Thailand: Ko Chang

  Ko Chang, Thailand
Saturday, April 7, 2007

Howdy everyone.

Well after Cambodia meself and Mini were left on our own as Di headed off to Japan for 2 weeks to visit a buddy of hers. When we got to SihanoukVille, the only beach resort in Cambodia(thats the dot in the south of Cambodia) we met up with Ken and Rachel, 2 Canadians we had previously met in China Beach in Vietnam.

02. Sun setting as we boat towards Ko Chang

Our plan was to go to Laos from Cambodia but Ken and Rachel where going to Ko Chang in Thailand, so we decided to follow them instead. Thats the beauty of not having a proper plan.

So on the morning of our departure we were woken to the sweet sounds of Ken banging down our door telling us we had slept in and to get the hell up cause he is leaving one way or the other. I should point out we had a few drinks the night before and a serious lack of sleep. So after he pulled me out of bed by the leg and got us to the taxi we eventually got our mini bus. It was pretty sweet, just the four of us and an air conditioned mini bus to ourselves, with a days traveling ahead of us we caught up on our sleep. Of course this didn't last long and about an hour into our trip we were woken again and told to transfer to another mini bus. This one however was full and we had to squeeze into the back seat.

Now with a hangover, no room to move, Mini on one side sleeping on my shoulder with a sweaty head on him and Ken on the other slapping his knee and singing ( he can't sing worth shite, sorry Ken buts its true), I was on the verge of cracking up, their just lucky I wasn't in reach of any sharp objects).

07. Am, our local friendly barman/maid

Well eventually we got to Ko Chang to everyones relief. The island itself is really beautiful. It is basically looks like one big mountain covered with twisty roads (bloody dangerous when wet) and surrounded by forests and beaches. We spent two weeks here and loved every minute of it.

Our two weeks were comprised of:
-Waking up in our beach huts to the sound of the ocean every morning
-Finding a local bar run by Mama and Papa(most important)
-Finding out the barmaid used to be a barman(followed by the boys claiming to have known all the time)
-Joining in on the Water Festival (4 days of throwing water at everything that moved)
-Renting scooters and exploring the island
-Mini crashing off the scooter while doing 2mph(bloody embarrassing)
-Ken doing an impression of superman off his scooter
-Having Am (the barmaid) giving us a guided tour of the pubs and clubs most nights
-Discovering buckets(which can cause memory loss)
-Getting bamboo tattoos (don't worry Ma I was sober at the time and its on my ankle so can be covered easily)
-Watching Thai boxing from the comfort of Mamas bar(that was good fun)
-Spending afternoons just standing in the sea of warm water watching the world go by
-Then getting massages to finish it all off.
-Generally having fun, meeting a bunch of new people and working on the tan

41. The water fights. Nobody escapes

So Ko Chang is one of the biggest islands in Thailand. Up to about 10-15 years ago it didn't have any electricity. But since it has a bunch of hotels, beach huts, pubs and clubs have sprung up and the tourist industry is booming. At this time of the year we were arriving at low season so it wasn't as busy as it could be. Its also entering rainy season so from now on in SE Asia I could expect some bloody wet days.

On our first night we were introduced to Am the lady-boy working at Mamas pub. Towards the end of the night she sat down beside us and chatted to us about why she became a lady-boy.

53. A view from up in the hills

It was a real interesting conversation as I had heard of lady-boys but never understood why there were so many in Thailand. It turns out in her case her mother decided that she was going to be a lady boy when she was younger. So she worked and saved money and eventually had it a number of years ago. She had everything chopped off and works to both get money for the drugs needed to keep her feminine and also to support her family at home. Like many of the lady-boys (according to her) she has two boyfriends, a Thai boyfriend and a western boyfriend who also sends her money. Anyway for our 2 weeks there Am became our tour guide at night and brought us to all the good spots.

The pub itself is run by Mama and Papa (can't think of their real names). Mama is a very savvy business woman who is also pretty damn good at Muay Thai so not to be messed with.

58. The gang with Mama, Papa and Am

Papa is her younger French husband, a real nice couple and while we were there we were well looked after with free drinks every so often. Papa even took the guys out on a fishing trip on his buddies boat for a 24hr trip.

I would love to have taken more pics of the island itself but during the Water Festival you can't bring anything with you that you don't want to get wet so instead you got mostly pics of our nights out.

69. The gang in the back of the taxi

Enjoy!!!!!!