Thailand: Playing the Tourist on Koh Chang

มีความสุขปีใหม่! 
(Happy New Year!)

Scenic viewpoint on the island of Koh Chang, Thailand

Hello and Happy New Year dearest friends and family members,

Joe and I had a wonderful week in southern Thailand and have been excited to share a little more about our time spent on an island called Koh Chang ("Koh" means island and "Chang" means elephant).  Thailand has hundreds of islands and Koh Chang is the second largest (155 square km) after the well known Phuket.  It is a gorgeous tropical island with lots of lush greenery and classic white sand beaches with warm, clear water for swimming and snorkeling.

Warapura's Buffet Breakfast (round 1)

We spent Christmas at a very peaceful yet high-spirited resort called "Warapura" with an amazing breakfast buffet (omlets, french toast, fruits, bacon + thai food too!), a brightly lit and colorful Christmas tree, swimming pool and even a Thai Santa Claus that made his (well, her) appearance Christmas eve.  Post-Christmas we downgraded ourselves for budgetary reasons and cozied up in a little seaside bungalow for the rest of the week for a mere $12/night at "Paradise Cottage" (also a nice place, just minus the hot showers, soft bed, breakfast buffet, and friendly personality, but with the addition of cockroaches and a rat friend).  

Carol getting into the Christmas spirit

We thought we'd only stay in Koh Chang for a few days but quickly got used to a routine of sleeping in, eating, jogging, exploring, eating more, swimming in the sea, eating, and dozing off to the sound of hip hop music and late night European partiers lulling us to sleep and found ourselves staying put for a full week.  In that short time we had no trouble gaining back the weight we left back on the Annapurna circuit in Nepal ;)

I should mention a little bit about Christmas eve at Koh Chang since it was most unique.  We had Thai food for Christmas eve dinner and then wandered onto Lonely Beach and found a variety of beachfront parties happening at various hotels.  We opted to hang out at the party that advertised a fireworks display but had a couple hours until they were due to go off so sipped on a coconut shake, participated in a pub quiz where we won a box of bonbons (mostly thanks to Joe knowing from whom the grinch stole Christmas and knowing Santa's original suit color prior to Coke's interference. see bottom for answers! It also helped that we were two of very few sober people lucid enough to play), and chatted about what our families would be up to at this time back at home.

Santa plays with fire!!!

Before the fireworks shot off, we got to see fire performances including flame baton twirlers and swinging of ropes with flame balls on the end.  They were very impressive!  The excitement really heated up, though, when the fireworks that were intended to be shot off over the ocean tipped over and instead spewed in several directions including right over the audience.  It felt a little bit like Bilbo's birthday party!  Forutnately, no one was hurt.  Christmas eve at Koh Chang definitely has a bit more of a New Years Eve than Christmas Eve feel, but we enjoyed the festivities and especially phone calls back home to our family and a video Cassidy sent of the Stevicks all playing "Christmas in Killarney" on ukeleles. 

Carol's first scooter driving experience!

The main mode of transportation around Koh Chang is via SCOOTER!  So, we couldn't resist and rented a scooter for a day and zipped around the island with stops for more coconut shakes, a waterfall swim and scenic overlooks.  Joe bravely even let me take a turn driving and coached me well even though we did end up in the bushes at one point.  (Not to worry, we weren't even going 5mph... just an attempt at a u-turn that didn't quite work out!)

Snorkel adventure or tropical Titanic remake?

We also spent one day on a "snorkel cruise" which from a distance probably looked a bit more like a scene from the movie Titanic (dozens of bodies in bright orange life-jackets strewn across the surface of the water around derelict boats) than the intimate and romantic snorkel excursion I was imagining.  We opted for the budget friendly snorkel cruise that advertised four islands/snorkel spots in one day and did notice that the boat looked a bit large in the advertisement but didn't quite grasp the monstrosity of this thing until boarding the next day.  We weren't sure how we and about 400 other people were going to manage snorkeling at four different locations but somehow it all worked out and we even got fed lunch, fruits and a chicken skewer snack along the way (plus met another Australian couple who also wondered why the four of us were the only non Chinese tourists on the boat).  At one point we thought maybe the 5th stop would take us to China!  But, the fish were amazing and we loved seeing several types of anemonefish (think Nemo!), corals, sea urchins and lots more underwater beauty. And, as promised, the boat (ship) brought us safely back to the port at Koh Chang around sunset.


Although the purpose of this trip has never been tourism per se, we did have a wonderful time relaxing and defrosting after some chilly weeks spent in Afghanistan and Nepal and were glad to get to wear shorts and t-shirts again and catch some sun rays.  

After about one week down in Koh Chang, we hopped a six hour minibus back to Bangkok and enjoyed McDonald's for New Years Eve dinner (I never thought I'd want a break from Thai food), and squeezed our way amongst the masses for overhead fireworks in front of the "Central World" shopping center and reminisced about the many ways God has blessed us this past year and wondered with excitement about what is to come in 2014.

New Year's Eve in downtown Bangkok

For now, we've found ourselves 10 hours north of Bangkok in the city of Chiang Mai and will keep you posted on the happenings in this part of Thailand.

Until then, may God so bless you this new year!  Thanks, as always, for reading our blog!

With love and joy,

Carol




Answers: 
The Grinch stole Christmas from the Whos of Whoville
Santa's suit was green before it was red