Get your bearings and discover the
delights of Chai Chet & the northern end of Klong Prao beach. Not a
lot in Chai Chet to hold your attention unless you are looking for beer bars,
but there are some large, popular resorts and plenty of small shops &
restaurants at the northern end of Klong Prao beach. Use the controls to zoom in
and click on the icons for more info about specific places. Not every place
to stay or eat on White Sand is listed. But enough to get you started.
When travel reporters from in Thai newspapers visit Koh Chang the one
comment that is always made is that Klong Prao will become the island's
equivalent of Chaweng on Samui or Patong on Phuket. Meaning that
as Klong Prao has a long stretch of sand, plenty of beach front
real estate still up for grabs and land behind the beach where a small town
is beginning to grow; then things will gradually snowball and before you know
it they'll be resorts the length of the beach and the road will be a clutter
of restaurants, workers' housing, karaoke bars, motorbike rental shops and beauty
salons.
White Sand Beach is currently the most touristy beach but further
development is limited by the lack of usable land - i.e. any development on
White Sand Beach is pretty much limited to a roadside strip. Unlike in Klong
Prao where there is far more land available, and if the development of the
island continues at the rate the government and local developers would like
to see then Klong Prao will become the main town on the island.
As you travel south from Pearl Beach you come to a
stretch that is slowly being lined with shop units and beer bars plus a
couple of resorts which offer longstay accommodation in addition to daily
room rentals. The new garbage disposal plant - along the paved
road heading inland is a big improvement on the old hole in the ground which
was where all the island's garbage went until a couple of years ago. You can
still see this if you drive up the road and the gates to the disposal plant
are open.
Opposite this turning are some new spacious shop units
set over 20 metres back from the road, plenty of parking space the the red
dirt quickly turns to mud when the rainy season commences. The new place of
note on the left hand side of the road is the Koh Chang Entertainment Plaza.
A motley collection of over 20 beer bars housed in what was built as an
indoor market. Most nights you could spray the place with machine gun
fire and still not hit a customer. It's pretty quiet. But if
you've ever dreamed of pimping for a living then you'll be able to find a
bar for rent here.
A petrol station and the builders' merchant opposite
round off the list of Chai Chet's highlights.
As you head past the petrol station and round the
sharp left hand turn you enter the northern part of Klong Prao beach.
This is the most heavily developed area of the beach. Here you'll find a
good choice of shops including tour agents - Evolution tour & CocoDeeBo are
both recommended if you need someone to sort out your holiday or travel
plans; a bank, several ATMs, supermarket and numerous small restaurants in
the bowels of the two shopping plazas that lie on the left hand side of the
road. Vj Plaza houses several small restaurants - 'M&M' is a good
choice or just grab some noodles from the stall outside the supermarket.
The further you enter into the bowels of the plaza the quieter the
restaurants become. Halfway down on the right, you'll see Bodiwork
Spa's training academy. If you don't want to pay a crazy price for a
spa treatment at your resort, head here and let the trainees loose on your
pressure points.
At the bottom end of the plaza you'll see VJ
Apartments where a fully furnished AC room can be rented long term for
around 5,000 baht in high season & 3,000 baht/month low season for long term
rental. 9 You'll need to haggle to get these prices though.) Prices
have actually decreased as more longstay bungalows open up on the island and
people have more options as to where to stay.
Next door, access to Koh Chang Plaza is pretty much
blocked by the motorbike and car rental place by the roadside, but if you
take a look you'll find a few tailor's shops, dive schools and a pretty good
Thai restaurant called 'Yes'.
On the right hand side of the main road in this area,
you'll notice a huge opticians shop and even larger billboard advertising
the shop. ( But why rub it in? Us shortsighted folks can still
read a normal sized sign.) Behind the opticians, now hidden from view,
is Boutique Resort, a handful of spacious but dim AC bungalows. Nearby
is Coconut Beach Resort, worth a quick stop purely to gaze a moment at
the architectural horror of its design. You get the feeling that the
architect has, sadly, tried to accommodate as many of the owner's whims as possible. Easy on the
eye it certainly isn't, however the interiors of the rooms are nicer than than
most resorts in the 2,500 baht/night range. Fortunately they also have
some much nicer, new beachfront bungalows which also offer good value for
Klong Prao beach plus some older bungalows located near the beachfront
restaurant.
On the rocky cape 'Chai Chet Resort' just (in late 2007) built
a new swimming pool / reception / restaurant area which offers great views
over the bay. You can still find an AC bungalow here - 200 metres walk
to the beach for around 1,600 - 1,800 baht in high season.
The only other resort in this busy area is Koh Chang
Resort, a fading 2 star if ever there was one. Plenty of better
options to choose from. Down on the beach there are three or four good beach
restaurants on the undeveloped stretch between Koh Chang Resort & Klong Prao
Resort, 800 metres to the south - Palm Beach & Ley Ley Tong are both far nicer places for lunch or a beer than in a sterile hotel restaurant.
Klong Prao Resort has some older rooms for around 1500
baht/night but if you want anything that resembles comfort then go for the
VIP rooms by the beach. ( Anyoen with a credit card is a VIP here) or
the new lagoonside bungalows, modern design & well appointed for around
3,500 baht/night. The plus point is a long stretch of beach, the
downside is that the resort is popular with package tourists - often from
Russia.
On the main road by the entrance to the resort, new
shop houses and a row of shop units has been built. Here you'll find places
to eat cheaply, to buy a scooter, to book a dive course, have some business
cards printed and buy artwork. From here it is an easy 10 minute walk
up the road to the supermarket and plazas at the northern end of the beach.
Or hop on a pick up truck taxi and head south to Klong Prao village or Kai
Bae. See what awaits you on the 'Southern
Klong Prao Beach' page.
You'll find more info
on booking Klong Prao Hotels
in the Accommodation section of this site
