Koh Chang - the Island Life

*Warning: This post is too long and the pictures are formatting weird (if only I knew a programmer to help me). I'm still figuring out this blogging thing, I promise I'll get better. 

January 6, The first of three waterfalls, Khlong Phlu. that we visited with our motorbike on Koh Chang

The only other part of the trip that we had planned before leaving the states was seven days on the island of Koh Chang. Johnny had found this island through another travel blog, Koh Chang: The Last Cheap Thai Island, and thought it sounded like a good place for us to relax into the trip. Although he had found us our next destination, the question remained, how do we would actually get out there? Here we hit our first of what I'm sure will be many travel decisions.

We basically had three options to get to the island: big bus, mini-bus, or private car. Big bus: pro it’s the cheapest, con there are 3-4 connections and it takes a couple hours longer. Mini bus: pro it’s faster than the big bus and they pick you up from the hotel, con it can be overcrowded and uncomfortable. Private car: pro fastest, most comfortable (and if you forget your cell phone in the hotel, they will stop so Johnny can sprint a mile in rush hour traffic to retrieve it), con quite a bit more money. It’s hard to know budgeting this early in the trip, but in the end, we landed on the private car with a 7am pick-up to try to beat some of the Bangkok traffic getting out of the city. Our driver was a nice older man (at least I assume he was nice, he spoke no English, so who knows). He had never been to Koh Chang before either because he was out taking pictures on the ferry alongside us. He also didn’t seem to know where he was going and had to ask someone for directions, even though there is literally one road on the island and we had google maps. The private car was nice, but for $115, was it worth it? Hard to say, but we didn’t have to make any transfers or haggle for prices along the way. Maybe as we’re deeper into the trip we’ll feel differently about spending that much money, but at the time it felt worth it..

We arrived at our hostel, Beach Jungle, in the neighborhood of Lonely Beach around 1:00 or so, got ourselves checked in and then went on the search for snacks and beaches. I was recommended a yellow curry that I have since been back for multiple times, it was that good. That first evening was just spent chilling at a beach bar, lounging on cushions and looking at the water while I terrorized the local cats. (I have pet so many stray cats here, I'm basically in heaven)

Day 2 was a beach day and a nap so we could try out the night scene here, which doesn’t get going until 1am. Turns out the night scene has been quieter since covid, but we still had fun. Day 3 we rented a motorbike with questionable helmets and explored South of our hotel. There we discovered the Bang Boa neighborhood, which I really liked, and would end up returning to a later day. 

Day 4 was an all-day motorbike day chasing waterfalls and going all the way around to the other side of the island. This day was a highlight of our trip thus far for me. Most of the built-up towns are on the West side of the island, and it’s mostly tourists (although very few Americans). The East side of the island was much quieter, less developed and a nice change of pace. We also lucked out and didn’t hit crowds at the three waterfalls we visited. We got to the closest and most accessible waterfall, Khlong Phlu, and we were early enough that I was able to have the entire swimming hole to myself, although it was starting to get busy by the time we left. The second waterfall, Khlong Nonsi, was more off the beaten path and was more of a local water source than a tourist spot, but still beautiful despite the hodgepodge of PVC pipes. Note: if you visit Khlong Nonsi, make sure you hike all the way to the top. It looks like you're "there" a few times, but as long as there is a trail, keep going to find the big boy at the top. The third waterfall, Than Mayom, was way on the other side of the island and although there were a few other people there already, it was still a relaxed swim in the pool. 

After stopping for lunch in a fishing village, we made it to Long Beach, almost at the very end of the island, and stopped in at the bar. The only non-beer option they had was to buy a small bottle of the local rum, Sang Som, so I had a beach drink before it was time for the hour+ motorbike ride home before it got dark. There are some very steep, windy mountain roads so we wanted to get past the worst of them before we lost sunlight. The day ended with hanging out at the laundromat, working on the bottle of Sang Som and visiting with the local girls at the “sexy bar” across the street, who let me use their wifi and toilet. 

Day 5 we still had the motorbike until noon so we headed up to a sweet vista café where I was working on this very post. At one point I looked up and in place of Johnny was a monkey, which lead to some dramatic screaming and swinging of laptops in self-defense. After the monkey run-in, we headed back to Bang Boa pier for another look around before it was time to return the motorbike. It’s unseasonably cold here right now and we were getting a bit of rain so we spent the afternoon hanging out at our hostel.

Day 6 was a pretty basic beach day, the thing of note was I finally got one of those famous Thai massages that I've heard about from so many friends that have traveled here. On our final day, I went diving with Kho Chang Divers to the wreck HTMS Chang and some coral reefs. It was honestly some of the healthiest reefs that I've seen in over a decade, which made my heart happy. The highlight of the wreck was the schools upon schools of fish to gawk at. 

And just like that, our time on Koh Chang was done. Without too much research or thought, and on a whim of a mention from the hotel owner, we decided on our next stop...Siem Reap in Cambodia.