We decided to end our week long stay on the islands by spending two nights in Koh Mak – a smaller island off of Koh Chang. We took a slow boat from Koh Chang’s fisherman’s village and an hour later we were on a gorgeous new island. Even before getting off the boat, I could already see that the water was crystal clean turquoise and the scenery resembled one of those posters you see in a tour agency. Koh Mak is definitely less touristy than Koh Chang with far less resorts, restaurants and activities. There are stretches of land where you see nothing but trees (and dogs). It is very quiet and somewhat secluded, a perfect romantic getaway. Continue Reading »
We love to write about all of the beautiful and interesting things we see in our travels around Asia. However, not everything in the world is so pretty and Asia is no exception. We wanted to share with you a sad article about the abduction and trafficking of women from Vietnam to other countries in the region like Cambodia.
Reporter Nicholas D. Kristof has covered this issue as well as others extensively in several parts of the world and he has a page of video reports on YouTube.
When we arrived on the small island of Koh Mak we were already hungry from the long but beautiful ride by “slow boat†from Koh Chang. After checking into our resort, Monkey Island, we asked the receptionist for a recommendation for local seafood. He said he knew of a restaurant that was open and after one phone call they were on their way to pick us up from the resort!
After about 20 minutes we were picked up by a middle aged Thai woman in a taxi which on these islands is always a covered pickup truck with 2 benches to sit on in the back. She drove us to the restaurant and the ride turned out to be a freebie (to and from the resort). Not only that, but after bringing us to the restaurant the driver then put on a smock and went back to cooking for the other customers already seated at the restaurant. Continue Reading »
We’ve just uploaded a new album of photos from the island of Koh Mak in the Koh Chang Archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand. This island is smaller than Koh Chang with less tourists and activities but offered an excellent getaway from big island life, plenty of roads to explore by motorbike (or bicycle) and very nice beaches and seafood. Click here to view the photos!
We’ve added a new video of the friendly animals (pigs, cat, dogs) from the Coral Resort at Kaibe Beach in Koh Chang, Thailand. Everyone mostly gets along although I’m not sure there’s a lot of love there. But we loved these guys!
We stayed a total of seven nights on the island of Koh Chang and four of those were at a very nice resort, the Coral Resort, located at the northern end of Kaibe Beach. This is not a huge resort or even a fancy resort like the ones a bit further North at Klong Prao Beach. But this resort had what we needed and more.
We opted for a private cabin with air-conditioning which ran us 2,000 Thai Baht ($53) a night. Identical cabins with a sea view were 2,500 but from our cabin the sea was still visible between the neighboring “sea-view cabinsâ€. Walking about 20 meters brought us to the edge of the sea for an unobstructed view. Continue Reading »
A few days ago, while riding around Koh Chang, Kevin and I stopped to ask for directions and discovered a charming little cafe called “Lanna’s Cafeâ€. It is located at the southern tip of Kai Be beach, right before the road becomes steep and winding leading to Lonely Beach. The place is run by a Thai-Japanese couple who offer organic Arabic coffee grown in the North of Thailand. All the coffees and teas served can be bought in beautifully designed packages. Due to some inexplicable health streak we’re on, we opted for organic tea instead of coffee and it was excellent!
The cafe is a very cute spot for chillin’ in the afternoon. We stayed for drinks and a chat with Uta (one of the owners) about life in Koh Chang. Uta and her husband also have a cute kitty named Pancake (I suspect he got that nickname since his daily regiment consists of 22hrs laying flat on his belly, 2 hrs for eating). Pancake happens to look a lot like Dewey, the hero of a book I got as a gift from a friend for this trip. I just had to take a picture of the two of them!
My last similar post was a bit of a false alarm. We had gone several days without Internet access but then we found wifi in our hotel room shortly after. This time we’re heading to Koh Mak, a smaller island in the Koh Chang Archipelago, and we’re likely to have more offline time than online for the next 3 days until we reach Chang Mai in the North of Thailand. However, that will give us more time to take photos and post them soon enough. See you soon!
The only part of my body that doesn’t actually ache at the moment is my fingers which is why I am able to type this post. This morning Kevin and I got picked up at our resort and drove to the northern tip of the island for a full day of trekking in the jungle. We sat in a back of a pickup truck while the driver took us through steep mountain roads. As we were driving north, we had a chance to meet the other members of our small group (a French couple and a Scottish couple) and I noticed that all but me were wearing professional trekking shoes. Hmm. I definitely have a pair somewhere at home in New York where I will never ever need to use them. Continue Reading »
