Over a week in the busy Bangkok, it was finally time to head to a less populated location. Off to Koh Chang for a few days before going back home. The plan was simple. Unplug, explore, and relax. But, before we could do that, we traveled with a van from Bangkok for over five hours and then took a ferry across from the mainland right in time for the sunset. As soon as the sun hits the horizon it gets pitch black there which is what happened when we reached the island. The driver of our van was driving like a reckless maniac. The mountainous roads were almost not lit at all which at times felt as being on a blind rollercoaster ride, but we managed to get to our destination in one piece.
Yay! The resort had its private beach in the reach of a short boat ride or kayak ride down the river with almost no soul around. The timing was perfect for the chill, right before masses of tourists flooded in at the end of the week.
I can see where the tropical patterns are coming from.
Seaweed pretending to be an octopus?
Sometimes people draw inspiration from nature. Perhaps these palm trees were the inspiration for hand-held folding fans?
One of my hopes was to find an awesome bar. After a couple of complete failures, we found Monkeys bar & restaurant at the white sand beach. They played awesome music, had an amazing selection of cocktails, the best vibe, pool table, and Jenga, the coolest, quirky waitress Atti (I am not sure if I remember her name correctly, she was so cool tho) and last but not least the best freaking curry soup in the world! It was so delicious we went back to the place the next day just for that! In the end, the Monkeys, who we had already become friends with, gave us the goodbye shots and we left them a nice tip which felt great too! Too bad I have no photos from the place, I guess I was having a great time there, ha!
On the way to Klong Plu Waterfall
There are several waterfalls on Koh Chang thanks to its mountainous terrain. Klong Plu Waterfall is one of the biggest on the island and it is in the care of the National Park. Because of that, it is strictly forbidden to bring snacks or drinks other than maybe water in the territory to minimize the impact of tourism on the unique flora and fauna that can be found there. The waterfall is hiding in the rainforest, in a distance of a short hike through a rugged pathway along the river. The hike was rather easy despite the heat, perhaps, a little more difficult for those wearing just flip flops because of the tree roots and the sharp rocks.
Oh, noes! What happened here?
This lady was leaning over the edge to take a picture, lost balance and her phone slipped out of her hands into the water. At first, sure, the silly person for not being careful in places such as this one, but imagine going on a trip and losing all your photos, videos, the memories! You can replace the phone, but probably not the photography unless uploaded straight on to the cloud or have them backed somehow, somewhere. Poor thing. She seemed desperate to get her phone back. One guy with a snorkel mask even tried looking for it. No luck.
The nine-year-old baby was kept separate from other elephants, aww
There are elephants on the island! I was so excited to learn before visiting Koh Chang. I imagined a sanctuary somewhere, where the elephants roam around freely and hang on the beach as per advertisement images. The reality for the elephants not so far away from the waterfall was a lot more different. They were kept on short chains with their tamers sleeping in hammocks waiting for tourists to come along and ask for a ride. Some might argue that is not so much different than keeping horses and riding them, but these beautiful, intelligent beasts are no domestic animals. While they seem so powerful and strong, their health can be quite fragile because of the stress, captivity, and the way they are cared for.
It was quite terrible to imagine that most of their days they spend standing there, unable to move much, and when they do, they have to carry the box type of saddle with people in them. You can see the marks on their bodies from chains and the saddle, some of them seemed to have issues with their legs being swollen up from the chains. Quite unfortunate and sad treatment of the animals, one of the symbols of Thailand and Koh Chang. We declined the offer of riding them and fed them some bananas instead. They seemed very kind and gentle souls. Later the tamers brought them some palm tree leaves and they seemed to have an interesting technique of plucking them off the stem, first waving the leaves around a bit and then eating them.
Want to go somewhere on the island? Go on the main road, the one that’s wrapped around the entire island, and wait for Songthaew to pass by. It couldn’t be any easier than that. Songthaews are upgraded pickup trucks serving as cabs. See one, grab one with almost no waiting time all, dirt cheap as well.
Shops, pharmacies, bars, restaurants, and resorts crowded by the main road.
During the night the water goes far away offshore, and restaurants and bars set up their desks and sitting areas right in the white sand.
Time to leave, but not without one last adventure? Transportation is something to consider in advance when visiting the islands. They even have a website to take care of that if done in a good time, which was not our case as we got our booking last minute. As we began to head to the port, the driver asked tickets, tickets. What tickets? We paid for the ride. He did not speak English much. He began frantically looking through the papers repeating tickets, stressing out all of the passengers who were trying to understand what he meant by that. Then he pulled over at the side of the road and ran to some sort of shop, returned minutes later with what appeared to be ferry tickets. Began driving again only to start looking through his stuff again in a stressed manner now repeating phone, oh no, phone! He turned around and drove back to the store, but at that point, another guy on a scooter was driving after us with the phone in the hand to return it. After that our driver was pushing it to the metal through the mountainous roads, so this time the rollercoaster ride was not the pitch black blind kind, passing other cars, all to catch the boat that we missed in the end and had to wait for the next one. The rest of the trip was not so bad. Back to Bangkok, then going back home.
This concludes the Thailand adventures. I hope to visit again in the future! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading!
One of my hopes was to find an awesome bar. After a couple of complete failures, we found Monkeys bar & restaurant at the white sand beach. They played awesome music, had an amazing selection of cocktails, the best vibe, pool table, and Jenga, the coolest, quirky waitress Atti (I am not sure if I remember her name correctly, she was so cool tho) and last but not least the best freaking curry soup in the world! It was so delicious we went back to the place the next day just for that! In the end, the Monkeys, who we had already become friends with, gave us the goodbye shots and we left them a nice tip which felt great too! Too bad I have no photos from the place, I guess I was having a great time there, ha!
There are several waterfalls on Koh Chang thanks to its mountainous terrain. Klong Plu Waterfall is one of the biggest on the island and it is in the care of the National Park. Because of that, it is strictly forbidden to bring snacks or drinks other than maybe water in the territory to minimize the impact of tourism on the unique flora and fauna that can be found there. The waterfall is hiding in the rainforest, in a distance of a short hike through a rugged pathway along the river. The hike was rather easy despite the heat, perhaps, a little more difficult for those wearing just flip flops because of the tree roots and the sharp rocks.
This lady was leaning over the edge to take a picture, lost balance and her phone slipped out of her hands into the water. At first, sure, the silly person for not being careful in places such as this one, but imagine going on a trip and losing all your photos, videos, the memories! You can replace the phone, but probably not the photography unless uploaded straight on to the cloud or have them backed somehow, somewhere. Poor thing. She seemed desperate to get her phone back. One guy with a snorkel mask even tried looking for it. No luck.
There are elephants on the island! I was so excited to learn before visiting Koh Chang. I imagined a sanctuary somewhere, where the elephants roam around freely and hang on the beach as per advertisement images. The reality for the elephants not so far away from the waterfall was a lot more different. They were kept on short chains with their tamers sleeping in hammocks waiting for tourists to come along and ask for a ride. Some might argue that is not so much different than keeping horses and riding them, but these beautiful, intelligent beasts are no domestic animals. While they seem so powerful and strong, their health can be quite fragile because of the stress, captivity, and the way they are cared for.
It was quite terrible to imagine that most of their days they spend standing there, unable to move much, and when they do, they have to carry the box type of saddle with people in them. You can see the marks on their bodies from chains and the saddle, some of them seemed to have issues with their legs being swollen up from the chains. Quite unfortunate and sad treatment of the animals, one of the symbols of Thailand and Koh Chang. We declined the offer of riding them and fed them some bananas instead. They seemed very kind and gentle souls. Later the tamers brought them some palm tree leaves and they seemed to have an interesting technique of plucking them off the stem, first waving the leaves around a bit and then eating them.
Time to leave, but not without one last adventure? Transportation is something to consider in advance when visiting the islands. They even have a website to take care of that if done in a good time, which was not our case as we got our booking last minute. As we began to head to the port, the driver asked tickets, tickets. What tickets? We paid for the ride. He did not speak English much. He began frantically looking through the papers repeating tickets, stressing out all of the passengers who were trying to understand what he meant by that. Then he pulled over at the side of the road and ran to some sort of shop, returned minutes later with what appeared to be ferry tickets. Began driving again only to start looking through his stuff again in a stressed manner now repeating phone, oh no, phone! He turned around and drove back to the store, but at that point, another guy on a scooter was driving after us with the phone in the hand to return it. After that our driver was pushing it to the metal through the mountainous roads, so this time the rollercoaster ride was not the pitch black blind kind, passing other cars, all to catch the boat that we missed in the end and had to wait for the next one. The rest of the trip was not so bad. Back to Bangkok, then going back home.
This concludes the Thailand adventures. I hope to visit again in the future! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading!
Happy New Year! ^^
P.S. I miss the Thai food! So much! xD
Song of the day: Journey - Don’t Stop Believin’
Happy New Year to you !
Aww thank you @nikv! Happy New Year to you too! :)
Sounds like a decent adventure indeed. Beautiful shots all round. Shame about the elephants though. Happy new year dear
Hey I loved Koh Chang and Thailand two years ago. The word Chang might actually mean "elephant". They need to be protected from abuse though.
It's beautiful, thanks for sharing!
You're making me want to go back to Thailand! It's the perfect place to unwind I think; Close, cheap and nice people. Thanks for taunting me with your pictures. 😊
Noticed your song of the day - Journey. Good song Nd good band. I thought I was the only dude who listened to them still. Nice choice.
You are most welcome haha! No wonder why so many fall in love with the place, it has so much to offer, so much charm, takes a while to see it all.
Classic ^^ definitely not the the only dude.
Happy New Year again!
I like the culture Thailand offers and I find the people generally friendly and welcoming. I haven't been for a few years but will be heading back in the next couple of years I think.
Hey @m31. Did you get that white Christmas we spoke of?
Koh Chang is such a nice island. Have been there a few years ago. Good on you that you did not ride on the elephant. Shouldn’t be allowed. Have you been to Koh Mak as well?
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The colour of the water reminds me of a painting on @galenkp's wall by my dad.
Happy New Year! :*
It must be pretty amazing, love those tones!
Happy New Year to you too and the family! :*
I'm very glad to see that you started the New Year by posting about your trip to Koh Chang, Thailand. Very nice trip and it seems that you had great times during your stay there.
Very beautiful photos of the island! The beach is wonderful. The water is clear and clean. The sunset at the beach is magnificent. Great capture!
I like your imagination; i.e. "Seaweed pretending to be an octopus", "these palm trees were the inspiration for hand-held folding fans", etc. Yeah! I absolutely agree, "sometimes people draw inspiration from nature".
The waterfall is beautiful surrounding with nice nature! The rocks are wonderful. Sorry to know that the lady lost her phone there.
The elephant is one of my favorite animals. They are very cute and clever. I would love to see them live freely in the forest, and not in small spaces like these, too. I much regret to see the unfortunate and the treatment of the elephants at this place. You are very kind to them in feeding them some bananas instead of riding them.
Thanks so much for sharing your photos and your experience in Thailand with us. You are welcome to Thailand again at any times.
Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year! ;)
Hey @tangmo! I appreciate your awesome, thoughtful comments! Thank you for dedicating your time for that :)
It was so great, I could not wish for anything better. Can't believe I got to witness so many great things. I am pretty lucky.
The world is full of wonders. Question is are we willing to see them? You know, as children we go, and imagine things such as the forest tree line resembling castle towers and such. Some drop it growing up, some try to master it. It's our imagination that drives the innovation and the creativity. Fun to exercise it.
I was quite heartbroken to see them the way I saw them. Humans still have long way to go to learn about... pretty much everything. I mean. We are not exactly the kindest even to ourselves. But I guess we all should start somewhere, perhaps, with ourselves.
Happy and Prosperous New Year to you as well! :)
My pleasure!
I'm really happy to know how you feel about visiting Thailand. Many thanks for your nice words.
Well said! "it's our imagination that drives the innovation and the creativity". Fun to exercise it, for sure.
I totally agree we all should start with ourselves.....
Many thanks for your kind wishes. Have a wonderful day! ;))
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