Thailand, Koh Chang: Elephant Island

The minibus that we booked in Bangkok for our Koh Chang trip was the nicest van we had travelled on yet in Thailand. We obviously chose a good tour company (A&F Tours if anyone is interested), as we enjoyed a smooth, quick journey in a new and very well air-conditioned vehicle. We were worried about getting to the ferry terminal near Trat on time because our van was a little late leaving Bangkok due to a mix-up on our hostel address. In the end, the driver made up the time and we were even able to enjoy a nice pitstop a couple of hours into the journey. During this break, we met a nice old English couple who had been travelling around India and who were travelling through Thailand and Indochina for the last portion of a 3-month holiday.

After enjoying great ice coffees (these are made extremely well in Thailand), we swapped buses and our new driver made his way to the ferry terminal. In total, the journey took 5-1/2 hours. Our ferry tickets were included with our minibus tickets and getting the ferry was a non-event. The only exciting thing that happened at the ferry terminal was that Dan was attacked by a local dog when he came out of the toilet. Dan had his large backpack on his back and his small backpack on his front and sort of jogged the short distance from the toilet to the waiting area. We guessed the dog wasn't happy with someone invading his turf that quickly and carrying such unusually large items. The dog went for one of Dan's calves but didn't do any damage. Seemed to be a bit of a show really, to show who dominates the ferry terminal waiting area. With Kyle's near-attack in Kanchanaburi and Dan's here, we are both much more wary of all the wild dogs roaming around the streets in southeast Asia.

We both took a long, hard look at the river we would be swimming in and noticed all the large mounds of elephant dung floating around

Koh Chang is a beautiful, unspoiled island off the eastern coast of Thailand near the Cambodian border. Koh Chang translated means "Elephant Island" and was thus named due to the southern tip resembling an elephant; Dan doesn't see the resemblance but Kyle does. The island is a national park and therefore has been able to retain its natural charm and beauty. There has been very limited and controlled development and much of the island has a rough, "island resort with beachside bungalows" feel to it. One road circles the island; however, we found out during our time there that it doesn't completely circle the island - more on that further down the page. The interior of the island is pretty much completely untouched and very mountainous; there are stunning viewpoints all around the island depicting beautiful white sand beaches with clear emerald waters.

To get from the island's ferry terminal to our pre-booked resort, we took a local taxi (tuk-tuk) from the pier to White Sand Beach. We had a booking for four nights at White Sand Beach Resort on the northwestern part of the island, and although this was only a short ride from the pier, the tuk-tuk driver missed the entrance to the resort (despite us telling him several times where we were staying). On turning back, he let us off at the main turn-off to the resort. Little did we know that it was a further 600metres down an incredibly steep mountainside road surrounded by dense jungle! The walk was hardgoing as our legs were straining from the pressure of the steep road and the weight of our bags in the midday heat, but the walk was very picturesque nevertheless.

We arrived at the resort with legs like jelly, exhausted from the 600m hike down the side of the mountain, and so we quickly checked into our beach hut and walked a few seconds to the water to jump in and cool off. Not only was our hut right on the beach, but it also had air-conditioning, a private bathroom with hot water shower and cable (yes, CABLE!) TV. We were in the lap of luxury - all of this for only £16 per night ($29 USD) and just barely within our budget!

We arrived in the late afternoon, so our first day on the island was spent relaxing after several hectic days on the polluted streets of Bangkok and travelling to and from Kanchanaburi. As our resort was on the northern end of the beach, the area was very secluded and peaceful. After a refreshing swim, we decided to catch up on the news, but unfortunately the only news channel reporting at the time was Fox News, their morning show. It was early evening when we began watching the news programme and it took us awhile to remember the time difference and to figure out that the morning newscasters were much more jovial than evening newscasters. Anyway, the two American guys really annoyed us and the American woman had so much plastic surgery done that we couldn't concentrate on what news they were actually delivering. Just listening to English being spoken, whether it's American or British, is refreshing once and awhile. After watching TV we headed to the resort's restaurant for dinner and quickly learned that the staff there (mostly the female staff working at the reception and cashier desks) were very moody. Despite this, we were pretty much forced to eat there every day as we were a bit further from the main strip of beach where more places could be found.

The next morning, we headed to the resort's restaurant for breakfast, but before eating we approached the female staff at reception to ask queries about island activities and what we could do in our time there. We just wanted simple things like a map and a few ideas to get started with, and like the day before, the staff were very moody and really couldn't be bothered to help us. For our meals, we both had "American" breakfasts which included scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice and tea or coffee, and the juice that they served us was a tiny glass that was only half full of juice. This added to the resentment we were building towards the resort, but some of these things balanced out with the positives at the resort, like the location and the excellent and cheap dinners we were served by the friendly evening wait staff.

Having spent time in Bangkok and Kanchanaburi, we felt that it had been a while since we had sat out in the sun on a beach, and so we took full advantage on White Sand Beach. The peaceful and quiet beach was lined with coconut trees and beach huts beneath a bright green jungle encrusted mountain. The setting was fantastic and beautiful and during our first full day on the island it was hard not to nod off to sleep listening to the sound of waves crashing. Later in the afternoon, we headed south along the beach to check out the main area. There, we found bars, restaurants and other accommodation including some very cool looking backpacker bungalows and nicer, larger resorts. All of this still retained a village feel to it and is a must-see for anyone travelling to the island. The water along the beach was the warmest water either of us had ever swam in, even warmer than the water at Kuta Beach in Bali (one of our Jan 2007 journal entries), and in some spots near the beach the ankle deep water was actually hot and too uncomfortable to swim in if it was deep enough. Once we were in a little deeper water it was like sitting in a warm bath. This was easily one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever visited.

A friendly Thai woman working on the beach talked to us about getting Thai massages. We both felt a bit stiff from travelling and acquiesced. We thought that since our time in Thailand was coming to an end, we should experience the infamous "Thai massage" which we had been hassled about continuously since entering the country. On Koh Chang, we were plenty far from the ladyboys of Phuket and Bangkok and for 250 Baht each (£3.50 or $7 USD), we received an hour massage on the beach under some low-lying coconut trees which blocked out the sun's heat. The massages were great and well worth the money, and the woman also talked Kyle into getting his feet scrubbed, as apparently he had too much hardened skin on the soles from his flip-flops!

On Koh Chang, we wanted to continue our pattern of visiting the island by motorbike, and despite the island having massively steep mountain roads, this didn't deter us from spending a few quid (that's a few "Pounds Sterling" to those Americans reading this) on one. The first rental place we visited was "manned" by an enthusiastic 12 year-old boy who was more than eager to put us on one of his bikes, and who explained to us the necessity of a manual bike on the steep Koh Chang roads. He even gave a much-needed demonstration to Kyle on how to drive a manual motorbike, which would have been a first for him (Dan hasn't driven a manual motorbike either and opted to be a passenger only on the steep roads). Once Kyle's driving lesson was complete, we were ready to rent the bike, but when we explained that we only had our passports and no licences, the efficient young lad said there was no chance at all he was renting to us without them. So, we walked down the street to the next rental place...

Most of the time in Thailand, particularly on the islands, we were able to rent a scooter or motorbike using just a passport for collateral. Koh Chang proved to be no different once we passed the young kid's rental place for the next one. About ten minutes after leaving the kid, we were driving south on the island's main road, to check out some of the sights on the island. The man we rented the motorbike from assured us that one motorbike would be fine climbing the steep roads with both of us on it, but later that day we found out otherwise.

A few minutes down the road and we passed a roadside petrol cart. Once we filled the bike up with petrol, we hit the road again hoping to circle the entire island and to see as much as we could in one day. However, this was short-lived, which we will explain a bit further down this page. It took Kyle a little while getting used to the manual gears on the bike, and therefore the ride was a bit bumpy and scary for Dan at first (due to many stops, starts and jerks of the bike). Our first major stop was going to be Ban Bang Bao, a small floating fishing village on the island.

The views from the mountain roads were amazing, with the roads overlooking many jungle-fringed bays with beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, the day had become overcast and dark as we rode south, and the skies were about ready to open up for a torrential downpour. Despite this, we continued our journey towards Ban Bang Bao and, on the way, came across an elephant trekking site which looked worthy of investigation, as we were interested in an elephant trek during our time on Koh Chang. We pulled over and right at that same moment, the heavens opened up and rain gushed down. It was a wise move stopping then, as we would have been otherwise soaked!

Having taken shelter for a while, the rain started slowing down. We took this opportunity to walk over to the elephant enclosure to feed them some bananas. The beautiful and enormous Asian elephants are used for trekking tours through the jungle interior of the island and were taking a break. We both found great enjoyment feeding these massive creatures and they were enjoying the food we gave them. In fact, everyone was enjoying themselves so much that it was almost too late before we noticed one of the elephants getting carried away and wrapping its trunk around Kyle's arm. We assumed it wanted more bananas, as the elephant squeezed his arm really hard. Kyle was shocked by the strength of the elephant's trunk and fell over to the side, which luckily caused the elephant to let go and relieve the arm from its mighty lock. Kyle's arm instantly swelled up and went bright red from the pressure put upon it, and when we showed the staff they provided ice for the swelling. Within 10 minutes, the arm started to recover as the swelling and red colour receded. Everything was absolutely fine shortly after, but we both know that we were lucky Kyle's arm wasn't broken by the elephant's grasp. After all, who would drive the motorbike for the rest of the day?

Being a bit shaken up, we both decided some food might do us good. There was a small cafe on the side of the road next to the trekking site, and we ate some great food there before setting back out on the road. Mother Nature had finished her business by then and not a drop of rain touched us or the road during our excursion. We passed other small villages and more amazing mountain views before arriving at Ban Bang Bao. The village is built upon stilts over a bay and is like many other floating villages we've encountered over the past several weeks. The village had a very friendly feel and laid-back vibe, and this was welcomed by us as a lot of Thailand is so aggressive and in your face.

Along the main walkway in Ban Bang Bao, there were various dive schools, restaurants, guesthouses and souvenir shops. We decided to stop at one particular coffee shop situated in the heart of the village when a very friendly hostess named Pikultong Thongchai invited us in to rest our weary feet. Bang Bao Delight Bakery and Cafe makes delicious ice coffee, as we found out while resting those feet of ours, and the seating area was set at the back of the shop overlooking a coconut tree-lined bay situated between two mountains. After leaving the delightful cafe, we passed some interesting aquariums full of strange seafood for purchase in the village restaurants and we also passed a most interesting display where a cat was asleep in a tank itself (no water was in this one, thank goodness!).

Continuing southward after leaving the fishing village, we headed towards the road connecting the western side of island to the eastern side in order to check out its more rugged mountainous terrain. When we reached the connecting road, it became very narrow and windy with dense jungle to either side. Whilst very beautiful, the steep roads and blind corners made driving a little scary, and as it was approaching dusk, we didn't want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere with only our small motorbike headlight to guide us. As chance would have it, we didn't have to worry about it getting dark on us because the road came to a complete halt. The river, which was dried up at the time, must have washed away a large chunk of the road during the wet monsoon season and it had yet to be fixed. We got off the motorbike and stood transfixed by a 15 metre gaping hole between the two pieces of tarmac, which offered us no way to continue around the island.

With our plans circling the island put to a sudden stop, we retraced our path up the western side of the island. The day was pushing on and we decided just to head back to our resort. We were only slightly disappointed, as the views on the west coast alone were amazing and we were happy with what we had accomplished. The journey back seemed a lot more arduous and this was clearly evident by the performance of our rented motorbike. All of the steep roads were a chore for the motorbike, with our heavy backsides lugging it down, and we encountered several problems tackling the steep slopes - (one) where Dan had to jump off the back of the motorbike whenever it stopped moving forwards up a hill and (two) where the motorbike back tyre (Americans reading this can probably figure out that this is the same as "tire") decided to pop and run out of air. We don't know what is funnier, watching Dan run uphill following Kyle on the bike, or watching Kyle drive a motorbike with a flat tyre down a very steep hill with the bike wobbling to and fro. More on the flat tyre in a couple of paragraphs!

On one of the larger hills, Dan was given a lift by a generous teenager who didn't want to see Dan struggle to keep running up the mountain road. His bike was in much better shape than ours so Dan quickly agreed, hopped on and was out of Kyle's sight in a matter of moments. When Kyle met up with Dan at the bottom of the other side of the hill, the only thing Dan could remember about the extremely fast journey was that he must find out what type of shampoo the motorbike speedracer used. Apparently the drivers long hair was whipping Dan in the face, and whilst it irritated and tickled him, the smell was very pleasant.

Once the motorbike tyre popped, the bike was swaying side to side, and upon further inspection when we pulled over, we saw the flat. We started walking up a very steep hill and as we reached the crest, we found a section of the road where we could pull over safely to decide what to do. We were immediately approached by a helpful man who mentioned there was a motorbike repair shop 200 metres down the mountain. This was a godsend and he even offered to give Dan a lift there whilst Kyle drove the bike slowly down to the shop. In 200 metres, Dan was able to learn that (a) the man was from Scandinavia, (b) had lived in Thailand for 6 years and (c) was pretty drunk or had at least had a few which could be smelled on his breath. This last point made Dan very nervous as the guy was speeding down the steep hill and sharp turns, but he made it to the bike shop in one piece where he waited for Kyle. Kyle finally arrived after driving very slowly down the road towards the bike shop. The shop fixed the wheel for 100 Baht (£1.50 or $3 USD), and even though we had to pay for it, the low price was fine with us since we had to get back to White Sand Beach.

A Mexican restaurant was on the side of the road not too far north of the bike repair shop, and we decided to stop for a quick bite to see what was on offer. A German man and his Thai wife owned the place and we reckon they had imported Old El Paso products from Europe since the food we were served tasted just like Mexican food we have cooked back in our Grays Inn Road flat with our other flatmate Marguerite, using Sainbury's selection of Old El Paso goods. By the time we had finished the food, it was dark and we had to make our way back. Fortunately, the remaining road we had to travel wasn't as dark as we first feared due to some well placed streetlights, and so the journey back was quite enjoyable.

On our last full day, we were finally able to experience an elephant trek. We opted for a 2-hour trek which included sitting on the elephants while they bathed in a river. The whole experience was really great; we both got to sit on the elephant's neck for part of the journey which was more harrowing than riding in the secure seat on its back! Since our elephant was about three metres tall, it would not have been pleasant to have fallen off her! Riding the elephant was smooth, despite trekking up and down rough terrain at times. Our guide spent most of his time on the neck of the elephant and entertained himself by singing Thai songs very loudly and smoking many rolled up homemade cigarettes. At one point in the journey, he abandoned us and ran into the jungle for about 15 minutes (nature call), and during this time our elephant was absolutely on the ball, knowing where to go. It helped that there were about eight other elephants in our group, so she had at least one elephant to follow.

When the time came to bathe with the elephants, we both took a long, hard look at the river we would be swimming in and noticed all the large mounds of elephant dung floating around before quickly deciding that we would just watch from afar. Our 35-year old elephant was led by our guide to a section of the river further downstream and whilst we sat on the elephant when it cooled off in the water, there was no frantic splashing, thrashing of its trunk or dipping of us so-called tourists into the water, and we emerged from the experience completely dry and, most importantly, poop-free. After the trek, we were taken back to the main part of White Sand Beach and we took a dip in the warm waters there before heading up to the north end of the beach to our resort. There, we had another long swim in the water before going back to our bungalow to clean up and head out for our last dinner on the island.

Travelling back to Bangkok was the same as travelling from Bangkok. In fact, we even bumped into the friendly English couple we met on the minibus down from the capital. It was really nice talking to them again, but the poor woman got very sick just outside Bangkok and therefore a portion of the journey was very unpleasant. We had a slight scare as well since we expected to arrive back in Bangkok by mid-afternoon, which would have given us enough time to pick up our passports (we left them with A&F Tours in order to get our Vietnam visas) and see more of the city before our evening overnight train to Chiang Mai was due to leave Hua Lamphong rail station. As it turned out, we got back to the Silom Road area with an hour to spare, which gave us just enough time to pick up our passports, pick up a couple of postcards and have a great, healthy (haha) meal at Burger King before moving on our way to our next destination.