12 replies to this topic

[SIAMPEDIA]

This is the sequel to week 1 of the Koh Chang Chronicles, not a full week, but it
will cover Monday July 12th through Friday with the usual updates.

To get some actual facts on travel options and how to get here, check our
2010 report on Koh Chang travel options.

Day 8 (July 12th)

Today marks the second leg of our current trip to Koh Chang. We hope to share some
of the beauty here with you and give you some travel ideas. Koh Chang covers the whole
spectrum of accommodations from bamboo huts for a few hundred Baht to DeLuxe Resorts with
plenty of stars for over 5 figures in daily rates. Here are some rather basic beach
accommodations, quite a few kilometers to the south of White Sand Beach



Today was also a special day with a birthday bash for our host, the owner of the Top Resort.
He invited every guest and plenty of his friends to come and celebrate.

Your Team Hinigugma will be enhanced by Rogielyn's photos here, she's a good friend of ours
and a perfekt auntie for Teddy too:).



It was a fun filled event with mountains of free food and drinks being served. The generous host is famed for
his splendid catering for all kinds of events, so I learned from other guests during some chitchat at the party.
He hosted a great number of weddings and all kinds of parties. The F & B manager is a master at his field and
supplies his bakery goods, wines and delicatesses throughout Koh Chang and the neighboring islands.

for the full report please follow the link: The 2010 Koh Chang Chronicles - Week 2

to be continued

[SIAMPEDIA]

Day 9

Accommodation on Koh Chang comes for all budgets. Simple bamboo huts are still to be found in locations
south of White Sand Beach, some are rather run down and without any facilities, others are in prime
location on fantastic beaches. Take a pick according to your budget and taste.



Food on Koh Chang is not a hard to get commodity. Specify your likings and pick a location to grab
your proteins and vitamins. Some restaurants have seating on the beach, a great choice for a sunset-dinner,
just make sure to have an insect-repellent on hand.



There are many choices on Koh Chang. Besides great Thaifood and seafood everywhere, we have spotted a
Mexican restaurant and a Steakhouse right in the village of White Sand Beach. Khlong Prao also sports a
variation of eateries and Bang Bao has a reputation for Seafood. We'll dig more into this and will inform
you accordingly in a future update.

to be continued

[SIAMPEDIA]

Day 10

Another day with exceptional weather, we are seriously thinking about an extension of the previously planned
time here, we just have so much fun and the well working WiFi within the Top Resort lets us do some minor
work with the aid of my old laptop just like at home. Did meet Micky, the Manager of a resort property on
neighboring Koh Mak again, he spends his leisure time on the more active Koh Chang. We learned about a daily
fire-show on the beach and Martin captured the event later. For tomorrow, we will visit some waterfall, and
maybe the Laguna Beach.



to be continued

[SIAMPEDIA]

Day 11

Martin and Vivien went for an elephant ride experience with a bath along with the pachyderms, the weather
again was as perfect as a holidaying person wishes for. We have absolutely no reason to complain about anything.
We have decided to stay as long as we can, here in paradisic Koh Chang. A few more phonecalls have to be made
and a few meetings postponed, but that task can be accomplished. Wish us luck for the remaining days, it's
"Rainy Season" in Thailand – but obviously not on Koh Chang!



for the full report please follow the link: The 2010 Koh Chang Chronicles - Week 2

to be continued

[Heat]

Looks like a great holiday.... I need to go back to Koh Chang soon

[SIAMPEDIA]

Day 12

There are quite a few waterfalls on Koh Chang, neither one is spectacular on a global scale, but the
Thais treasure every small creek coming down their hill slopes and rocks. Unfortunately they see every
one (but the Nakhon Nayok ones) as a profit center and play their ugly pricing game with foreign visitors.
Foreigners are asked to pay a 10 times inflated fee to view these meager falls. Neither Melona nor
me felt urged to toss our money away for this.

Martin is here for the first time and needed to check some out. Khlong Phlu is one of them and
offers a small and shallow pool for swimming.



The slippery granite rocks draw much attention by the predominantly young crowd, but quite a few
visitors to Koh Chang shy away from the very rough walkways from the parking lot to the falls. In
the case of Khlong Phlu it is only 700 meters.



Swimming here is only for the brave and tough, as the water is fairly cold and not really deep.
Plenty of nasty mosquitos here, but another adventurous option for others.

[SIAMPEDIA]

Day 13

Today we were lazy again, a bit of beachcombing and a great homemade lunch with friends
filled most of the day, then some pool activity with our youngster and an evening meal
at a Thai style BBQ (Moo Gata or Moo Yang Gaolie) with plenty of friends and guests of
the Top Resort rounded off another great day. For tomorrow we have plans to take a boat
trip to some secret snorkeling reefs, you will see the video later here – weather
for the boat ride permitting.



to be continued

[SIAMPEDIA]

Day 14

This is the final day of our week 2 here, the weather looked promising in the morning and we set out for
the snorkeling trip. Pickup at the Top Resort was at 8 AM, a songtheauw was sent to bring us all to Bang
Bao. 500 Baht was the price for the whole trip, that included pick-up and return transport to the hotel,
the boat trip with 4 scheduled stops and all kinds of food plus free water and coffee. Not a bad deal, as
we soon found out..



The boat was a large wooden vessel with a capacity of about 100 people, we left with 4 guides and roughly
25 persons. First stop was at a micro island far out at sea, it took the boat 90 minutes to get there.
Snorkeling there was a smacker, as there were plenty of corals with myriads of smaller fish to watch.
Almost everyone circled the island, the reefs were in 2 to 3 meters depth and there was a lot to see.
Unfortunately, our camera is not water resistant, but we took a video for you, which we will add here
tomorrow.

The 2nd stop was at a beach with great swimming and snorkeling options, the crew prepared 3 different tasty
Thai dishes for lunch. Stop 3 was again some islet with plenty of corals and fish, the entire trip was a lot
of fun. Why pay multiples of the 500 Baht in Phuket or elsewhere for a fun day out at sea with snorkel gear
and food provided.



What you see here in those two picture is actually Koh Wai, our 4th and final stop. Snorkeling from the beach
was called for, visibility was good and again we saw so many different colorful fish. We really enjoyed this
as our final activity on this trip to Koh Chang and we did promise our friends here to be back next month for
another vacation in this tropical paradise and we're lucky – due to the season, the Top Resort shows still some
vacancy for the second half of August, we'll be back for sure.

The final evening was spent on the terrace at Paul's Restaurant in the Top Resort, another great meal
accompanied by a fabulous sunset lightshow. Micha Hinze, a Facebook buddy did shoot it and let us use his
masterpiece of a photo. Paul created another of his signature dishes and the tremendous wine selection did once
again round off a splendid feast.



We conclude this trip report and wish you all could witness beautiful Koh Chang for yourself.

The rooms in the Top Resort, White Sand Beach currently sell fast for the reduced
rate of under 1000 Baht per roomnight. Maybe we'll meet you there one day!

As a little bonus, here's a video from the snorkeling trip:

[DirtyHarry]

Always hear great things about ko chang and this thread makes it lokk good

[Frank P. Schneidewind]

DirtyHarry, on 26 July 2010 - 11:03 PM, said:

Always hear great things about ko chang and this thread makes it lokk good

Go check it out yourself ,you won't be disappointed. I just re-booked for next month (trip # 3 in 2010 )

[Frank P. Schneidewind]

You gotta check this island out yourself!

[Frank P. Schneidewind]

Just can't get enough of Koh Chang. Arrived again and will relax to the max until 2011

[handyman]

I love Koh Chang ... We went there last November ... Stayed at the Dusit Princess ... Hired a scooter for the week for 20 pounds ... Going up and down those hills !!! Great fun. I always describe Koh Chang as a hidden jewel. I'd not heard of it until I moved to Thailand .. We are going back this Christmas with some friends from the UK ... Can't wait.