In the travel guide and at the hotel reception we learned that the boats go directly from Koh Chang to Koh Mak. In the south of Elephant Island is Bang Bao, the stilt village. From there the boats leave for the other islands.
A pickup takes us to the south of the island and we explore the stilt village packed full. Many boat providers but no one goes out in the off-season. Great... 'Boats depart from the mainland' is what they keep saying. Okay, so first we go back to the hotel and ask if that's really true.
The receptionist is very helpful and calls the boat pier to see if boats are going to Koh Mak and if one is still leaving today. There is still a boat going to Koh Mak today and we would still make it to the pier before the boat leaves.
So off to the ferry and back to the mainland. Once we arrive there, we get into a taxi that is supposed to take us to the boat pier. Once we arrive there, they tell us that the boat leaves at 4 o'clock. The boat at 3 o'clock is not going. We have already bought a ticket from the lady at the boat provider and not even 5 minutes later her phone rings: There is no boat going at 4 o'clock anymore. Also cancelled. Too high waves and too stormy. We are stuck.
The lady offers us a crossing for the next day at 11 o'clock and explains to us that she has a guesthouse in Trat where we can stay. We briefly consider what we should do and whether the lady might not be telling us the whole truth. I briefly thought Julian would scream at the woman, but he can't change anything and what can we do? We don't understand any Thai and won't find out if there might be a boat after all. So we accept the lady's offer and let ourselves be taken to the guesthouse.
The guesthouse in question is really cute. We stay with an old woman at the entrance. But the room is clean and nicely furnished and the woman is really nice. However, it is located in the middle of nowhere. Opposite the guesthouse are corrugated iron huts and free-range chickens are everywhere. It's a bit idyllic here too, but only after our bad mood has disappeared. We go on a discovery tour and look for a supermarket where we can buy something to drink. The salesman in the supermarket rarely sees tourists in his shop, judging by how he looks at us. We also find a war memorial right by the sea and our mood keeps rising.
