Chilling out in Koh Mak

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  Koh Maak, Trat, Thailand
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Ahh......this is the life. We have paused for a moment or two to think about our working friends and family.... but well, we moved on!



From Koh Chang we caught a public taxi (where we ride in the open air in the back of a pick-up truck with seats down the side and our bags tossed on the roof). The taxi dropped us at Ban Pao (sp?) a fishing village at the bottom of Koh Chang, which is also where we catch the boat.  This was a fascinating little town.  The wharf/pier is about 50m + long, and all along it are markets, restaurants and shops lining both sides.  All along were seafood restaurants barbequeing king prawns and squid.   The wharf itself where we could walk was very narrow (maybe 1.5m wide) - and you had streams of people and little motorbikes going along.  It was partially covered over with shade cloths which helped keep the sun out - but it kept the heat in!  It was stifling!



We ended up on quite a nice speedboat for the ride to Koh Mak.  This took about an hour and we had quite a nice scenic tour of some of the 50 islands in the area.  The water was turquoise, the sky blue and the cool breeze in our hair.  It was very idyllic!!



And then the boat pulled up to a sandy beach and we were told this was our stop.  Great!!  I had shoes on so had to quickly take them off and jump into the water to carry our packs to shore.  At this point Debbie and I realised just how over-packed we were are!!  Good grief - did we REALLY need all these clothes, and other bits and pieces 'just in case'?!  We both have some regrets as far as this goes already!!



So... we wade to shore, and eye up the wharf 70m away.  We still have no idea why we didn't get dropped off there!  On the beach is a ope air bar/restaurant and several very rustic bungalows.  We ended up choosing one of the better (ie more expensive ones) just for the air-con.  We are still struggling to get used to this darn heat!



The bungalows are basic, but fine. What is interesting is that the bathroom is a black-stained concrete - the floor, the walls, the shower, the vanity.  That, along with the 20w light bulbs means it is near impossible to see anything in there. Maybe it's for the best!!  We have now learned to do the 'water test tube' test where we fill a glass of water before we have a shower - the water on Koh Chang was often orange and it was here too on our first day.  I put this down to the iron in the soil as the soil is very orange-coloured as well.  The problem is worst after it rains.



So our days have been spent swimming in the little kids para pool (!), snorkeling (not so good here), kayaking (hopeless as we managed to go in circles in our 2-person kayak), drinking fruit shakes, walking along the beach.  It's a tough life!!!  But we know this is our easing in period as we acclimatise to this extremely hot and humid weather before we hit Cambodia!  It does get nice in the afternoons around 4pm where it suddenly cools off to very pleasant temperatures.



Tomorrow we head back to Trat where Debbie has organised a small guest house.  I don't believe there will be much for us to see or do there, but it's really just to have us near the airport for the flight to Bkk and Cambodia on Saturday.  We will end up with 7-8 hours to kill in Bkk so will try to get into a shopping centre where I will search again for a battery charger for my camera.



NOTE:  Please excuse typing errors, etc.  I am sitting in the dark (or near dark as they only use 20 watt bulbs here), in a mozzie-infested computer room (and I use that term very loosely!!) with the ancient keyboard balanced on my lap.   Typos are the least of my worries!   Also apologies for no photos - but I can't seem to find a computer that has a USB port to plug the cameras into.  Plus the internet connection is like a step back into the 80's when we used 14k modems!





Have also just read the NZ headlines... I see there have been heavy rains in the Bay of Plenty area.  What a shame ;-)

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