Koh Chang

I arrived at around 15:00 and walked the kilometer to the Koh Samet nature reserve entrance where from you get access to the beach. The sand was as white as the name suggests. Awesome! I found the place iaki was staying, got his room number from reception ad wet up to try find him. But as you can imagine whe there is a sunny, blue sky and a warm ocean hugging a white sand beach. Only idiots would spend the day in their room. So I dumped my big bag, took off my shoes and went for a stroll, greek spotting. I walked the length of 4 beaches with no luck, until I went to the room to leave him a note. This is when the bearded, pakistani tanned man showed himself. We hugged. Yes we did! Excellent to see each other again! The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on stories. This on the beach with a ice cold Beer leo and grande view of the ocean. The beaches here are pretty busy, with a very diverse crowd. In my opinion a better place than Koh Chang. This is far more chilled and really pretty.

Island pier

We spent the night, which started with a fire show, catching up over infamous Thailand cocktail buckets. Needless to say, it was good to see each other again!

firse show on white sand beacj koh samet

In our Sang Som (Thailands finest Whiskey) state we had made the plan to go for a jog at sunrise and the hire a kayak for the day. The jog... didnt happen, but the kayak, well the kayak was excellent. We got ourselves a two man, and had the plan of getting in a trip around the island. First to the lighthouse, then to the small rocky outcrop, then to Ko Chang (A small island just off the coast, not the big one) and then the plan to go all the way around. The island looks kinda like south America, but is only 7km in length. When we got about two thirds of the way we realised that we still had quite a way to go, water was low and the sun was... hot. So we went for the steep shore, and pulled the kayak up the cliff face. Then across to the other side (the island is only 400 meters wide in the south) and back to the familiar, calm, clear sea. A leisurely paddle ended our 7 hour expedition and left us with a well rounded sense of achievement. The rest of the afternoon was spent, once again on the white beach, reading, swimming and chilling. As you do on islands. Camilla, was also lounding on the beach, and she joined us for the rest of the afternoon and well into yet another wild night. Camilla is an Italian bed wife who was on her week break from Pakistan. Basically she delivers little Pakistani babies into the world. An awesome sprightly lady, who managed to prove us wrong every time we thought we were onto something.

Iaki and his pakistani tan

kayak in Ko Samet

manly men

The afternoon slowly turned to evening, and soo the fire show started again. This time Iaki and I were both prepared with our cameras. Camilla and I (iaki is allergic) couldnt resist the offer of crab, so together polished off 6 massive fiery red big ones. Glorious!

Bangkok was next on the cards, so in the mornig the three of us met up to have our last breakfast on the island. Instead of heading straight back to the tourist area of the capital we, or rather iaki, found an awesome alternative. A place called, the fishing farm. As the name suggests, a place where you can catch big fish. Got ourselves a taxi, git a lake side bungalow, Iaki got his kit, and the ext 12 hours would be spent chilling on the porch watching Iaki oull out the lake monsters. The place worked as follows, you hire a bungalow for 12 hours (21:00 - 9:00 or vice versa) and you fish (catch and release). A great place, except for the millions of mosquitos.

Iakis first cast into the lake

The lodges at the fishing camp

Iaki fought the initial beast for about 30 minutes, eventually, after having worked every muscle in his body he defeated the 30 kilo cat fish and netted it out. A hanus creature. Iaki had done it, he could tick... catch a massive Mekong catfish off his list. Even has the photo to prove it, but that will follow shortly as the PC here doesn't like my memory card. Then, while Iaki went to take a leak, I maned the rod. And believe it or not couch myself a mekong catfish too! Yes, not as big and strong as Iakis, but a Mekong catfish none the less. Once again photos will follow! Camilla, although being rather impressed with the manly fishing going on, had no desire to try it herself. Awesome to have you with us!

Mekong bohemith catfish weighing in at a modest 30 kilos

The next morning at 9:00 the fishing session was over and we headed back to the familiar Kao San Road. All three of us were nackered as we hardly managed to squeeze in any sleep between squashing mosquitoes and lyig on the wooded floor. So checked a hotel, and sorted out some admin. Tried to do as little as possible for the day! From bangkok we headed for Koh tao, where we are now... Soon to be licenced open water divers!

written by  ourindochina on February 15, 2008 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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written by  camilla on February 23, 2008

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