Head out in the morning when there are no people around and the sea is always calmest. Spend a nice hour or so snorkelling around Koh Rom & Koh Suwan, the two islands nearest Klong Prao beach. Although much of the coral is dead in places, you can see loads of fish and hard corals just off the south west of Koh Rom.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that golf on Koh Chang was limited to a new crazy golf course in Kai Bae. Seems I was speaking too soon as a real, full size golf course looks set to be built on the island.
The plans haven't been officially announced yet so I'm not allowed to mention the exact location but I'd recommend that anyone with money start buying land in the Bangbao area as this would be worth a fortune should a golf course be built in the vicinity. Also worth a look for investment would be the new Tranquility Bay Residence, 70 condo units and 10 villas, only a couple of kilometres from the golf course with leasehold condominiums starting at 5.7 million for 60sqm and villas priced around 30 million baht. On-site Sales office will be opening in a week or so.
The Financial Times are doing a report on the best properties for people with an interest in fishing to buy abroad. (I know it looks like they're running out of stuff to write about, it's not, it's a 'niche'.) The writer emailed me to see if I wanted to feature our guesthouse as an example of a fisherman's house in Thailand, and I said 'Yes' as I've never had my name in the FT before. So it'll be interesting to see what they write.
Also in the papers was Koh Mak, chosen as one of The Sunday Times''Worlds Top Secret Beaches' in the Oct 22nd issue: "Koh Mak is six square miles of pristine beach and coconut palms that make the famously “undeveloped” Koh Chang, 10 miles north, look like Manhattan. Koh Mak is not without its hotels, but as we’re only talking about a dozen, and as most of these have only a handful of rooms, it’s startlingly easy to find a stretch of chalk-white beach to yourself along the island’s 15-mile shore. Prices are disconcertingly cheap, and Koh Mak has some of the planet’s best budget-luxury beach hotels."
Need a hotel? If you've already tried finding a room you'll know that the better value hotels & resorts on Koh Chang are already virtually full mid December - mid-February. You can send enquiries to the online agencies which is time consuming and the replies aren't always as quick as you might wish for. Or you can use the new form in the Accommodation section of this site. Have a Koh Chang based tour agency contact the hotels on your behalf and get the prices & availability sent to you.
There's a new speedboat service from Laem Ngop (mainland) - Dan Mai (on the east coast of Koh Chang) - Koh Wai - Koh Mak. Departs Laem Ngop at 10am. Returns from Koh Mak at 1pm. Laem Ngop - Koh Mak leg is 450 baht. Koh Chang - Koh Mak is 600 baht, including transport from your hotel to Dan Mai. Book through Matching Tour on Whitesands.
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