Koh Chang Trip

The high point of our Christmas break was a short trip to Koh Chang, an island to the south east of us, very close to the Cambodian border. Koh Chang was beautiful – exactly what you’d expect a tropical island to be! We drove down there (Rick’s first big solo driving trip – long – about 6 hours each way - but uneventful except for the ticket he got on the way home for driving in the wrong lane! He didn’t know it was the wrong lane and we weren’t really sure why we were pulled over since the highway patrolman didn’t speak English and we don’t speak Thai! We’ve since learned that you don’t give him your driver’s license since that pretty much guarantees a ticket [though ours was only 300 baht – about $8.50] but instead you just hold a couple hundred baht out just below the window edge and he takes that and you are back on your way – no ticket for you, a little extra cash for him!) and took the ferry across to the island. We stayed in a resort right on the beach and were able to do a lot of fun things! The island itself had gorgeous beaches – very fine, powdery sand, neat seashells, and water that was crystal clear, gentle (it was shallow – not more than 2 ½ feet deep - and almost waveless for about 100 feet out from the shore) and warm! It also had rainforest/jungle on the mountains that take up most of the island. We took a short hike through the jungle/rainforest (about 1 km) up to a waterfall, Khlong Phlu, where the kids swam in the water at the base of the waterfall. We also rode elephants (Nate had his first ever elephant ride – he liked it!), went on a longboat ride in the evening (longboats are like a long canoe – very shallow – that are directed by a guy using a pole) through the deltas going inland so that we could see the fireflies in the trees – very neat, though there weren’t too many fireflies out for us, ate a ton of good Thai food (and some surprisingly good pizza – go figure!) right on the beach, played in the pool, and spent a lot of time on the beach. Leah and Caroline got their hair braided, too – Caroline looks like Bo Derrick! J Nate would have spent the entire time digging in the sand if you would have let him – give him a shovel and bucket, some sand, and a little water, and he’s happy as a clam! The kids got a big kick out of finding some really neat seashells, seeing the little fish swim around our feet in the water, finding hermit crabs, and watching the sand crabs scuttling around!

It was really a nice trip and we plan to head back there again soon! There isn't nearly enough room here to post all the pictures that will do justice to the island (there's a 5 picture limit to each post!) but if you want to see more than I've posted here, feel free to check out our album of pictures on photobucket: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v65/amyks/Koh%20Chang%20Jan%202009/