Every woman that greets you on the island of Koh Chang puts her hands in a prayer position, bows, and says "sa-wat-dee-ka". "Sa-wat-dee" means hello and by adding the "ka" on the end it shows a sign of respect. Phonetically, the emphasis is on the "ka" and it is usually drawn out like "kaaaaaa". Traveling in Thailand is easy compared to many of the countries that we have been to. The people are welcoming, the food is great, the country is clean and efficient, and oh do they have beautiful islands and beaches.
Back in November, as we were watching CNN in Cairo, Egypt, we saw the attacks on Mumbai, India and demonstrations in Bangkok, Thailand that shut down the airport. The reports made us question whether or not we should go to either of these countries. After having been to both, it would have been a big mistake to skip either India or Thailand.
Actually, I can see why everyone was hanging out at the new Bangkok International Airport. The place is incredible. Bangkok Airways even lets you into their fancy lounge if you are not a member of the club. Noah and I spent the next hour gorging ourselves on popcorn, lemon cakes, and sweetened lemon iced tea. Jennifer was much more civilized, limiting herself to a cup of tea and one lemon cake. Trying some local Thai food, I didn't find out until later that I was supposed to remove the grape leaf before I ate whatever was inside the leaf.
We needed to take a break from our travels (Noah called it a vacation from our vacation), so we decided to hang out on an island in Thailand. The question was, which one since there are hundreds of them. We decided on Koh Chang in southeastern Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. Most of the island is jungle and mountains. There is essentially a two block area on parts of the west side of the island where there are towns, hotels, and villages. There are no fancy high rise hotels, but there are five 7-11's. Many of the lodging options are simple huts right on the beach. Since the downturn in the world economy has adversely affected Thailand tourism, we were able to negotiate a good rate at a nice place on the beach.
This is the point where I am supposed to tell you about all the exotic jungle hikes, elephant safaris, and 4x4 and swimming with the sharks adventures. All of these options were available, but we didn't do any of them. We used much of our time on the island to "refuel". For the most part, we hung out on the beach and ate great cheap food. We got our budget back on track and put some color on our white pasty skin. We bought a beach paddle ball set that occupied many hours of our time. It only took Noah and I five days to get to the point where we could hit that little pink ball back and forth 57 times in a row without it touching the water. This was made possible on hit number 32 when I made the best diving backhand save in Beach Paddle Ball history.
The Thais are great cooks and they give great massages. A one hour Thai massage on the beach, under a palm tree, listening to the waves costs 300 Baht (approximately $8.50). Since I am as flexible as a Dorito chip, the creative stretching that takes place in a Thai massage had me alternating between wincing in pain and feeling great. It was a good hurt though. The look on Jennifer's face indicated she enjoyed the massage on the beach concept.
We did go on an all day snorkeling tour of 4 uninhabited islands near Koh Chang. The snorkeling was good and it felt great to be on a boat. A few of the days we rented mopeds to see the island. The entertainment value at $6 a day was exceptional. We drove the mopeds through the winding hills overlooking the ocean, stopping at beaches and places to eat. We drove to the remote areas of the island where the locals live in fishing villages. At the end of a very bumpy, hilly, winding road, we found The Tree House "Resort". There are hippies there from the 60's that never left. People just sit and stare at the ocean and periodically order food and drink. The prices are the same as they were in the 60's, so these people don't realize that their Visas expired 40 years ago. We overheard a woman checking in and the person behind the desk asked her how many months or years she would be staying.We really didn't want to leave Koh Chang, but it was time to go. Back to temples, wonders of the world, museums and more educational opportunities for the three of us. Temples and museums are better to visit than islands and scooters . . . aren't they?
To view our Koh Chang, Thailand slide show, click on the following link ==> Koh Chang, Thailand Slide Show
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