Koh Chang - the third island

On our way from Cambodia to Bangkok, we take a detour to our third Thai island, Koh Chang. Here we want to make up for what the storm on Koh Phangan prevented us from doing: scuba diving.

By now, we are used to the fact that the journey from one place to another always takes a whole day here, and this time is no different. After more than two hours of waiting at the border between Cambodia and Thailand, we reach Koh Chang just in time for the last ferry of the day - luckily we have already arranged our diving course in advance!

The next day, we are picked up by David, the owner of the small diving school in town, and the final formalities are discussed. After that, Manu has the rest of the day "off" as she is already a certified diver. For Jakob, on the other hand, the training to become an Open Water Diver begins: the morning consists of theory, where you learn all the important things - in the afternoon, you get to try it out for the first time in the swimming pool. Here, you learn how to handle the diving equipment and practice various diving skills such as descending and ascending, clearing your mask, and providing your dive buddy with air if they run out.

The next day, we go out to sea by boat, and this time Manu is joining us. Today, we have to complete the first two dives in open water! Once the initial nervousness has subsided, it's really fun to swim underwater with the fish and explore the underwater world! We feel more comfortable in the water than on the ship, which is heavily shaken by the waves and makes us a little seasick. When we are back on solid ground, we realize that diving has really tired us out, so we decide to end the day very comfortably.

The next day, we have four dives ahead of us! The first one takes us to the wreck of the HTMS Chang, an old warship intentionally sunk there, which now attracts millions of fish - unbelievable how much life there is in the sea! The other dives take us to the two reefs we visited the day before - this time we are already relaxed and can collect more impressions and enjoy the dives.

In conversation with our diving instructor Michael, we learn that air pollution in Bangkok is particularly bad at the moment, so we don't hesitate to extend our stay on Koh Chang for two more days. This way, we have four more leisurely days here, which we enjoy to the fullest with relaxed beach days, exploring the island by motorbike, and Thai massages.

Jakob getting a Thai massage

If you look closely, you can see a few monkeys on the rocks