Beached in Ko Chang

  Ko Chang National Park, Thailand
Sunday, November 19, 2006

I have a new friend....

Whuffff Kerrrsshhhhh..... Whufff Kerrrsshhhh.... The sound of peaceful surf on this coastal Thailand island is enough to wipe any worries from your mind. If standing in the sun in backwoods Cambodia watching your bus driver try to change a tire can feel like Hell, then perhaps we've found our Heaven to counterbalance.

We got to the island quite late last night, traveling with a British girl named Hannah. The first few places we went were all full, but we lucked into walking away from the lights up to a place on the side of the mountain. The tiny group of bungalows looked like a tribal village ready to welcome us. The proprietor, a pretty young Thai girl, met us and showed us the only remaining room, which we quickly gave up all hope of sharing once we'd peered inside. The place was just bed, mosquito net (cause malaria just isn't that fun), and bathroom, but really cutely done out of bamboo, driftwood, and thatched plants. We decided we'd flip for it, and Hannah lost. Cost for our pretty little bungalow with beach views? $9 a night.

Our cute bungalow

The next day we mostly spent lounging on the beach, eating in restaurants overlooking the beach, and getting in and out of the most perfectly clear and perfect temperature water I've ever seen. This is paradise. We've discussed the possibility of just forgetting about Northern Thailand and the mountains, and just staying here for 10 days. It's sounding pretty good to us right now.

Oh, and someone checked out today, so Hannah got her pretty little bungalow too, just a day later than we did. We looked around, but couldn't find anything that we liked nearly as much, so here we stay for the time being.

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Cierra's been riding a hog arouud town. Well, wait, that could be misinterpreted. She actually rented a motorbike yesterday around noon. Cierra's driving and I'm just a gangly, shiftless bit of cargo stuck to the back of the bike. We've been using it to explore a bit farther on this island paradise than our little feet will take us. We don't mind doing a bit of walking and the next town is only a couple of kilometers away... but the problem is, it's one km straight up a cliff, another one straight down. Not exactly a fun walk.

On the whole, we've been in chill-out mode here and I expect that will continue. We've been reading like crazy, lounging on the beach, dipping in and out of the water, and generally just taking a vacation from our vacation. That said, there really isn't that much to report, only...

I just look around here and think about the prices we've been paying, and wonder... why aren't more Americans here?!? In a contest between this place and Myrtle Beach, I think I know which one wins, hands down. One is a tropical paradise where the prices are about a tenth of what they should be. And the other is Myrtle Beach. Where the advantage is, I don't actually know. They do have a Hard Rock Cafe.

I guess it comes down to most people not having the time to come here, and the rest don't actually know it's here. Whatever the reason that more people haven't come, I hope that doesn't change, because it's perfect just the way it is. And now, back to my mango shake...

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:Gasp: as we surface from our long immersion in the serene waters of Ko Chang and coastal Thailand. What a great place to unplug and get away. Well, our vacation from our vacation is now over and there's really not a lot to tell from this week. I read just about a book a day out here, mostly classics, and Cierra and I discovered a new favorite book in Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White", which was written in 1860 but still crackles as a great melodramatic mystery with sharply drawn characters.

Sweaty Jungle Hikers

We took a long walk in the jungle one morning and did not get lost, but did get attacked by mosquitos the size of small helicopters. I also reached out to grab a tree to balance myself at one point before I'd noticed that it had borrowed an evolutionary trick from the cactus. Ouch! We ended up climbing halfway up a mountain and to the top of a beautiful waterfall, where a GIANT boulder impeded all progress farther up the valley.

About midway through the week, we found a hut that was right on the water and decided to change locations. Our new bungalow wasn't quite as cute as the first, but the sound of the surf underneath our bed in the morning made up for all that. Drinks weren't that cheap in the local bars, so we bought a cheapo bottle of Thai rum (about $6) and made our own rum and cokes while sitting on our little porch. A cocktail with a free view of the spectacular sunset. Pretty nice.

We made a friend in a nice Swedish girl, Natalie, who was recovering from a nasty motorcycle accident and was all bandaged up. Her cousin, Armien, was vacationing with her. He's Iranian, the first person from Iran I've ever met. Although he's studying mine engineering, he's only worked 3 months in the field and had to get away from it for a while. Perhaps not a good sign for the rest of his career....

Finally, the only thing to mar our great Ko Chang experience happened on the final morning. Cierra left to have our loony hotel staff refill our drinking water bottles, and came back in tears. She said there had been a confrontation. Amazed, I sat and listened to the story.

Cierra had asked them to refill the bottles, and they then quoted her a price that was higher than what was on their sign. When she asked them about it, they said "You no pay, you no water!!" Then they started dumping all the water out. She said "No, I want to pay, but your sign says..." The story heats up when Cierra gets frustrated and throws her 20 Baht note down on the counter. Well, I would recommend that you avoid doing that.

See, the Thai King is on the bill, and the Thai people love their King, which is really nice because he makes Prince Charles look like a Gap model in all the pictures I've seen. So apparently, if you do something to the bill, it's like you're doing it to the King. The lady went beserk, threw one of the bottles at Cierra, and the husband grabbed her by the arm as she tried to flee with the other bottle. She had to call for help from a passing stranger, and only with that person's help could she pay for the one bottle and escape. Yes, I feel bad that I wasn't there to defend her. I was packing our bags, foolishly thinking that Cierra could get water bottles filled without an international incident.

After hearing all of this, I went to return our key to the lady. Unfortunately I had already paid the bill, but I explained to them in no uncertain terms what I thought about their little tradition of assaulting guests. The husband seemed a bit sheepish by this time, but the wife continued brazenly on, telling me I'd better be "careful" in my visit to Thailand and that anybody would want to beat me up after I'd roughed up a 20 Baht note.

Just a suggestion... if you're going to get excited whenever something happens to a picture, than let's not put it on the money, people. I drop bills all the time when I'm fumbling for change, I don't want to have to defend myself from incencsed passerby at the same time. Also, if you're using John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers" as training videos for your hotel staff, maybe you should get out of the hospitality business...

Seriously though, these were the only Thai people that ever showed a hint of anger towards us, and they had a bad attitude during our entire stay. So...I'm not going to let one crazy lady affect the great time we've had here. But if you do come to Ko Chang, Tarn Silah Huts might not be your first choice for accomodation...

Freaky Beautiful Sunset