On the Island of Ko Chang, time stands still

Hey Richie here again. After Ayutthaya we headed straight for the island of Ko Chang, but unfortunately our first road trip in Betsy was a failure. Chris told us that it would be a 3-4 hour drive but it took us closer to 7 and so we missed the ferry. But it turned out to be a good thing because we got to stay the night in the little town of Trat, where the people were so friendly and welcoming. We decided it would be a great place to stay in Betsy for the night.

We went to Ko Chang the next day and proceeded to do pretty much nothing for over a week. Seriously, time stands still in that place, its the laziest place on earth........ deadly! We stayed in a placed called Sunset Huts, where all the huts were right by the sea and about 3 minutes walk to the Lonely Beach. Kev stayed in Betsy the whole time while on Ko Chang, and had her parked just behind our hut on the first day.
After being there only 5 minutes he came up to our hut from behind and a 6 foot long snake raised up from the grass and hissed at him. He froze but thankfully it shot off real quick. He asked me what kind of snake I thought it was and I said only one kind of snake rises up like that. Reading an information leaflet the next day confirmed that yes, it was a bleedin KING COBRA! nice....

Flowers outside the Sunset Huts

Lonely Beach, just a stone's throw from our hut

There's Betsy taking in some shade under a coconut tree!

Most days we chilled on beach, where the water on some days was as still as that of a bath tub, which meant that you could use either a snorkel or just a pair of goggles to swim under and around the rocks and just watch all the sweet fishies. At one stage I had a close encounter with a puffer fish, the guys who inflate themselves and are covered in spikes. Freaked me out a little but he ran a mile before I did so happy days.

Our nights consisted mostly of partying and getting tanked (responsibly of course). Me and Tams were introduced to Sang Som buckets and it was love at first bucket.

During one of these messy nights I got accosted by my first Lady body near the men's toilet! "Welcome to Thailand big man!!", her/his name was "Rain". I made it official immediately that I wasn't interested. But I wasn't rude and they hung out with us for the rest of the night and actually turned out to be a great laugh.

Men to the right, women to the left.
Lady boys have the option of both!

The only stray from the nightly norm was Kev getting a tattoo. He had the idea of getting the name of the van, "Sexy Betsy" on his........ well on his ass. It was more of a joke at first, but Ko Chang turned out to be full of tattoo artists, who used the traditional method of using bamboo rather than a machine.
One guy called Blue was, like most Thai people, was so amused at the sight of Betsy that he offered Kev a free tattoo. So he couldn't resist I guess. The tattoo parlor was basically the front room of his home...

Blue, Kev and Blue's daughter watching Popeye in Thai.

The finished product!

One of the most amazing things though about Ko Chang though was the Sunsets. Sitting back in a Hammock in the aptly named Sunset huts with a cold beer and watching the sky on fire is one of the most beautiful things I think I've ever experienced.

Not a bad view from your hammock eh?
Book + Beer + Sunset = A bloody good holiday

We wanted to stay in Ko Chang for about 2 weeks but decided with time issues it would be better to leave it earlier. We stayed for about 9 days or so and then left with Bangkok as the next destination. But due to us all having become used to the incredible laziness of the place, we took our time and it was dark by the time we were on the ferry off the island.

A storm came down and so we decided shack up in Trat again for the night. Where some of the people we had met the week before decided to keep their modest bar open till all hours and party with us.
We woke up in Betsy the next morning feeling like death, smelling worse, and had a 6 hour drive to Bangkok ahead of us. We slapped on some wake up tunes and hit the road. I love it......

Pass the beer, I might just stay!