Koh Chang - Wild Monkeys, Abandoned Places & Lots of Nature

The sound of the sea is impossible to ignore.

Despite the headphones in my ears (volume set to maximum because the music in this bar is absolutely awful), nature prevails.

The hammock I'm lying on gently sways back and forth.

To my left is an empty bottle of Chang beer (Tatti, that one was on you!), and to my right, I see the waves crashing against the rocks.

The humidity is indescribable. (And if it were described, it would be in four-digit numbers or something.)

Above me, funny-looking birds are loudly quarreling about something.

Right now, I'm at the Lonely Beach, which is quite fitting because I've been feeling pretty lonely for almost 3 hours.

Tatti is on her way to Bangkok or Germany, and I'm alone on the island.

I don't know if I should curse or not, but well... it's a self-made fate, as they say. ;)

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Today is November 14, and now you have the pleasure of reading about what we've experienced since we checked out of the first accommodation (the one with the amazing pool view).

So, let's begin:

Previously on...

Some of you may even recall that I withheld something from you last time.

That's right - the third anecdote was missing.

And since we're sticklers for having everything in the right place (after all, we're Germans), I'm going to make up for it now...

On the day we changed resorts, we went on a little jungle adventure in the morning.

A very special adventure.

Have you ever ridden a quad bike before?

- Neither have we.

And certainly not in such an environment. 🤩

After a short briefing and a mandatory test drive on the company's grounds to prove that we weren't completely incompetent behind the wheel (because in that case, we wouldn't be allowed on the tour), we set off on four wheels into the jungle.

Tatti, my passenger, was just as excited as I was.

The boss and his wife (presumably) drove in front of us.

Another employee directly behind us.

That was it.

I honestly don't know how to express what it was like.

We were deep in the jungle.

Everything was densely overgrown, except for a small trail that seemed to be made specifically for the quads.

We had branches hitting our faces.

We had to navigate through mud holes and deep puddles.

We got completely dirty, and at times, it was quite dangerous.

Next to us was an abyss.

On the other side were rocks.

We couldn't swerve, we had to somehow stay on track.

The cicadas cheered us on with their loud chirping during our wild ride.

And by the way - have I mentioned them before?

I have no idea how to describe the volume, but it definitely surpasses the decibel level of a starting jet engine.

There's nothing that warns you when the singing cicadas start.

In fact, the fact that they're called singing cicadas is already absurd.

You might think of something pleasant.

The truth is:

The discomfort threshold is surpassed almost immediately once the insect boys start their love song in order to impress an insect girl.

So is the pain threshold.

Sometimes you hear nothing but a disgustingly loud high-pitched tone for hours, in a frequency that really makes you doubt that it's all coming from that little creature.

Many people think they're crickets, but they're not even the same species.

Don't have a picture right now.

If you're interested, just ask Google what insect can make a chainsaw noise, and one will surely pop up. 🖼

Anyway.

Amidst the 'singing' of the little flying annoyances, Tatti and I continued our journey through the jungle.

Huge rocks were everywhere, often giving us the feeling that we were about to tip over when driving over them.

It was also quite hard on the wrists to steer that damn thing.

It was really tough.

But

I have rarely experienced something so amazing.

I had a permanent grin on my face and had the time of my life.

(If we can trust Tatti, she felt the same by the way)

At one point, the guy in front of us suddenly stopped.

He got off his vehicle, went to the puddle of water in front of him, rummaged around for a moment, and voilà, he had a little turtle in his hand.

I don't know how he spotted it, but it was great that he showed it to us. 🐢

The hour went by (as all good things do) way too quickly, but we couldn't have been happier.

In addition, we were filled with anticipation because the new accommodation promised something very special in the pictures.

Spoiler:

It delivered.

When we finally arrived after what felt like an eternity, we were (once again) speechless.

I knew what it would look like (unlike Tatti), but seeing it in person was on a whole different level.

You've seen the pictures, right?

If not, scroll up again!

All I can say is:

WOW!

We were now in the middle of the rainforest.

Everything was built on stilts.

All made of wood.

And surrounded by greenery.

It couldn't get any more natural.

And the best part was the Jacuzzi on our terrace.

Really. So for the next 3 nights, we basically lived in a treehouse with our own pool.

Yeah, it kind of felt like an eco-sect.

They tried to get us to do yoga, and Coca-Cola wasn't on the menu (juice bar! - in the truest sense of the word), but they had shakes with garlic, celery, onions, and who knows what else they added. But hey-

I repeat:

We had our own fucking Jacuzzi!!

And we could jump into it directly from the shower if we wanted to (and we wanted to)

😀 💦

The clientele there was quite unique, and we may have stood out just a little bit, but we found many things amusing.

For example, there was a huge group from Denmark.

Approximately 15-20 people.

We lovingly called them the self-help group.

They met in a collective every morning and had multiple circle discussions throughout the day.

They often sang together or played some kind of role-playing games on the premises.

PS: Their singing was terrible.

I'd prefer cicadas any day.

It sounded like a really bad choir that would never win a competition.

Speaking of competitions.

Okay, the following anecdote doesn't have anything to do with competitions, but it's not always easy to find the right transitions. 😜

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When we checked into the eco-sect, we were asked if we wanted to participate in the

Loi Krathong

festival.

That's a traditional Thai festival of lights that takes place once a year in November, but always on a different day.

You can calculate for yourself how likely it was that we were informed on that day at that location that the festival would take place nearby in the evening.

The festival is essentially a ritual to let go of bad vibes, bad emotions, and negative experiences.

All the resentment, anger, sadness, disappointments, and impurities of the soul are placed in the Krathong (in this case, a coconut shell filled with wax and a wick) and then set afloat on the water, symbolizing the release of these worries and the opportunity to start life anew.

There are often thousands of people at this festival, and you can imagine what a sight it is to see all those floating candles on the water.

Before that, the monks recite some chants through microphones.

Food stalls are everywhere.

As most of you probably know, Tatti and I had plenty of shit to let go of this year, which made the whole event even more emotional and fitting.

I believe in stuff like that.

It was meant to happen exactly like this.

Everything.

This year.

This trip.

This ritual.

Some things only become good when we let them be good.

And that's all I have to say about that. 💡

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We didn't have any plans for the next day.

We wanted to make the most of our accommodation.

We wanted to enjoy nature.

Take in the sounds.

Absorb everything we could.

Once again, it was me who woke up the roosters, not the other way around. 🐓

The palm trees were still in deep shadow. It was still dark.

I left my sleeping roommate where she was and watched as the bright ball in the sky slowly peeled itself out of the clouds and colored the sky.

The good morning soda tasted so much better in this setting. 💯

After breakfast, which was actually really good (and of course, healthy), we lounged around in the Jacuzzi for a bit. (Did I mention that it was our own? 😝)

By the way, right next to our nature resort were mangrove forests. And amazingly, you could borrow kayaks for free and paddle around in them.

Armed with mosquito repellent, freshly squeezed juices, and fruit (haha, just kidding...but one of those is true...can you guess which one?), we got into our little boat and found ourselves in the middle of the mangrove jungle after a few paddles.

Sometimes, we couldn't move forward or backward because it was so densely overgrown.

We drank beer and 'argued' over who between the two of us was rowing so uncoordinatedly.

(It's clear - always the person sitting in front. 😝)

Eventually, the alcohol took its toll, and we both had to go urgently. 💦

But where? There's no shore or anything.

Just swamp and roots, murky water, and water snakes.

Yes, you read that right.

W-A-T-E-R S-N-A-K-E-S.

We saw one underwater. Not very far from us.

If we had put our hand in the water, we could've almost touched it, but I wouldn't recommend that, of course.

They're supposedly quite poisonous. ☠

Anyway... exposed to all these dangers, we still had the issue of our full bladders.

Tatti went first, and I followed 3 minutes later.

So don't tell me we don't have core strength.

We took turns getting onto the unstable kayak, holding onto a flimsy mangrove branch, and simply let it flow while standing.

But believe me:

'Simple' was by no means simple.

The other person had to laugh out loud and balance the kayak on top of it all so that we wouldn't tip over and become snake food.

But the experience was really funny.

I would have loved to see us from a bird's-eye view. 😂

A short time later, we had had enough.

The heat was unbearable, and we wanted to test out the hotel's large saltwater pool.

We had that all to ourselves, by the way.

The self-help group preferred to sing somewhere else.

We knew that because even the cicadas fell silent in shock. 😜

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I'm not sure if it was on that day or the next when we rented bicycles.

Yeah, go ahead and rub your eyes, but it's true.

Bicycles.

Unmotorized.

With nothing but our own muscle power, we pedaled hard and cruised through the jungle.

Sure, it's awesome to zip through the bends on a scooter, but it's a whole different level of craziness on a bike. And finally, I could see everything from a different perspective.

There's a difference between traveling at 60-100 km/h and 7-12 km/h through the streets.

The former often doesn't let you take in everything that's happening around you. You're too focused.

That's why this experience was even more beautiful.

But cycling for 6 kilometers in what felt like 56 degrees, just to buy alcohol... well... doesn't exactly scream repeat.

Of course, the next day, we needed a scooter again.

After all, we had to get to the completely other side of the island.

It's not possible to do that by bike with all the hills.

By the way, there's only one main road here.

So, it's impossible to get lost.

(Well, for me, that sentence is practically a challenge)

Unfortunately, there are no roads that cut across the island; instead, you have to drive all the way around to get to the other side.

And since the island is the second largest in all of Thailand, that takes a loooong time.

And it doesn't go all the way across; it just ends at some point, and you have to turn back.

The rest is jungle.

There's no greener island in Thailand.

I'm pretty sure about that.

And since everything here is under nature protection, I'm sure it will stay that way (fortunately) for a long time.

We had to go back to the west coast on that day

That's where the tourists live.

The jungle resort is on the east coast.

That's where the Thais live.

There are actually huge differences.

You can sometimes drive for 20 minutes on the quiet east side without encountering a single soul.

Occasionally, you pass through a small fishing village.

Dogs are lying tired in the streets, and everything seems absolutely sleepy.

All in all, it's completely undeveloped in terms of tourism.

Beautiful, really.

The west side, on the other hand, is where the action is.

Not like on other islands in Thailand, and not like before Corona.

But the difference is still noticeable.

We had an organizing day (as we called it), taking care of this and that.

We made friends with locals who invited us to their 'home' on a pier and were happy that we spent some time with them.

We passed by a resort where I stayed 3 years ago, and it was shocking to see what it had become.

It was like being in an apocalyptic thriller or something.

As if we had to leave our home in a hurry in an end-time scenario.

Everything was just as it was before.

Except everything had been exposed to the elements.

No one had taken care of it anymore.

No one showed up for work anymore.

The windows were broken.

And nobody will be swimming in that pool anytime soon.

There was still beer and liquor in the fridge, though.

Otherwise, plants, homeless people, and monkeys had taken over.

Such a shame, because the hotel was once really nice and had potential (although the staff was lacking).

Well...

You'll see it in the pictures.

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Since we had driven to the end of one side, we also took the opportunity to explore the other end that day.

This is where the Long Beach is located.

It's probably the quietest and most beautiful beach here on Koh Chang.

Of course, it's almost impassable during high tide because everything is under water, but from the afternoon onwards, it's absolutely amazing.

Because the path there is really not easy (simply in terms of its length), you often have it all to yourself.

I'm not sure if there's a better place to watch the sunset.

Unfortunately, we could only enjoy the sky spectacle until halfway.

By the time the sun had set, and the colors in the sky were going crazy and the real fun was just beginning, we were already back on our scooter. And only Tatti could watch. She forbade me. (Impudence)

But as I mentioned in the previous blog, she has dictator skills.

Really, when she says something, I can practically hear the crack of the whip.

And I'm sure you haven't forgotten how quickly it gets dark here and how dangerous it is to ride on unlit roads. That's why I listened to my little hooligan and kept my eyes on the road.

The journey felt never-ending.

But we did it.

We are survivors.

In more than one way. ;)

That evening, we didn't do anything else.

Well, oookaaay, we drank 'already again' (as Anna always aptly comments) and fell asleep one last time amidst the sounds of the jungle.

In the morning, we 'decorated' our room with the emptied bottles and used our OWN pool (I just can't say it enough) before setting off for our last accommodation on the island.

But that's a story for another day.

For now, I want something else...

And here's a fitting random info:

I'm craving something sweet right now, you can't even imagine.

And even though it's only 4:30 in the morning, I think I'm going to satisfy that craving now.

Actually, a look in the mirror tells me daily (and multiple times) that I probably shouldn't consume certain things anymore.

But you know what?

Buddha (or at least I believe it was him ;p) once said that we should celebrate the party as it falls.

So what he really meant was:

Book the trip!

Drink the beer!

Eat the damn chocolate bar!!

In that spirit, I'm ending the 3rd blog entry.

After all, there are drinks and sugary products that I have to consume before they go bad.

(We don't want to upset Buddha, right?)

Over & Out.