Klong Prao Area of Koh Chang, Thailand

I guess it's been 4 days now since I was at the other end of the Island around the Bai Lan Bay Area. New Year's Eve was quite a raucous affair in the area and fireworks were being let off starting around 9:00 PM carrying on until 2014 came into being.

My guest house, Lazy Republique got into the party spirit and I was awakened before midnight by Madonna's "Holiday". The music continued loudly until 1:30 AM... it was all good as the owner's musical tastes were right up my alley.

On New Year's Day, on the advice of Laun, my guesthouse owner, I walked about 1.5 miles up and down hills to the infamous "Lonely Beach". You know the saying, "you never get a second chance to make a good first impression". Well my first impression was "What a disgusting dump"!  I had turned in towards the beach at Siam Huts. Perhaps this is how a backpacker hostel is defined? I don't know, but I would definitely classify it as a dump. Had I checked in there, I wouldn't even have gotten out of the taxi. The huts on stilts reminded me of row housing. Very closed together, no privacy and garbage strewn about every place I looked. I was surprised to see what had been a burning mound of garbage right in front of a group of huts. Disgusting. (I've since come to realize that everything here gets burnt eventually, plastic bottles included. Shocking in this day and age coming from a first-world country). I wonder to myself that at one time the owner must've had a vision of the type of property he wanted to create. Was this his vision?

Siam Huts @ Lonely Beach

Laun told me to go to the very far end of the beach. So glad he told me to do this because my first impressions of Lonely Beach were not much better than my impressions of the Siam Huts. I walked as far down the beach as was possible (probably 10-15 minutes), and it was much nicer. The rentals on the beach looked to be "upscale" and for the most part the beach wasn't littered with garbage. 

Lonely Beach

I spent 5 hours or so on Lonely Beach and had lunch at the closest beachside restaurant. 

I could've taken a taxi back to my guesthouse but I was up for the exercise and wanted to stop in the little Lonely Beach enclave to buy some water and go to the Pharmacy to tend to my cold so I walked the 1.5 miles back to my guesthouse.

Lots of wild monkeys in this area. Scared the bajeezus out of me when I first saw one sitting on the road. Scared me so much that I crossed the road hoping all the while that he wouldn't try to jump on me. There were lots of monkeys on this particular part of Koh Chang (Bai Lan Bay area) so by the time I did the full walk I wasn't as fearful of them and stopped to take some photos of them from a safe distance.

There really isn't much happening in the area of my guest house so I order dinner at the guest house (fried fish that was very chewy and very spicy) with the ever-present white rice.

Breakfasts are included in my accommodation here. A hearty breakfast of tasty coffee, orange juice (which I haven't been able to stomach as it is definitely not the type I am used to), muesli with fresh fruit and yogurt and 2 pieces of toasted french bread with jam, and then a plate of pineapple and watermelon. Thailand seems to centre its life around food.

It's time for me to check out now and head to the Klong Prao area of the island. I have no clue which direction any place is on this island. I stand on the side of the road and flag down a songathew. I show him the address and the name of Baan Rim Nam (my next guesthouse). He says he can take me but he will only drop me on the highway. I know it's a 1 mile walk into the guesthouse from the road and I'm not keen on lugging my suitcase a mile on a mule trail. I convince him to bring me all the way into the guesthouse -- he agrees - for a price! 200 BHT but it was money well spent and he delivers me to the door. The road in here from the highway isn't all that bad. It's mostly paved until the last 1/4 mile which is sand, but I still wouldn't want to haul my luggage that far.

Baam Rim Nam is gorgeous.  I can easily see why it is rated in the Top 10 of B&B's in all of Thailand.   

No shoes/flip-flops allowed on the deck.

One of 2 decks at Baan Rim Nam.

Ian, the owner, gives me the lay of the land and a map he has created of the area, the best restaurants etc.  

I decide I'm up for a walk into the village area for lunch and find one of Ian's recommendations of a family-run restaurant. The place was packed and they were turning people away at about 3:00 PM. I order a pineapple shake which was absolutely delicious. Probably the tastiest fruit shake I've ever had. I order my usual stand-by, cashew chicken and decide to try some spring rolls. It was all very good. At the end of the meal they serve complimentary sliced watermelon. The bill was just over $3.00. I stop in at the Pharmacy to buy some pills called NAC 10 that a stranger had recommended to me when they heard me coughing. $9 for them but I'm getting quite fed up being sick by this point so am happy to try anything if it'll work. It's a scorching hot walk back to my guesthouse and I'm now having second thoughts about my bright idea of walking into town and back in the mid-day heat. Lesson learned. I don't do much the rest of the day except enjoy the lovely decks at Baan Rim Nam, and then I find the trail to Klong Prao beach and check it out. The sunset is gorgeous.