We woke up a little bit late this morning mainly due to the shenanigans from the night before and playing jenga until bar close. We had it set in our minds that this portion of the trip was strictly going to be for a little R and R so the occasional 11AM wake up went without consequence. Yesterday when I was picking up some shaving cream, I ran into a guy that clearly wasn't native to Thailand due to his skin color and asked him where a good place to get a good massage was. As I mentioned earlier, on day 2 we went to get a traditional Thai massage and were terribly disappointed with the result. I had heard so many good things about them so I wasn't going to let one bad experience ruin it for the rest of my life. He told us there was a little place down the road called Cookies 2. Judging by the name, I kind of had a good idea of what kind of massage he was talking about, but he assured us that it wasn't that. We took note of his recommendation and, with the sun out, felt it was ideal to go spend some time in the water.
Three hours later, our pruned bodies convinced us that we had worn out our welcome as well as the storm clouds slowly approaching. Right around 3 o'clock everyday there would be hurricane like rain for about an hour or two then it would clear up for the rest of the evening. This would hold true every day in Koh Chang. So, just before our daily downpour, we managed to find Cookies 2 and felt it would be a perfect time killer to get away from the ensuing weather.
Thankfully we listened to our new buddy about this massage place because it was amazing. Just for a reference point, if you are going to get one of these massages, make sure you find the oldest, most grizzled woman there. She has the uncanny ability to snap your body in half if she so pleases as well put her elbow into knots in your mid back that will make your heart skip a beat. This is exactly what we were looking for though. This is was all of the fuss was about. Although a bit pricier than the last place we went to in Bangkok, it was well worth it, despite fighting back tears of pain or pleasure, I am not sure which. Once we were done, the storm had cleared, we thanked our pain inducing massage therapists and went on our way, completely refreshed.
On our way back to the hotel, Dougie and I stopped at an internet cafe/motorbike rental/island activities office to plan out our next day. The previous night, that German guy who talked to us about Chiang Mai gave us some ideas of what we could do while we were staying on the island. I had mentioned that I would like to go deep sea fishing and snorkeling at the very least, anything else would be a bonus. He had said there was a boat run called Thai Fun and it was well worth the 1250 baht ($42) per person price tag. At the island office, this was one of the activities that was offered so we decided to book it. As with everything else we have done on this trip, we took the advice of a stranger and went for it. While looking at the brochure, it seemed to offer everything we wanted to do; see the surrounding islands, snorkel, fish, eat, and relax. The only catch was the 7AM wake up time which ended up being a terrible struggle because after some standard street meat, it was off to the bar for some more games until about 2AM...
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| Late night snack |
Day 7 Koh Chang
Once again, the decision to stay out late proved to be our achilles heel. It wasn't even the fact that we may have had a beer or two, it's just that being out in the sun all day, walking around, trying to take everything in, and enjoying a nightlife has a tendency to take its toll. Nevertheless, we were excited to get on a boat today for out 10 hour excursion around Koh Chang and the surrounding islands. We were the first stop since White Sand Beach is in the northern part of the island. We would find out later that Koh Chang is actually 20km long so it's actually a rather large tropical island destination if you compare it to similar places like Ko Samui, Ko Samet, or Ko Phi Phi. The first order of business for me was to get some shut eye while we picked up the other passengers. The calm rocking of the boat and the subtle breeze were enough to put me out within minutes.
In an instant, I was awakened by our guide for the day, Nok. Since we had rounded up the rest of the troops and set sail on our journey, Nok gave us a little run down of what was to take place on our full day outing. She said we would be weaving in and out of several of the 52 islands that we in the surrounding area, that we would have a lunch, a later snack, 3 spots to snorkel, a place to test our fishing skills, and finally a challenge to the patrons that anyone who could beat her in a game of Connect 4, would have their choice of any alcoholic beverage on board the ship. Under normal circumstances, my ears would have perked up immediately, but on this occasion, I needed at least another hour of sleep before gambling for booze was going to be an option. She said that we had 3 hours until we reached our first destination and to just relax and enjoy the beauty that surrounded us.
Our first stop was a small island (I have no idea what it was called) and we were told we had 45 minutes to either snorkel or just to hang out on the beach. We were also told that out of the 3 spots where were could get in the water, this was probably the least favorable as far as the sights. Dougie and I were pumped to snorkel so we opted to get in the crystal clear water.
The horn from our boat was engaged and we knew it was time to get back on deck to continue on to our next destination. An hour later we were anchored just outside of another island and boats brought people on shore for some sightseeing and relaxing. Dougie and I decided to stay on the boat as most of the others went in and we were told that we were in deep enough waters if we wanted to jump off the top deck. Fact: in addition to large, deep, open bodies of water, my second crutch is heights. With devastating thoughts running through my head, the scream of a man jumping 30 feet off the top of the boat into the water almost forced me to soil myself. I had to do it though. I had already shown myself that I could handle the snorkeling aspect so there was no way I was going to stop there, plus, I was in Thailand. I did the best I could to pump myself up, scaled the ladder to the roof, and climbed over the railing onto a metal plank. It was at this moment where I asked myself what the hell I was doing. Again, with plenty of hesitation and the encouragement of my friend, I blindly hurled myself into the unknown. Though, as I hit the water this time, there was no panic, no fear, only exhilaration, satisfaction. It may seem trivial to most, but I had conquered two of my biggest fears in a single act of stupidity. Hungry for more, I made sure I took this leap of faith as many times as possible to prove to myself that the first time wasn't a fluke. Feeling confident, I managed to drag a middle aged Swedish woman into my insanity as well, and surprisingly she couldn't thank me enough for it.
On our way to our final stop, we passed an island the Nok felt was worth mentioning. It was simply named Volcano Island, for obvious reasons. On the shore of the island lay 4 or 5 enormous volcanic rocks, a contrast of black amidst the beautiful white sands and teal water. The reason this particular place was deemed significant is because there are no volcanoes within around 1000 miles of this place.
Finally we got to our last snorkeling spot and it was breathtaking. Bread was thrown into the waters surrounding us to attract an array of brightly colored fish and we took the next hour swimming amidst this beauty. Nok found it necessary to throw bread at people from the top deck so while you were swimming peacefully, an all out feeding frenzy was taking place around your unprotected ears. Of course she was in stitches laughing as others swam in terror below.
Nok was definitely right when she said that this would be the best place for us to snorkel. The waters we a little bit choppy at this time so it was amazing to see the calmness and serenity below. When we got back on the boat, Nok thanked us for being careful as we swam around the corals because apparently it takes 10 years for the coral to grow 1 cm and 1000 years for it to grow 1 meter not to mention it is very delicate and fragile so a stray flipper could potentially be devastating.
On the way back our guide humored us for 3 hours with card tricks, slight of hand tricks, riddles, and brain teasers. We had a great time and soon, this entire group of strangers was now laughing and working together to try to solve some of the riddles and puzzles that Nok had challenged us to. And just like that, our day with the Thai Fun crew had come to an end. Something I would definitely recommend to people going down to this area.
It was about 6pm by this point and I had scheduled to have some ink done by the people that saved us from the first day down pour so I went to that and, in the meantime, Dougie went to grab something to eat and then down to the bar. I have been drawn towards tattoos since I was legal to get one so I figured it would be a memorable experience to have some work done in Thailand. Initially, I was just going to have 2 of my tattoos finished but midway through, I thought it would be a special experience to have a traditional bamboo tattoo inked in so I went for it. Everything these guys did turned out great and was completed at a price that could not be beat. After laying in a chair having pain driven into my body from 6pm until 130am, it was time to go home and get ready for the next day.
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