Ko Chang

We woke up early to pack then went for a hearty breakfast to set us up for the trip to Ko Chang from Pattaya. Mark had managed to hire a large 3 litre 4 x 4 pickup for the journey which saved us from a long and uncomfortable bus ride. Ko Chang is Thailand's 2nd biggest island and is one of the main places i wanted to visit on this trip. It is a very mountainous island covered with a blanket of thick jungle teaming with wild life. It is fringed with miles of white sandy beaches and crystal clear sea- perfect. The drive there was a good laugh and Mark's expert driving skills kept us on time to make the 12.30pm ferry even after a slight detour through some country roads!
By the time we arrived on the island I started to feel a bit sick and had lost my appetite but i put it down to the long long journey and being thrown around on some of Thailand's steepest and bumpiest roads. After about spending 15 minutes on the beautiful White Sands beach I felt terrible to went back to the digs. I spent the next 8 hours either on the toilet or being sick- nightmare. Alba went to the pharmacy for me and they gave me some electrolytes and anti-biotics to deal with what looked like food poisoning. After taking those for a few hours I felt much better! Looking back i think it must have been the prawn curry I had at the shady looking Neeroys on my last night in Pattaya- avoid!
The next 2 days were spent exploring the island. We visited a waterfall with a really good pool for swimming in which would have been better if it wasn't full of hairy Russians. We drove around the east and west coasts, stopping at sleepy fishing villages and beaches. Alba started to feel ill on Wednesday and it looked like food posioning again so she was confined to the toilet for 12 hours but was much better the next morning.

We said our goodbyes to Mark, Alan and Ay on Thursday morning. Staying with them for the last week and a half has been great. All of their help, Marks driving and of course excellent company has given us a good start to our trip. Today is out last day on White Sands before moving to Long Beach on the South East end of the island. It is a lot quieter there and we plan on chilling out there for at least a few days before heading back to the west coast. We like Ko Chang so much that we have decided to stay here for a good while- probably for another month after this week. Less traveling about will give is more money to do more activities here as well as more time to really get to know the place.

I was uploading some photos yesterday when the computer I was using went tits up and deleted my entire memory card, I was completely gutted and almost in tears as I had about 100 good ones to put up. Damn those shitty external card readers!