30 Nov

30 Nov - Who needs Whitesands when you've got Klong Kloi Beach near Bangbao?

Two days ago martial law was lifted from the majority of provinces in Thailand, leaving the populace free once again to lead their lives without fear of waking up one night to the sound of a tank being parked in their back yard and having their house stormed by soldiers intent on confiscating every last Thai Rak Thai souvenir 'Election 2005' t-shirt in the land. But, here on Koh Chang martial law is still in place as several areas of Trat province, including Koh Chang & Koh Kood, are apparently considered potential hotbeds of political unrest and subversive activity. Do your bit to help. Next time you see illegal gatherings of half a dozen beach vendors chatting away by their motorbikes or a group of massage women huddled together under a palm tree, feel free to approach them, brand them insurgents and reprimand them for not doing their bit to bring peace and harmony to the nation.

'Crust' has recently opened down in Klong Prao - opposite the temple and is making real bread i.e. bread with texture & taste, which is a bit of a novelty for Koh Chang. I tested a wholegrain loaf on customers at breakfast and they loved it. Well worth a stop if you fancy making sandwiches yourself for a picnic lunch. Open 7am-10am & 4pm-7pm. The chocolate croissants are good, the ones with marmalade on top must be an acquired taste though.

It's not only the locals who drive way too fast on the island's narrow roads, last week an expat woman living & working on Koh Chang was knocked off her motorbike and killed by a hit & run driver. The driver was a European instructor working for a dive school in Bangbao.

Quite a few people who email me looking for houses on Koh Chang have a budget of around 4 million baht or so. On KC this would get you a three storey shophouse by the main road with no garden, no sea views, and not within easy walking distance to the beach. On Koh Mak this would get you a teak wood villa on 800sqm of land with sea views, and 5 minutes walk to the beach. If that isn't a big enough garden area, buy a house on 1600sqm of land for another million baht. More info here

If you're looking for a hotel room from mid December until the first week of January, you're going to have big problems. Forget about New Year - everything that's worthwhile booking on, near or in the vicinity of a decent beach has been booked.

It's Christmas soon, I know this because I had to spend a couple of days in Bangkok and met up with a friend in Starbucks. It took me a while to figure out why the place was bedecked in red and green and the staff were wearing red hats. I just wanted a mug of the 'Coffee of the Day but couldn't bear the embarrassment of being the only person in there not to be drinking a designer concoction - so a Gingerbread Latte with whipped cream it was. And with that I sat back and joined the ranks of those sniggering at anyone standing there befuddled by the choice of drinks that vaguely resemble coffee.

23 Nov

23 Nov - Phase 1 of the new Tranquility Bay development is now on sale. If owning a fully furnished, luxury low rise condo or beach villa with superb sea views and easy access to the islands south of Koh Chang sounds like an enticing prospect . . .that's because it is. Leave Phuket, Samui & Pattaya to the masses and consider Koh Chang for a second home in paradise a.k.a. Thailand. Click for Photos, plans, information and gentle persuasion as to why you should buy a place here.

Tip for anyone thinking of getting married on Koh Chang, bring your own music. Whilst the couple who had their ceremony on Klong Prao beach recently may have been lost in the moment, onlookers were forced to put up with dirge such as 'The Power of Love' , 'Take my Breath Away' and other 80s synth & drum machine driven romantic ballads. These give anyone within earshot - (or was it only me?) - flashbacks to a night of embarrassing fumbling and fondling at the 6th Form disco. So, have some consideration for other beach users and bring your own CD of decent tunes, preferably those which illicit fond memories in the mind of listeners and not flashbacks of teenage angst.

The weather has been great, the sea is calm, avoid the weekends and the tour boats aren't busy. (Avoid the tour boats and you'll have islands to yourself.) The Marine Department had their big boat from Bangkok out the other day surveying boat captains to see how many people were on the boat, how often they took people out, how many people visited the snorkelling islands per day etc.

What are they watching? A) Tom & Katie sunning themselves whilst honeymooning on Koh Chang? B) A troop of sea gypsies who play impromptu jazz concerts for passing boats in return for loose change? C) A showing of the James Bond film 'Moonraker', that's being projected onto a cliff face as part of the Koh Chang International Film Festival D) Something else.

It isn't A), as eagle eyed readers will have spotted Tom & Katie are in disguise and on the boat. You think that's a grey haired woman who really should know better than to wear a bikini at her age. Think again. B) As this photo was taken on a Thursday - the traditional day of rest for sea gypsies of Burmese descent - this cant be the correct answer. C) A trick question, as, having won the Best Foreign Film category for the past 26 years, 'Moonraker' wasn't entered into this year's celebration of celulloid due to fears of possible explosion of immorality on KC caused by exposing Thai youths to the wily western charms of 'Dr Holly Goodhead', which only leaves D). See the new 'Day on the Boat' Photo Gallery for the answer.

Down in Bangbao there's a very nice fisherman's house for sale in excellent condition and for a very sensible price. See the photo to the right. If you've ever fancied a dive school or simply a house where you can walk out of your living room and into your boat then this is it. The asking price includes all furniture, fixtures & fittings including AC unit, satellite TV, phone line etc

Paulo and his girlfriend are looking for anyone who's interested in sharing a private hire minivan from Siem Reap to Koh Chang on 5th January. If you'd like to share the cost, please email Paulo direct as soon as possible at: < Paolino.Tona@ifp.fr >

Finally, a nice story from a family who took a tour organised by their hotel to see how local people live. They were packed off in a minibus with a young Thai woman who they assumed must be a fellow guest at the hotel as she never said a word to them. It was only half way through the day that it clicked that she must be the guide. So with that misunderstanding out of the way the family went off to see how local people fish. This entailed spending 3 hours on a small boat bobbing around in Klong Son bay. Needless to say the novelty wore off and so they asked the guide "Do your customers ever get bored doing this?" The reply was "I don't know, this is my first time here." The moral of this story is not to automatically expect your guide to have any knowledge about where you are going other than what they have been told by their boss. Also don't assume just because you're paying a small fortune for a room that the guide provided by the hotel isn't a tourism student from Bangkok here for their work experience.

14 Nov

14 Nov - Here's something for anyone planning on staying at the Ramayana Resort. This photo shows the 4 star (?) resort's private beach, (apparently) and was taken from an online hotel booking site. Unfortunately, since last week, the private beach has been relocated to a corner of KP Huts, where it can be found sandwiched between 300 baht/night bungalows and a large drainage canal. If you're not one of Ramayana's guests then it's pretty funny to walk along the beach and see the package tourists putting a brave face on things as the KP Huts German Shepherds run round pissing on the sunloungers. If you are a guest, 'mai pen rai' as the locals say.

Apology: A few hours after updating this page I was emailed by the owner of Ramayana who would like me to point out that the move of the private beach to KP Huts is only for the next 4 months and not permanent. Another inaccuracy included describing the resort as 4 star, this isn't the case, they have never claimed to be a 4 star property. I also admit, there was some artistic license used. For example instead of 'drainage canal' I should have said 'landscaped water feature' and when it came to describing the possibility of German Shepherds relieving themselves on the sunloungers, I shouldn't have mentioned this as it may put people off using the private beach and the odds are it won't happen whilst guests are tanning themselves anyway. ( But I'd still give your chair a sniff before lying down just to be on the safe side.)

Who needs a room or two for Christmas? Due to a family tragedy - I've seen the newspaper reports and it's the kind of thing that only ever happens to Spinal Tap's drummers - our guests for Xmas have had to cancel their booking. So we have rooms free from 19 - 27 December. If you're still looking for a place to stay, contact me.

The Sunday Times ran an excellent article about Koh Chang this week. It's required reading for anyone thinking of staying at Tropicana where the writer stayed: "The Tropicana is still at that stage in its development when dinner has to be accompanied by “sophisticated” music, which means either traditional Thai percussion — a bit like being trapped in a lift with a drunk xylophone player — or a Filipino with his Yamaha set to “hotel schmaltz”. And is it fair to say that Bangbao has all the charm of Grimsby? Probably, not but there again who in Grimsby really cares?

I've always fancied having some long stay bungalows, that can be rented monthly. There are some on Koh Chang but many are just located in resorts or are basically pretty slummy and squashed into an area just off the main road with no view of any kind. When I worked in Bangkok I always liked to stay somewhere with a good view, up in a high floor condo, with views over the city but within easy reach of the work, pubs etc. So on KC I wanted a similar thing. Finding a small plot of land in a west coast location and with excellent sea views on KC isn't easy, finding some that's affordable is even harder. It's taken us over a year. But hopefully, within the next week or so, the search will be over . . . .

Not only has the Monkey School on Whitesands gone, (the monkeys have all graduated) the postbox shaped like a spaceship has now been removed from the view point above Sea View hotel and replaced with a 'normal' postbox. Pity, it could have become a landmark. In case you missed it, here it is photographed in all it's Flash Gordon-esque glory a month ago. I'd like to take this chance appeal to business people and local officials with really bad ideas for tourist attractions or landmarks to build some as I'm running out of things to make fun of.

9 Nov

9 Nov - Hello Sailor. A nautical round-up, as the other day I met up with Sam & Charlie who are fortunate enough to spend most of their time messing around with their yachts.

Prior to this, my yachting knowledge was garnered from Duran Duran's 'Rio' video from around 24 years ago. So I knew that you should dress appropriately - satin pastel coloured suit, loafers, mascara, and floppy haircut. But, much to my chagrin I found that, yet again, the pop video cannot be relied upon for educational purposes. And so, with not one square jawed 'John Taylor-type' or bikini clad chick aboard we set sail for Koh Mak.

Although it's a slow ride I can now see why many people would love to be able to just hop in a boat, point it towards an island and leisurely cruise out onto the sea. Get a few people to share the cost, a boat & a skipper and have a day out with a difference. If you're interested in sailing get in touch with Deiter at Island View, Salakphet Bay. He's a German guy who first sailed to Koh Chang over 14 years ago and now owns a nice little marina in an ideal spot to use as a base for sailing in this area. He has several Ac rooms for rent at only 900 baht/night and there's a host of waterborne activities to keep you busy. If you get bored lounging on a beach all day this is a good place to head to. Gulf Charters now have their fleet based at Island View and can arrange sailing courses as well as skippered and bareboat charters.

Online tide tables . . .there aren't any tide tables online specifically for Koh Chang - that I can find - but you can get pretty good, free, 7-Day forecasts from a couple of sites. Buoyweather.com has tides, wave heights etc from a spot not far from Salakphet in the south-east of Koh Chang and the British Govt.'s Hydrographic Office, has an excellent service for yachties, 'Easy Tide' with a free 7-day sailing forecast from places around the world - select 'Koh Mak' for the nearest spot to Koh Chang.

Thai TV is reporting that shooting stars will be visible pretty much everywhere in the country on Nov 17th & 18th. Head to somewhere with no light pollution for the best view. Quiet spots on Koh Chang or outlying islands such as Koh Wai, Koh Mak etc should make for good vantage points.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . you too can now learn how to 'Om' correctly (with the correct number of 'm's) at Baan Zen, Klong Prao. Frenchwoman, Joelle, runs Yoga classes and private sessions for novices who don't know their Asana from their Pranayama. Being from the 'If it looks painful, then it probably is' school of avoiding any form of exercise which involves too much flexibility, you probably won't see me at the classes. But for those of you looking for a relaxing way to start the day and or wind down in the evening, check out the small group sessions which are held on the deck of Joelle's waterfront house which is within easy walking distance of the Amari, VJ, Tropicana & Barali resorts. Other classes in Tui-Na Massage, Reiki, Thai Massage and something that involves being pummeled by bamboo sticks and is not dissimilar to torture techniques seen in 'Rambo 2', are all available, for more details take a look.

3 Nov

3 Nov - Got a new pet, Bob the stick insect, who I found clinging onto the dog's tail last night. If anyone wants to give Bob a home, let me know before the cats make a meal of him.

I can hardly believe it's been a year since I last wasted an evening night playing endless games of Bingo and winning more packets of dried noodles than I could count on a tombola. Pay 10 baht for a ticket & you're guaranteed to win a prize worth 5 baht every time. (Makes no sense to me, but if I mention that I get accused of not entering to the festive spirit.) All this plus betting my last 10 baht on which numbered hole a rat would run into when released from under the bucket - a game of skill and judgment if ever there was one. But tonight it's time to do it all over again - whether I like it or not - as the annual Klong Prao Temple Fair is on for the next three evenings.

Some new photo galleries added. Larger photos as I don't have to worry about uploading on a dial up connection now. For starters, some new photos from Whitesands, The coastline along the East Coast & Koh Mak.

Aficionados of Thai Country Rock music, energy drinks and Beer Chang TV commercials should whip out their diaries and make a note that the old revolutionary turned businessman / self-marketing machine, Ad Carabao, will be playing a one off gig on Whitesands Beach on New Years Eve. High tide permitting. Tickets are 400 baht/head from Sabay Bar.

Sunsail, the yachting people, will open a base in Koh Chang next year. According to the Press Release, the new base will offer both bareboat and skippered yacht charter that will allow Sunsail’s customers to cruise the beautiful grounds around the Koh Chang archipelago, which contains 50 almost untouched islands. Sunsail will be providing a fleet of yachts which will be available for charter on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly basis.

I went down to Bangbao to meet the developers of the new Tranquility Bay Residence. Very nice place, great views south towards Koh Wai & Koh Mak designed to appeal to western tastes. Units will be sold fully fitted and furnished, just bring your personal effects . . . and a check for a few million baht, and you can move in. Full details, interior mock ups, construction photos coming soon. Condos from 60 - 120sqm, and 300sqm beachfront villas, all with uninterrupted sea views and access to a private beach & pier.