Uñt’ayata: 26.02.2019
We spent 6 nights in a dreamy bungalow on the island of Koh Chang. In addition to the great view of the slightly elevated hotel complex, there was also the great jungle environment. The climb to the bungalow was accordingly a bit longer, but it was worth it.
The beaches are all publicly accessible on the west side. There are often hotel complexes and bungalows, but you can still walk along the beach. The east side of the island has few hotel complexes and also fewer opportunities for swimming.
In the evenings, we come across men swinging fire torches almost everywhere.
We ride our motorcycle to the south of the island. There is a long pier there, the Bang Bao Pier. It consists of restaurants and the usual tourist stalls. While strolling around, we discover a cozy Greek restaurant. At the end of the pier, we reach a lighthouse with a great view of the sea and the smaller islands to the south.
On the way back to the hotel, we come across Lonely Beach, which promises a lot of action. However, the beach was quite calm, only in the village of Lonely Beach there was a party. At the beach, we enjoyed two drinks in a relaxed atmosphere at sunset. To our delight, we also met the two young Poles again, whom we met on the taxi ride to our hotel. They have roughly the same route in Asia as we do. We hope to meet them again.
The island is nicknamed Elephant Island not only because of its shape as an elephant's head, but also because of the many elephant ranges on the island. Along the roadside, we repeatedly come across small ranges with a few elephants. However, they all don't look very animal-friendly. A range in the northern jungle promises more. However, during our visit, we didn't have enough cash with us for admission. That's why we drive back and want to withdraw money from an ATM in the village. But that doesn't work either. So we can't visit the elephants. In retrospect, we think it wasn't meant to be.
At the Khlong Phlu waterfall, we find a great backdrop. With a small bathing lake and many nibble fish, we enjoy the great atmosphere. This way, we can also save ourselves the fish aquariums by the roadside.
Unfortunately, Kimena gets a stomachache on the island. The following day, Justin goes alone to explore the east a bit. In the far south, the east and the west are not connected. That's why this side is much less populated.
In our bungalow, we hear live music every evening, which disturbs our peace a bit. Especially since it can be heard continuously from 6 pm to 12 am. We find out that this music comes from a fairground. There it is actually like at a fair with us. There are mainly locals here. We make a bit of a mistake when it comes to food. Because the bought meat skewers don't taste like chicken as expected, and we can only guess what it is. That's why we don't eat them and just settle for the bland rice we have with them.
For the last day, we book a cozy snorkeling tour along the southern island. Or so we thought. As soon as we are on the ship, it goes towards the open sea to a sunken shipwreck. Actually exciting, if it weren't for the high waves due to the cloudy weather. While snorkeling, we see large schools of fish, fish of various sizes and colors, corals, and theoretically turtles. Unfortunately, we didn't see them ourselves, we only heard about them from the others.
Because of the rough water, Kimena's stomach acts up again, she's probably also seasick. Back on land, we have seen a lot, but it turned out differently than we expected. Next time, we'll go diving instead.
In our resort, Justin is pleased to have 3 dogs, Dnam, Mau Ne, and Deng. They are very friendly and also enjoy the company. They also like to spend the evening with us on the terrace.
After the great island, we continue to Battambang in Cambodia.