Long Beach, Ko Chang

We waited at the 7/11 for our pick up to take us to Long Beach on the other side of the island. The road there is very rough and further on is off road for some of the way. I was sure that our bags would be thrown from the top of the car with some of the bumps and twists in the road but somehow they stayed put.
We stayed at the Tree house beach bungalows for the first couple of nights. It was a very hippyish place with all the  materials being from natural sources, namely bamboo and palm trees. The basic wooden huts and bar/restaurant are perched on the north end of Long Beach on the hill (the beach actually should be named Short Beach, not long at all!). Our accommodation was very basic, just a shite mattress and little else but a mosquito net. The toilets and bucket shower were separate and shared.

I was quite suprised to find such a broad range of guests here as opposed to the hippie stereotypes I had in my mind on the way here. Of course they were here in droves as well but there was also families, groups of senior citazens and proper people like us mingling among the great unwashed. Bongo playing, tye dye and those vile baggie hippie pants with the giant crotch down to the floor were all in abundance here on Long Beach.

 

 

Despite its laid back charm the Tree House had its problems. The electricity only ran from 6pm till 1am and the first night there was a couple of power cuts, the first of which nearly had me falling down a set of stairs on the way to the toilet- not impressed! The second day the water ran out so the toilets couldn't be flushed and no one could get showered- that makes for a lot of smelly hippies. The over laxed staff didn't sort it or even offer up any sort of apology so we upped sticks and moved down the beach to the Zion beach bungalows. They were right on the beach and were a lot cleaner and also had a shower all for 500 Baht per night (10 quid). We were much happier here and settled in straight away.

 

  

  

  This view takes some beating! It was easy getting out of bed in the morning with that on your door step

 

The owner of Zion was a 30 something Frenchman named Yan who listened to reggae and hip hop and smoked weed all day. There were about 7 resident dogs that didnt really do much apart from squabble for shade in the midday sun.
On Thursday we hired a kayak and took it out on the open waters. It was much harder that I thought it would be but something tells me my paddling partner was not giving it her all! Still we made it to the nearest island in under an hour. The island was beautiful with only one hotel on it. I was bursting for a shit when I got there but the bastards wouldn't let me use the toilet despite buying 2 cans of Fanta from them, whats the world coming to!? I thought about tarnishing their brilliant white sands but the thought of being arrested for such an act and thrown in jail put me off. Instead we got back in the kayak and once out of the bay I jumped in the water once I heard natures call and let rip- I was not proud of it but the tight bastards left me with no choice!