It’s really starting to feel like we are on holidays now.
Almost three weeks into our trip and we have spent the last week by the beach
on an island called Koh Chang near the Thai/Cambodian border. It’s a beautiful
little place. Very quiet at the moment as it is their low season but perfect
for relaxing which is exactly what we wanted.
After we left Chiang Mai we spent a few days in Pattaya
where we were lucky enough to have free accommodation thanks to Jill’s Mum’s
friends who own an apartment there, but are currently living in Denmark, so the
apartment was empty. This was awesome for us as the place was right in the
middle of town and the complex also had a swimming pool.
Pattaya was definitely an interesting experience. Little did we know but we happened to arrive
on the first day of a Buddhist weekend holiday which meant it was illegal to
sell alcohol. Now those that know anything about Pattaya will also know that
Pattaya is known for its seedy bars filled with Thai girls & ladyboys
trying to lure in customers, in particular older western men. There are old
Caucasian men absolutely everywhere in Pattaya. Most have a young Thai woman
with them and others are in the bars trying to pick up a young Thai woman. We
didn’t actually realise we’d arrived on the holiday until the following evening
when we decided we’d go out and enjoy the seediness of Pattaya. So we headed to
the most well known area which is Pattaya’s walking street. But we soon
discovered that whilst the street was quite full of people walking every single
bar was empty and when we went in one and ordered a beer we were quickly
hustled into the back of the bar and given the beer in a covered holder so that
authorities could not see we were drinking. It was amusing to say the least. We
decided that with no alcohol being served and barely anyone in bars that the
walking street was not the place to be that night so we headed back into the
main area of town and went to another bar where we were again given secret
drinks until the clock hit 11:30pm which apparently meant they were now allowed
to play music and serve alcohol again. So all the lights came on, music turned
up and we could start partying. It was a fun night. We were looked after by one
girl in the bar who would get our drinks, play pool with us and we even played
Jenga & Connect 4. She even gave us a few free shots from her secret stash
of “Thai whiskey” she had in a plastic bottle. Hmmm, possibly very dodgy but
hey, it was free and we’re on a tight budget J.
We had a great night out in Pattaya and got to see the other perspective as the
Thai girl looking after us was quite good at English and told us a lot about
her own life working in Pattaya in the bars.
After a few days in Pattaya we’d had enough and took a mini
bus & ferry to the island of Koh Chang which is still where we are now.
Koh Chang is in all probability the most beautiful place in
Thailand. It’s the second largest island in Thailand and has only one main road
circumnavigating it for people to get around. However, as we found out, the
road does not connect up with itself at the south point of the island. Meaning,
if you wanted to go from long beach in the south east to the fishing pier in
the south west, what would normally be a quick 10 min drive is actually more
like 100 min once you go all around the island. It was explained to us that
this is because taxi drivers have quite a bit of sway in the local government
and have thus far halted any plans to connect the road so that they can earn
more from fares around the island! But anyway, back to the ‘beautiful
island’. Blue-green waters, white sand
beaches, cool jungle covered mountains and MUCH more friendly locals than
Pattaya make this place so amazing! Needless to say we’ve spent as much time
here as we can.
Koh Chang is divided in two. The East and West sides. The
west side is predominantly tourist orientated, with sandy beaches lined with
resorts, bars and restaurants. The east is much more traditional Thai. Quaint
little villages filled with Fishermen, Rice and Pineapple farmers. While most
tourists stay should be based on the west side of the island, it is well worth
a day trip on a hired Scooter over to the east to see this traditional way of
life.
Our first stay on Koh Chang was at Lonely Beach (which in
high season is anything but). Known for slightly cheaper accommodation, Lonely
Beach is suited more for the backpacking visitor. A really cool area that has
maintained its ‘jungle’ feel. Most places to stay will offer a bungalow in
either a beach front or jungle setting ranging between $8 and $20AUD twin share
per night. If you don’t mind a slight hike up a hill to your room, I would
highly recommend you check out Siam Beach Resort’s Hillside bungalows. The view
of the beach and surrounding mountains from these rooms is breath-taking, and
it really adds a slight bit of adventure to your stay.
There is never a quiet night in Lonely beach. It seems each bar takes its turn
to put on a big ‘party night’ (even while we are here in low season). Your
average ‘party night’ would entail; DJ’s from about 6pm, fire twirling shows
from 8 and ridiculous drinks specials throughout the night. Drink specials are
generally AUD$2-4 Cocktails, or $3-5 ‘Buckets’. Now, a ‘bucket’ is quite
literally a bucket filled with about 4 or 5 shots of your chosen spirit and
topped with your preferred mix. The locals would opt for something like Sangsom
(a Thai-made Rum which is surprisingly tasty) with either Coke or Red Bull. The
strength of these buckets can vary greatly depending on whether the bar tender
wants to see you plastered or not haha. In which case a bit of flirting
definitely doesn’t go astray :)
My recommendations for Lonely beach (in addition to all the above) would be to
grab an awesome Pad Thai and watch some live Reggae at Ting Tong Bar and/or to
hit Siam Hut for a mean Red curry (and I mean MEAN). Oh, and if you’re missing
home a bit, Magic Garden has some of the best Burgers in the country!
After about a week long stay and a fair few ‘party nights’ in
Lonely Beach. The four of us headed up the Koh Chang coast to White Sands Beach
– the most established tourist area on Koh Chang. This place looks more like a
tourist town, a lot less little local food “huts” like there were in Lonely
Beach and there are even a few fast food places here although definitely none
of the big chains like McDonalds. Still
we managed to find a great place to eat on our first day here and have returned
many times since. In fact when we walked in there for dinner last night they
knew us straight away and go ‘4, same same’ meaning another table for 4 like
last time. They directed us to a table right near the fans after telling us the
first one we walked to was too hot and then gave us a free plate of fruit after
our meal as well. They serve delicious Thai food at exceptionally cheap prices,
you pay $1.30 for a huge plate of Pad Thai.
Yesterday we hired scooters for the second time, to explore
the Eastern side of the island which as we said above it very different to the
Western side. We rode through small local villages and saw barely any tourists
along the way. We had a great afternoon however got a little sunburnt by the
end of the day. The first time we hired scooters was last week from Lonely
Beach where we took the opportunity to explore the South West of the island
including a seafood lunch on the pier in the tiny village of Bangbao.
We are headed back to Bangkok tomorrow so we are enjoying
our final day here by lazing around the pool next to the ocean and then I dare
say we’ll be enjoying some more cheap Thai food at our favourite local
restaurant later tonight. Oh and no, we haven’t just been drinking and eating
the whole time we’ve been away. This post is a lot about alcohol and food!
Although we’ve definitely been making the most of everything Thailand has to
offer.
