Susan Gough Henly and family are bewitched
by a Thai maritime park.
At Bang Bao Pier, on the island of Koh Chang, two
little boys with sharp haircuts and gummy grins, one sporting a
black-and-white elephant T-shirt, catch my eye. Behind them, glossy
pictures of an aquamarine paradise advertise diving trips to nearby
reefs while nearby their mother is drying squid in the sun.
Their families probably run the cheap over-water
bungalows and one of the three restaurants on the pier with lobsters and
crabs in big tanks. Sisters may be selling espressos, pineapple slices
and shell jewellery to tourists and big brothers have converted the
family prawn trawlers into day-tripper boats where Danes and Germans go
snorkelling with giant turtles among the brain coral.
Nobody really knows why Koh Chang was named after
"chang", the elephant. Elephants didn't live there; nor is it shaped
like an elephant's head, in spite of what is written in the brochures.
There is a convoluted legend of a female elephant mating with a wild
elephant and swimming to the mainland, leaving her three babies behind.
Elephants or otherwise, business is booming in the
Koh Chang archipelago of 52 islands in the Gulf of Thailand. For years
it has been a popular holiday spot for Thais, and it is more than 20
years since it was declared a marine national park.In 2001 it was slated
for tourism development by the controversial Thai businessman Prime
Minister Thaksin. Many of those initial plans have still not come to
fruition but building is booming, partly because Koh Chang benefited
from Phuket's tsunami travails.
Today, young European families on limited budgets
sit at plastic tables on White Sands beach to eat fresh snapper wrapped
in banana leaves. Further south, at Lonely Beach, backpackers indulge in
a drumming workshop or two and a little bit of fire dancing. Everyone
enjoys the cheap massages on the beach; meanwhile, bright new resorts
sprout amid the 200-baht-a-night ($7) bungalows. Defined as a designated
area for sustainable tourism, the area is the subject of big plans, with
insiders investing in premium developments. Yet everyone says this
second largest island after Phuket will never be as overdeveloped
because only 20 per cent of the island's land mass is flat enough for
building. The other 80 per cent is mostly national park, with
mountainous terrain covered in rainforest that is home to wild pigs,
macaque monkeys, barking deer, pythons and monitor lizards.
We heard about Koh Chang from Thai friends of
friends. After trawling the internet to find attractive but not
over-the-top bungalows, my husband and I and our two daughters take a
one-hour flight from Bangkok to the newish airport at Trat on the
mainland. From there it is a short ferry ride to Koh Chang. We stay at
the new Aana Resort (Aana means elephant in sanskrit, so the metaphors
are at least consistent). It looks more Balinese than Thai, but the
thatched-roofed round bungalows are delightful with their clean lines,
white-on-white furnishings and terracotta floors.
The rooftop infinity pool overlooks lush gardens
to colourful fishermen's cabins on the other side of the Klong Prao
River, one of which has been renovated by Ian McNamara, a loquacious
Brit, and his Thai girlfriend, and is now an inexpensive guest-house
rental. McNamara also rents out a double-hulled speedboat and kayaks and
writes an informative and candid website.
At sunset we are serenaded by cicadas and frogs as
we paddle a couple of the hotel's kayaks to the nearby Klong Prao beach.
For dinner we have our choice of the local Iyare Seafood restaurant on
stilts near the river's mouth and the new Pu Talay (Sea Crab) restaurant
practically next door and also on the river. On another balmy evening we
take a ride in one of the hotel's longboats up the river to the
mangroves, where fireflies adorn the trees like Christmas lights.
We spend a couple of days exploring the island by
jeep along the one rutted road that almost circumnavigates the island's
hilly perimeter. White Sands beach is the commercial hub of Koh Chang
but its souvenir shops are eminently avoidable. The beach itself offers
some pleasant seafood barbecue restaurants such as Sand Terrace and
Cookies, and Oodie's Place has French food and live Thai blues bands.
Swedish-owned Invita has surprisingly good Italian food.
We swim at the Than Mayan waterfall on the east
coast, and visit the Baan Kwan Chang elephant camp, three kilometres
inland from Klong Song village, past rubber and fruit plantations. Part
of the Asian Elephant Foundation, this is the best camp on the island.
You can watch the elephants being bathed, feed them bananas and ride
through the jungle.
Way down near the southern tip of the island, we
lunch on fresh lobster and stir-fried squid at The Bay, one of the
restaurants on stilts at the Bang Bao fishing pier. A couple of
kilometres south we spend the afternoon at pretty white sand Klong Kloi
beach, the oldies enjoying massages to the lapping of the waves, the
kids buying ice creams from a vendor on a motorbike with a sidecar, and
we feast on local Thai food from a cafe right on the beach. On the way
home, we bypass Lonely Beach, a noisy backpacker haven renowned for
reggae music, banana pancakes and beer bars, but stop for a swim at Kai
Bae beach, where at low tide you can almost walk all the way to Man Nok
Island.
The highlight of our visit is a trip to some of
the surrounding islands, where we stay for a couple of nights. We join
one of the day-tripper boats, Thai Fun, which has a Thai buffet lunch
and stops at Koh Wai, Koh Kham and Koh Rang islands to the south of Koh
Chang, where we snorkel, swim and beachcomb. I've since heard of a
locally owned, cheaper boat option called Attipol Tours at the entrance
to Bang Bao pier.
We arrange to be dropped off at Koh Kham beach and
picked up two days later. A boat from Coco Cape Resort takes us to
nearby Koh Mak Island, which is covered in coconut and rubber
plantations.
Owned and designed by two architects from Bangkok,
Coco Cape is a whimsical village of tiny waterfront bungalows,
pitched-roof tree houses and organic Mediterranean-like stucco villas
overlooking an ornamental pond or the sea itself. You can even stay a
converted boat. The food is excellent and bicycles, snorkelling gear and
kayaks are all for rent.
On the second day we return to tiny Koh Kham
Island. Owned by a handsome former Bangkok businessman whose attire
these days is bare feet and Jimi Hendrix T-shirts, Koh Kham is nirvana
for visitors from colder climes. A dozen or so simple bungalows nestle
under the coconut palms behind a fine white sand beach that is
surrounded by pale turquoise waters.
A thatched, open-air restaurant serves delectable
Thai dishes and has a selection of books, magazines and games. There's
snorkelling, fishing gear for rent and kayaks to explore the island's
waters.
From some perfectly placed swings you can gaze
across towards Koh Chang, which a few days ago was an island getaway but
from here seems like a busy metropolis.
Fast facts
Getting there: Thai Airways fly daily to Bangkok.
Bangkok Airways fly twice daily from Bangkok to Trat, where you can get
a minibus transfer on the ferry to Koh Chang. You can arrange a minivan
from Bangkok airport to Koh Chang.
Getting around: Rent a motorbike or jeeps or get
around using communal song taew taxis (essentially covered pick-up
trucks with benches).
Staying and/or eating: Aana Resort and Spa:
Bangkok office : Tel. (+66) 2 399 4084-5, (+66) 2 744 5585 Fax. (+66) 2
399 1885. E-mail: reservation@koh-chang.com
Baan Rim Naan, simple guest house with three rooms
in a renovated fisherman's cottage Useful advice on Koh Chang on the
website, http://www.iamkochang.com.
Ko Kham resort: http://www.kohkhamisland.com
Island Hopper Ferry Service: (66)1 865 0610 or
(66)7 999 0788
http://www.koh-chang.ch/IslandHopper/index.htm
When to go: The best time to visit is during the
less humid months of November to February when the average temperature
ranges from 20-35C.
Before you go: Read the Thailand Lonely Planet's
Koh Chang section.
