Koh Chang

Our journey from Cambodia into Thailand was reminiscent of the television series "The Amazing Race". We caught a taxi, then a ferry, then another taxi, then a bus, then another taxi - running between each - until we jumped on the final ferry headed to Koh Chang with less than a minute to spare. Our race was well worth it though when we arrived at the island which was every bit as relaxing as we had hoped. We originally were going to skip Koh Chang because we'd heard such bad weather reports from other travellers, but as we seem to have done many times on our travels, we took the sunshine with us. We had three days of near perfect weather and we spent our time doing what has become our catch phrase on this trip: "relaxing, eating, drinking and swimming". We also found Koh Chang to be the best place for motorbike riding. Because of its size you could spend a full day riding continuously on the open roads and checking out the many gorgeous beaches tucked away across the island. Granted, there were some more difficult times on the bikes - such as when we had to carry them across a creek because of a broken bridge, to later find we'd be carrying them back across because of a no-through-road ahead! But all in all our riding was so much fun and for Wayne it was his first time riding on this trip, so he was stoked to finally get a chance to get on the bikes.

Long Beach

On the bikes again

One of the many views across Koh Chang

Bol and Wayne cross the creek with the motorbikes

We stayed at Paradise Cottages, which were basic but as the name suggests, absolutely gorgeous. Because it was low season on the islands we paid just 100 baht ($4) for a bungalow on the beach which is usually 400 baht. Bargain! We slept each night with all the windows and doors open so the sea breeze filled the room. The bed was positioned so that our heads were next to a massive window which looked out to the ocean. We'd awake each morning as the sun rose to look out across the sea with the sea breeze gushing in our faces. It was just amazing. Koh Chang was definitely a fantastic start to our return trip to Thailand - and our final month in South East Asia. Next off to Bangkok and Kanchanaburi, which will both be like returning home.

Our humble hut

This is where we'd eat breakfast each morning at our guesthouse

"David" shows you the view from our guesthouse at low tide

Fire twirlers performed on the beach near our guesthouse each night