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Koh Chang (Elephant Island)

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Getting there is the adventure.

It is often said that thej ourney is the adventure. i do not want to take anything away from the unspoiled virtures of Koh Chang - the Island of Elephants, but the trip is worth reteilling.

A travel webiste summarizes the trip, "To reach the KOH CHANG MARINE NATIONAL PARK you need to travel eastbound to Trat, the easternmost province in the Gulf of Thailand that borders Kampuchea.This is the jumping-off point to the islands. "

That is easier said than done. The trip started with an ealry morning taxi ride to the bus terminal. There we transefered to an air conditioned bus. at the Ekamai Bus Terminal, the main terminal for the eastern provinces. It is located at the Ekamai section of Sukhumvit Road Air-conditioned and ordinary buses depart almost every hour as shown in the timetable here. The trip is about 5 hours. The bus was quite nice, airline type seats and a "steward" who offered us water and face wipes.
Somwhere along the way te bus stoped at a lonely, but welcome outpost. Toilets, and food were available. I can't tell you where we werem but it was abiout the 3 hour point of the bus ride.

{short description of image}The final stop for the bus was in Trat. The main transportation in Trat is by Songthaew which literally means two rows. Songthaews are pick-up trucks modified for public transportation.Essentially they have two rows of seats at the back of the truck where passengers sit face to face.The travel site says, "They can accommodate up to 8 or 10 people depending, of course, on the size of the passengers.". Realistically, 4 of us with luggage, filled the truck.


The next stop was the home of schoolmate of our Thai friends. He graciously offered his Suzuki Samuri for us to use te next few days. There was not too much time for the two men to catch up on old times as we had less than one hour to catch the last ferry for the night.
From Trat to Koh Chang there are three ferry services, each with a differnet landing. Our new found friend from Trat had made reservatons at a resort and advised us which ferry would get us the closest.

All of the the ferry landings are located in the Amphur (district) of Laem Ngob.The fare is about 20 Baht per person. Vehicle-carrying ferries and taxi or chartered boats are ready to take you to Koh Chang.

We took the Ao Saparrot Ferry. If you look at the map to the right, there is a slim finger at the upper end of the island. The strip of land is wide enought for one row of bungalows. So each room has two different water views.

Lodging was about 1,000 baht per night, including an "American" style breakfast for two. (1,000 baht is about $25 US)
PICTURES TO FOLLOW.
 
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