera. Eventually my batteries died and Gabe was out on our balcony, so I climbed back up the steep staircase and we started our day. After breakfast we packed our things and made sure that the bungalow owner didn’t mind us staying until late afternoon (of course she didn’t – she also didn’t care if we turned in our motorbike at 3 instead of at the noon ‘deadline’).

We then drove to the main beach to rent a sea kayak. For $12 we got a kayak, two snorkel/masks and three hours of play time. It was my first time paddling anything, and although Gabe was very encouraging (and I’m very sore), I’m sure that he did most of the useful work! It took about an hour to get to Bat Island, and it was a great hour! The coastline was rugged, the sky was bright blue and the water was wonderful. Bat Island has a few bungalows, but there was no one there; we pulled our boat in and spent the next hour exploring the water off of the beach.

It was crystal clear and lots of neat stuff to see – innumerable fish, sea urchins, crabs, coral, neat shells and other crazy sea life. We headed back around noon and had a much easier return trip, as we were no longer fighting against the waves. There was a storm brewing, however, and I prayed we’d beat it in – I’m sure they were unfounded fears, but I couldn’t erase mental pictures of our kayak getting pushed into the rocky sea cliffs! Luckily the rain gods smiled on us once again and we made it back smoothly. We stopped for more seafood then ran out of gas yet again (not in front of a minimart this time). Once that problem had been solved (thanks, Gabe!), we showered, dropped our bike at the pier and took a ferry back to the mainland, where we reluctantly boarded a Bangkok-bound bus.

It was so refreshing to find a place where one can actually be alone (such a rarity in this part of the world!) and to discover that there really are secret beaches and secret caves and secluded islands, all within reach. We are back in Bangkok now, but have less than four weeks to go – I can’t wait for all of the secrets yet to be discovered!

 note: I recovered from my brief illness, but passed it along to Gabe, who was hit twice as hard. Luckily it is possible to find Campbell’s soup in Bangkok and luckily I’m a good enough girlfriend to make the journey and find it 😉 He’s doing quite well now!

After an entire two days back in Bangkok, Gabe and I were about ready for another trip. Gabe had been kind enough to go buy the bus tickets on Tuesday while I was at work, and seemed a bit unsure about things when I talked to him that night. There are many different bus operators, so he did a bit of asking around, trying to get a midnight-ish bus to Trat, where we would catch a ferry to the island of Koh Chang.

We needed four tickets, and the only four seats available were in the very back row of a bus, which is unacceptable for an overnight trip since the seats cannot recline. As he started to walk away, the woman suddenly found a brand new bus, leaving two minutes after the first bus, that had every single seat free. He did his best to ensure that it was a real bus, really going to Trat. She insisted that it was, so he bought our tickets and crossed his fingers!

Considering the luck that we’d had with the train just days before, we did more finger crossing as we began our journey to Koh Chang. What a journey it was! It began with a taxi from our apartment to the subway station. We then took the subway to the skytrain, which we then rode to the Ekamai bus station. Luckily it was a real bus (although the 11:32 departure time ended up being 12:17) and the four of us were soon sitting in the front row, armed with ipods and hoping for a bit of sleep.

There was no Thai pop music this time around and I was actually able to get a bit of shut-eye. We were expecting a 5-6 hour trip, but at some point around 4:15 the ‘bus hostess’ turned on all of the lights and walked around, shaking us awake and asking ‘Koh Chang?’ We nodded, half asleep, and she indicated that it was time to get off. It seemed way too early and we definitely weren’t at a bus station, but we followed the hoards of white people who were also filing off and into the rain.

It took some time to really wake up and figure out what was going on (luckily Chris and I were able to…neither of the guys ever really opened their eyes during all of this), and it turned out that we were at the ‘bus stop’ for the tour operator, where they proceeded to sell us tickets for their taxis to get to the ferry. My first instinct was ‘scam!’ but it really wasn’t, the price was about right. So I managed to buy four taxi tickets and four ferry tickets from a guy at a little table in the corner, then I squeezed myself into a spot on the ground among all of the other backpackers and their backpacks. It had been pouring down rain since we’d left Bangkok, and when coupled with the 3 hours of bumpy bus sleep, I wasn’t feeling too optimistic about things.

We were soon loaded into a songtaew and taken for a long, chaotic ride to the piers. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped, the sun was starting to come up and there was a stand with real coffee for me and a pineapple shake for Gabe! Things were looking up…we soon boarded the ferry and were pulling into Koh Chang by 7 a.m. Once we’d arrived at the dock, there was yet another songtaew ride (are you keeping count of how many legs this trip had?? We’re at seven!) up and down roads that made Khao Yai look like a beginner’s course.

We got off at Lonely Beach and set out to find a place to stay. We looked at a few places, passed on the 80 baht beach huts with stray cats living on the mattresses and finally stumbled onto some great little concrete bungalows. We still don’t know the name of the place, as it consisted of about five little houses in between two much larger, more established places, but the lady who owned them caught us as we wandered by and got our attention (partially due to the bath towel that she was wearing). Her husband showed us the rooms while carrying their one-year old on his hip and we were sold! For 250 baht ($8) per night we had a clean water-front bungalow with tile floors, hot water, a hammock on the porch and the sound of the ocean (which was located a mere 10 feet from our porch!).

The four of us went next door (literally five steps from our door) to this beautiful restaurant that was really nothing more than a polished teak deck with low tables, cushions on the floor, hammocks along the perimeter and a massive menu of Thai food, at Thai prices. Although it was 9 a.m. it felt as though it was lunch time, so we enjoyed a lazy meal of Tom Yum, Pad Thai and fresh fruit shakes while the waves lapped at the deck a couple of feet away. After that, it was nap time – the cool, overcast weather was perfect and we slept for several hours. Our room had great wood-framed windows that opened all the way up, letting in an amazing ocean breeze and of course that wonderful sound.

The laziness (and I mean this in the best way) lasted the rest of the day; we walked around a bit but soon found another restaurant where a friendly old man served us incredibly fresh som tum and coconut soup, along with complimentary watermelon. After that, it was back to the restaurant next door, where we spent hours drinking a few beers, writing in our journals and hearing nothing but the water. It was a blissful first day!

Gabe and I tried out a place called The Treehouse for breakfast the next morning. It’s one of those places that gets raved about in the Lonely Planet guidebooks and thus has become backpacker central. We had not been impressed with their huts (a tent would have been a greater luxury) and I’ll admit that I was a little wary of it – I like authenticity! We ended up being wonderfully surprised, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of rice milk and a banana pancake while, once again, sitting on a deck with the ocean beneath us.

We rented a motorbike that day and had a great time lazing around on White Sands Beach (the more upscale area of Koh Chang), exploring the undeveloped eastern side of the island and unsuccessfully searching for the Nonsi waterfall (it did give us another chance to push through thick brush for a couple of hours though). That evening we ended up back at The Treehouse with Chris and Joe where there was more amazing food (we were determined to get through that menu), fruity drinks, a gorgeous sunset and hours of lazing in hammocks until we finally managed to drag ourselves to bed. Day number two = success!

By day three I was pretty sure that there was no reason to ever leave the place! I went for a short run (felt more like mountain climbing) and then, surprise surprise, it was time to go eat and lay in hammocks again. We spent some quality time on our beach with the other two and then, as soon as we felt as though an acceptable amount of time had passed, we headed right back to The Treehouse to work more on menu-conquering! Literally, every meal felt like Christmas morning and it never cost more than three or four dollars for the two of us.

That night The Treehouse was hosting a party where they would be serving a special barbeque menu. We all tried to make space in our stomachs before the food ran out…I’m not sure that it was a good idea, but I made space! It was the epitome of vacation time…a beautiful, lazy island, swinging hammocks, reggae music, fresh fruit shakes of every imaginable sort and more food than anyone could ever hope to eat (though we certainly tried!). Bangkok was a distant memory and we all tried not to remember it…

Sunday was our final day and it dawned gray and rainy. It was the sort of rain that wasn’t going to stop, so after sleeping in late (wondering how on earth I would live without the sound of the ocean) we packed our stuff and headed back to our second home for, yes, another meal. We hung around there, eating and reading and writing until about 2:00. At two the four of us caught a songtaew back to the ferry and departed Koh Chang. The storms were rolling in and it seemed to be a good day to leave (assuming that we had to leave). The ferry was slow and we caught the tour operator’s songtaew back in Trat, wondering how on earth we’d make it to the ‘station’ by 4:00, which was the last bus of the day.

The drivers were intent on getting us there and, for the sake of my parents, I won’t describe the trip in too much detail! The important part is that we made it in one piece (somehow!), caught the bus (which had waited a good 15 minutes for us) and rolled back into Bangkok around 9 p.m.

When it was all said and done, the two of us spent a total of $140. This includes 12 modes of transportation, three nights in an ocean-front bungalow, a motorbike rental, gasoline, 20-30 meals (each one worth at least $15 by U.S. standards), far too many fruit shakes to count, a sufficient amount of alcohol, an item or two of clothing, internet usage (we had to see whose blog entry got more comments…thanks, everyone) and a few other odds and ends.

Have I mentioned that I love Thailand?