Ko Chang

It seems obscene to say this but we have just been on holiday. Sorry, maybe that should read "Holiday from our Holiday." The excuse for this was the arrival of my good friend Julian from London. Julian and I have known each other since I could sit on a chair and dangle my legs. I know this because there is an old school photograph in circulation that clearly shows this. But moving along, Julian and another friend Brad joined Nipun and I in Bangkok for a few days, Brad went back to work and the rest of us... Well, we went to the beach.

Ko Chang is about five hours from Bangkok by minivan, then about another half an hour on the ferry. It is rich with palm trees, has long stretches of sand and turquoise water that is warm but still refreshing. It also has sand flies, horrible little blighters that attack your back and leave it feeling like you have come off a motorbike and have lumps of gravel in your skin. But that it is another story, and one that can be taken in your stride. Most importantly Ko Chang has little bungalows on the beach, basic but passably clean and somewhere to sleep if nothing else.

As this is my second post today (self inflicted through prior indolence) I am taking the cheeky option out, the one that says it is worth thousand words and that can be seen below. We leave Bangkok in a few hours for the last time. I love this city and can't wait to come back, who knows when (miss you already).

A couple of cheeky memories from the island before memory fails us though. When Jules went for a massage he earned himself the name of Pompoi. This translates as cuddly, especially around the mid-section. The fishing trip wiped the smile off my face though, whilst Nipun and Julian hauled in the fish I caught sunburn. And some things are better forgotten, included in these was the bus journey back to Bangkok where the AC unit poured barrels of water into the bus, sloshing about on the seat next to Jules and drenching all our luggage. Click the images to see them larger, the colours seemed to have been badly unsaturated on upload.

Sunset, KP Huts, Ko Chang

Dawn, Ko Chang. The sun's rays slices through the palm trees and illuminates the back edges of them. Such a beautiful time of the day, especially for sand flies.

Digging for shrimps. Tried to take this without getting caught, hence missed the top edges of the spades. Doh, one to reshoot one day.

Dusk