Life in Thailand: Vacationing on Koh Chang Island

The beaches on the island of Koh Chang are phenomenal! White sand stretches out quite a distance from the tropical tree-covered shoreline. Just kick off your sandals, run across the sand, and voila!, you're in the ocean and splashing about in the warm waves. The island is a tropical paradise, but hey, part of the experience depends on which resort you select - and how much baht (Thai money) you are willing to spend.

A small boy with arm floaties bravely heads into the surf at Koh Chang. Who can blame him!?! The place is as incredible as the photograph.

Elephant Island is a beautiful, rugged place with the best beaches located primarily on the eastern and western faces of the island. Two main roads hug both of these coastlines, with no major connection between these roads except at the main pier to the north. The rest of the island is impassable, mountainous jungle. We decided to stay on the southwestern side of the island, which is more popular and closer to the town.

--- Quick Recap ---
Koh Chang means "Elephant Island in Thai (Chang is Elephant, Koh designates Island). It's a rather large, mountainous island located in the Gulf of Thailand near Cambodia. There are no elephants on the island- that's just the name. However, the island is known for its pristine beaches and can be quite affordable during the rainy season. The resorts and hotel facilities can also be as modern or rustic as you would want them to be. A long weekend? Why not rent a car and drive on over? Throw in some special promotions from the local establishments and we were set to go!

After the long drive from Bangkok, we were very tired by the time we reached the pier in the middle of the afternoon. Disembarking the ferry at Koh Chang's main pier, we drove down the western coastline towards our hotel. Well, fine- let's clarify! The word resort is thrown around loosely in Thailand, but in this case, our hotel was a resort, and a very welcome sight for these travel-weary visitors!

Honeymoon couple taking photographs in a stunning environment.

The next morning we threw on our flipflops and swimsuits and headed out to the beach (see the photo above? We weren't the only ones with that idea!). The beach stretched on as far as we could see to our right and to our left and was mostly deserted at the time we arrived. The entire experience felt a bit like an episode out of the charming (but now quite old) TV show Gilligan's Island. Slowly, we began to see more tourists appear (this is the rainy season, remember!), but for the most part, we were staying on a private beach.

Legend. 1. The empty beach at crack of dawn! 2. Soon, some Thai tourists stop by and begin to take pictures. That's one lucky guy there! 3. Beautiful Thai lady taking a morning walk along a (nearly) deserted beach 4. Clouds looming in the early evening 5. Riverfront restaurant - very popular and affordable, but more fun in a group since the food is somewhat underwhelming

Like the beach bums that we are, we spent most of the day on the hot sand or in the shade of the coconut trees, catching a beautiful sunset before heading back to the resort. Now, Koh Chang follows a regular island schedule in which the regular folk go to bed with the sun. At this point in time, we were glad we stayed on the more populated Western shore, since we decided to drive into town and grab dinner with some live music. Unfortunately, options were limited (rainy season!), but the food was decent and the red wine quite good after the first several glasses.

Vacationing friends enjoying the water.

The next day, we rose with the sun and headed to the beach for an early morning stroll. Later, before the sun reached its peak, we "rented" a complimentary kayak provided by the resort to explore the area right off of our beach and a small stream nearby.

As far as adventures go, the size of Koh Chang and the dense jungle provide for many opportunities not afforded on some of the smaller, more accessible islands. Not a beach person? Activities for landlubbers also exist. Want to trek through the jungle? There are some decent trails around. Ride an elephant? Sure can do! Motorcycles and ATVs can also be rented for additional exploration.

But these weren't options for this group! After all, we'd come to the island for the beach and ocean, and beach and ocean we were going to get! We spent another several days lounging around and exploring the various beaches on Koh Chang before it was time to say our farewell.

Glorious sunset after a wonderful day

Almost as if knowing our trip was drawing to a close, there was a beautiful sunset the night before our departure. The weather had been mostly fabulous, with some intermittent rain interrupting our days (rainy season, after all!), but we had all thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.

Koh Chang, we won't say goodbye. Only, we'll see you when we see you!