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Keeping the peace - By
Mark Hodson
There’s still
plenty of Thailand the developers haven’t ruined. Mark Hodson visits Ko
Chang, an island where the calm is well protected.
The
snob’s view of Thailand is that it’s a beautiful country but “spoilt”. Many
tourists have already ticked it off. They’ve been there, got the fake
Lacoste T-shirt and moved on. Big mistake. Few destinations can match this
one for sheer gorgeousness. The islands of the south, with their silky white
beaches and jungle-clad hillsides, are among the best on earth. Throw in one
of the world’s finest cuisines, a tropical climate, good-humoured people and
low prices (the Thai baht has tumbled lately), and you have a formula that
inches close to perfection.
True, there are ugly pockets of
overdevelopment, such as Pattaya and Patong. But these eyesores are easily
avoided, particularly now that new roads and airports have opened up parts
of the country previously seen only by backpackers. Idyllic beaches that
once lay at the end of all-night bus rides are now less than an hour’s
flying time from Bangkok.
Opening up new areas of Thailand to
tourism has, in the past, been a double-edged sword. Unchecked development
can spell disaster for the delicate ecology. But there is evidence that the
authorities have learnt from previous mistakes: building regulations that
used to be routinely ignored are now being enforced; and in some regions,
the government is inviting luxury hotel groups to move in, on condition that
they operate under tight environmental controls.
SO WHERE is this winter’s hottest
“untouched” destination? Answer: Ko Chang, a swooningly beautiful
palm-fringed island off Thailand’s east coast, close to the Cambodian
border. Until recently, Ko Chang was known only to backpackers. Nine hours
by bus from the capital, the island was badly served by ferries, and the
only way to get around it was on a single dirt road that flooded every time
it rained. Today, the road is paved, an efficient car ferry runs every
half-hour, and an airport has opened at Trat, on the mainland nearby. Flying
time from Bangkok is just 40 minutes.
Hotels and restaurants are beginning to
appear, but on a limited scale. Although Ko Chang is Thailand’s
second-largest island (after Phuket), it presents a headache for developers
because it is so mountainous. More than 70% of the land is virgin
rainforest. It is also protected: along with 50 surrounding smaller islands,
it has been designated a national marine park.
Nature is abundant here. Trekking
through the dense interior, you can find macaque monkeys and up to 70
species of birds. Get underwater and you might bump into reef sharks,
barracudas and giant sea turtles. A short drive inland, passing fields of
mango and durian trees, leads to the jungle camp of Ban Kwan Chang, where
visitors can ride elephants into the rainforest and wash the animals under
waterfalls.
Only one beach is busy. Hat Sai Khao,
known as White Sand Beach, is mutating fast, with £5-a-night huts making way
for mid-price hotels. The road is lined with clothes shops, internet cafes,
food stalls and travel agencies. But even here there is little to do after
dark, and the handful of girlie bars that appeared last winter are being
shut down by the authorities and shunted to a designated area away from the
resorts.
A 10-minute drive south brings you to
Hat Klong Prao, an utterly unspoilt picture-book beach with coconut palms,
powdery sand and a handful of islands so close that they can be reached by
kayak. Three or four tasteful low-key hotels have appeared alongside, and
this summer, Hat Klong Prao saw the opening of the island’s first sizable
resort hotel, which is being managed by Amari, the excellent Thai-owned
group.
I was shown around the Amari by Tim
Boda, one of the managers, who pointed out its Olympic-size pool, three
restaurants and sleek, contemporary-styled rooms. “Because this is all
national park, the authorities are very hot on environmental issues,” said
Boda. “We can clean up the beach but we’re not allowed to alter it in any
way. We can’t even remove these large rocks.”
From here, the palm-lined coast road
snakes southward past a series of untouched beaches to the fishing village
of Bang Bao. Built entirely on stilts over a bay of iridescent turquoise,
this is a perfect spot for lunch. Squid boats decked with lamps rock gently
on their moorings beside jetties strewn with sun-dried shrimps. Restaurants
serve tiger prawns, crab and rock lobster, all served fresh from the giant
nets that dangle into the water from their wooden terraces. A crustacean can
make it from the sea to your plate in less than five minutes. Spoilt? You
will be.
Where to stay
The Amari Emerald Cove (00
66-3955 1195,
www.amari.com) has double rooms for £90 in
October, including breakfast, rising to £95 in December; but if you book
online you pay just £45 (£76 in December).
On the same beach lies the
Panviman (3955 1290,
www.panviman.com),
built in the style of traditional Thai temple complexes, with spacious
doubles and dark-wood furnishings. Doubles with breakfast cost £72 (£86 in
high season, November-May).
Another option is the Tropicana
(2642 4420,
www.kohchangtropicana.com),
where you stay in attractive Balinese-style thatched cottages. Book with an
online discounter such as Yourrooms.com, and a double, including breakfast,
costs just £42 in high season.
Where to eat
Among the best restaurants at Bang Bao
is The Bay (1 773 4680), where a feast for three people — prawns with basil,
a whole snapper with sweet-and-sour sauce, tom yam with mixed seafood,
pan-fried mackerel and fried rice with shrimp — cost us £11.50, including
drinks.
On Hat Sai Khao, budget restaurants set
up seafood barbecues after dusk, with tables in the sand. For a superior
meal, head to Ban Thai (3955 1108), where main-course dishes cost about £2.
If you tire of Thai cuisine, try Invito (3955 1326), an excellent Italian;
mains from £5.
What to do
As always in Thailand, you don’t need
to visit a fancy spa for a first-rate massage. Sabai Sabai (1 848 0606),
opposite the Banpu Hotel on Hat Sai Khao, looks spartan but employs
excellent therapists who charge £4.50 an hour for a Thai massage.
The surrounding islands offer
superb diving and snorkelling. The best dive operator is the Belgian-run
Water World (6 139 1117,
www.waterworldkohchang.com),
which charges £157 for a four-day Padi open-water course. Hotels can arrange
elephant trekking at Ban Kwan Chang; a three-hour trip costs £13.
The cheapest fares to Bangkok are
through a consolidator. STA Travel (0870 160 0599,
www.statravel.co.uk), for example, has
fares with Thai Airways nonstop from Heathrow from £387; or with Emirates
via Dubai from Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester or Glasgow from
£431.
Alternatively, try Opodo (0870
241 7051,
www.opodo.co.uk); Flight Centre (0870 499
0040,
www.flightcentre.co.uk); or Travelocity
(0870 111 7060,
www.travelocity.co.uk).
Trailfinders in Dublin (01 677
7888,
www.trailfinders.ie) has fares from €722,
with Scandinavian Airlines via Copenhagen.
Bangkok Airways (01293 596626,
www.bangkokair.com) flies several times
daily between Bangkok and Trat from £52. From Trat airport, a combined
minibus-and-ferry transfer to the hotels on Ko Chang costs £2.50 and takes
just over an hour.
Tour operators
Kuoni (01306 747008,
www.kuoni.co.uk)
has five nights at the Amari Emerald Cove from £754pp, including flights
from Heathrow with Thai Airways and transfers. Connecting flights from
Edinburgh, Manchester and other UK airports start at £66pp extra.
Other operators to try include
Bridge the World (0870 444 7474,
www.bridgetheworld.com), Magic of the
Orient (01293 537700,
www.magic-of-the-orient.com)
and Trailfinders (020 7938 3939,
www.trailfinders.com). In Ireland, contact
Twohigs Worldwide Holidays (01 648 0800,
www.twohigs.com).
The best time to visit is between
November and May. For more information, contact the Tourism Authority of
Thailand (020 7925 2511,
www.thaismile.co.uk).
Mark Hodson travelled as a guest of
Kuoni and the Tourism Authority of Thailand
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