Felt so good to sleep, woke up late at Nirvana and ate one of our better hotel breakfasts. We walked around the Southwest side of the island and all of Lonely Beach, it's very dirty here on Koh Chang and surprisingly expensive for what the island has to offer. Everyone rides scooters which made it very difficult to find a taxi. We saw monkeys running along the power lines and a lot of natives had their dogs sitting on the scooters with them. It's been a little disappointing to see/find out that almost all the beaches are rocky, we'll be heading to the other side of the island tomorrow in hopes of less crowds and garbage. Our hotel offered a car into Bang Bao village from 6-8pm where there are small shops and restaurants on a long pier off the island. 2 hours was not enough time to see it all. Finished with some strawberry and green lemon handmade gelato.
[lonely beach]
Woke up to rain for the second day in a row, lounged and watched a movie until check out. The next resort I booked was only a few kilometers away, however there was a small path of water that you are unable to cross by car so we had to drive an hour and a half around the entire island to the other side. In order to get there we had to catch a taxi to the ferry station (at the top of the island) and wait an hour and a half to catch a second taxi back down to the bottom of the Southeast side. We also had no idea that the taxis are separated by sides here, west/east, and the taxi drivers will not drive over the ferry line...the only way to get there in one ride is by an expensive private car. When all was said and done, it took us a total of four hours to get to our next destination. The Mangrove Hideaway is owned by a hospitable gay French couple and located in Salek Phet, smack dab in the middle of a fishing village. Once settled in, we thought we'd try scooter-riding and the owner was kind enough to lend us his. Unfortunately within the first few feet out of the driveway Jen lost control on some mud/gravel and down we went. Embarrassing is an understatement and though we are all okay (including the bike!) we are a little dinged up; I've been calling the acquired bruises our "Thailand tattoos". Since this side of the island is much more desolate, we hung around the cozy lounge and treated ourselves to our largest dinner, hot pot of tom yum and two delicious fish right from the bay!
Since the motorbike didn't work out too well, we rented bicycles and seeked out the nearest waterfall: Kiri Phet. The ride was absolutely gorgeous and only a couple miles inland. Once we got to the trail it was about a 15 minute walk up, but this island is not flat, the elevation is 743 meters (2,437 feet) at it's highest point. As soon as we got back it was time to head to our next resort, Na Tara, also on the east side of the island and right along the ocean with a beautiful view. We finally got to utilize our bathing suits and sat in the infinity pool that practically flowed into the ocean.
Watched the sunrise over the ocean, I've never seen water shine so pink! The area we're staying is very isolated, but we chased down another waterfall, Than Mayom, about a three mile walk up the main road. We each paid 200 baht ($6) to the ranger station and as we trekked along the river the owners dog followed; I think she wanted to make sure we made it there safe. The heat and humidity during the walk back made it unbearable to be anywhere other than the pool, which happened to have four little puppies running around. We spent a lot of time here with them.
I had booked tickets for us to fly back to Bangkok in the evening, but we were surprisingly so bored on Koh Chang that we checked out early, hopped on the ferry to Trat and took a very fast taxi in order to arrive to the smallest outdoor airport I've ever passed through. Jen was willing to pay the $62 upgrade, but I simply asked if there was any room on the flight that was ten minutes from takeoff and the lovely lady fully obliged. We got to our hotel by 3pm, squeezed in our last Thai massages (will be greatly missed) and passed out early in order to be up for our shuttle home at 3:30am.
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