And then we were on an island somehow...

Greetings from Koh Chang... before leaving Siem Reap a friend (thanks Dan) recommended an island off the south east coast of Thailand called Koh Chang as an awesome place to visit. Rather than heading to Bangkok and then off to the north the girls decided they needed some "beach time" after more rain in Cambodia and I let them do the research on how to get down there... I was assured it was "only three or four hours" from the border... which was actually pretty close to being right, if you tripled it

So, having taken a private car from Siem Reap and walking over the Cambodia/Thailand frontier (a MUCH more civilised experience than when I did it four years ago, the road is now sealed and a five-six hour trip is now under two hours, the border is also fairly tame by comparison especially going the other way), we loaded onto a tuk tuk to the bus station. There we found a mini van promising to go where we needed (just a Hiace but quite comfy) and off we went... a few hours later once in the south (Chantaburi? where I was told by the navigators was "where the ferry is") we found our van did not in fact go "all the way to the ferry" and got transferred to another van... packed to capacity with locals... which went to the next city (Trat)... which was also not where the ferry was... and we got dumped at another bus depot, in the middle of nowhere. Having been earlier informed the last ferry was at 1730, it was now 1800 and we were without ferry, or hotel, or even a town to find a hotel... then a taxi ute driver said he would take us to the ferry, which left at 1900... which the girls still insisted was "nearby"... about forty minutes in the back of the ute with a stop for tickets and an emergency hotel booking, and just on dark we made it to the rather ragged looking car ferry to Koh Chang.

 It probably would have been faster to swim (and with the state of the boat that was looking like a possibility anyway) but we made it in the end, and it was then onto another taxi ute for a fairly entertaining ride through the dark (Koh Chang is mostly jungle and STEEP hills), finally making it to the hotel at about 2100... to be greeted by more torrential rain... yes, it would seem that in the rush to "get to the beach", the planners had neglected to check the weather forecast... "Tropical island" may give most people visions of sun baked shores, but sometimes (like in the wet season) this is not totally the case... However Koh Chang is a very nice place and tourists and backpackers are mercifully pretty light on the ground this time of year (must be crazy in the high season as it would be stunning here) so we are just chilling for a couple of days. The sun is semi-out today so we are now off to sit by the pool for a bit, then the Irish Pub (there is always one) up the road is advertising the AB's vs Argentina this afternoon so we will get a bit of a taste of home with a Guinness and a bit of rugby.

From here we are back on the ferry tomorrow and then on a bus to Bangkok where we will overnight before loading on a train northwest to Chiang Mai, where we will spend a couple of days, and apparently seeing elephants and tigers is high on the agenda. Mercifully we are booked into hotels and onto trains in advance this time (I made sure of that) so there won't be too many "oh crap what do we do now" moments... while a bit of adventure is all part of the fun, it is certainly easier when you are traveling by yourself. On my own I am happy to ride in the back of a local bus and sleep under a tree if I need to, but (call me old fashioned) when I have two girls with me I do feel more than a little responsible for them, and the need to have a vehicle to get somewhere and a roof to sleep under is slightly more pressing... but it's all good fun.

Hope all is well at home, I hear there is a lot of hard work being done and sorry I am not there to pitch in... keep on keeping on and keep me updated!!