TrongpaiExpat
March 5th, 2010, 12:56
We took Center Point Ferry from Laem Ngop, 300B round trip for a car and two persons. There are two ferry companies, Center Point uses smaller boats and is a little quicker, no loading of big trucks, both cost about the same and each has departures from 0600 to 1900 on the hour.
It has been a few years since our last trip to Ko Chang. Last two time we stayed at the Kacha Bungalows. I wanted to try someplace other than White Sands beach but at a Bangkok travel fair the agent talked me into Kacha again and said there's a new section. The discount was good, so I went with it. The bungalows are getting worn, and you hear every foot step of the person in the upstairs room but we booked a room in the new resort section, hotel style rooms, brand new and very nice. Huge bathroom, and all the amenities that you would find in a more expensive hotel. There's two very nice pools. This new section if located across the street from the old bungalows but you can use both sides of the resort.
We arrived on a weekday which is a good idea to avoid the weekend crowd. We noticed a long line of cars at the ferry terminal going back. The Kacha Bungalows were at 100% occupancy but not the resort hotel. Not all of the room were open yet, but there was some available but I would not want to pay the rack walk-in rate. The place was packed to the rim with Swedish couples and families. The Swedes travel with their teenage children, generally unheard of in USA. I only saw one other PLU, a french guy with a lady-boy. These Swedish people don't take notice of us or the guy with the lady-boy and seem to be in their own world jabbering away in Swedish.
Breakfast at the Kacha is very good if you can find a table. The sea side restaurant is now too small for the recent expansion of this resort. These Swedes sure pack away the food. The children are lean but the parents and older ones are quite well nourished. They don't age too well I notice.
The hotels of White Sands now have copied Ko Samet in offering table candle lit sea side dinning right on the beach. There's several options along the beach and reasonably priced, much more than Ko Samet. It's a little quieter than Ko Samet and not at all crowded. Then they cranked up the music and had a beach fire show, identical to those at Ko. Samet. For some reason Ko Chang offers a lot of Italian food, even the Thai restaurants have pizza on the menu. No German food, and come to think of it I did not hear anyone speaking German. I also did not hear one English native speaking person anyplace on Ko Chang, including Australian. It's a sea of blond haired, blue eyed Scandinavians.
I noticed now that there is regular songthow taxi service along the west coast from the ferry terminals to Bang Bao. You flag them down and tell them your destination and your given a price. I don't have a clue how much but given that I did not see a lot using them, it's on the expensive side I would guess. These drivers are very reckless and tend to drive in the middle of the road. The other drivers to watch out for are farangs on motorbikes. I would not ride a motorbike on Ko Chang. The roads are narrow, steep and there's lots of hair-pin curves but not a lot of traffic on the island.
There's some rocks right along the area in front of The Kacha on White Sands beach but if you walk down just a few hundred meters, the beach is smooth. The water is nice, easy swimming and no rip currents. There's a few Jomtiem style beach chairs but mostly people don't stray from from the swimming pool.
I wanted to do some snorkeling but did not want to join a group tour boat. In the past I found independent boat owners that were willing to take me and the BF out alone to near-by reefs near ko Yark or ko Kra but it seems that the tour companies now have a monopoly on dive and boat trips. Back along the coast of Rayong, I had several reasonable offers from boat owners for trips but nothing on Ko Chang. I opted to do some off shore reef snorkeling at Maprao Bay and was surprised that there was so much marine life to see. They rent sea kayaks too but my BF will not go out in the open sea in a kayak, he can't really swim.
I liked Klong Prao, Kai Bae and Had Tha Nam (Lonely beach) best and might look into resorts at those beaches for my next trip to Ko Chang. I would not stay at Bang Bao Bay or Bang Bo Cape. Too developed and crowed. There's a long covered pier lined on both sides with Silom type vendors. It's where you go to get the boat to Ko Kood. There's resorts on Ko Kood now, last time I was there it was a national park with hut camping or nothing.
The east coast remains the mostly undeveloped and beautiful. There's a few isolated resorts and a lot of scenery.
I first went to Ko Chang about 10 years ago and thou there have been some changes it remains a very nice island with development not as rampant and haphazard as Ko Samui. No gay venues, take your own BF or BS if you want a romantic get away.
http://www.koh-chang.com/
http://www.kohchangislandguide.com/
http://iamkohchang.com/guide/a-to-z/e.html
It has been a few years since our last trip to Ko Chang. Last two time we stayed at the Kacha Bungalows. I wanted to try someplace other than White Sands beach but at a Bangkok travel fair the agent talked me into Kacha again and said there's a new section. The discount was good, so I went with it. The bungalows are getting worn, and you hear every foot step of the person in the upstairs room but we booked a room in the new resort section, hotel style rooms, brand new and very nice. Huge bathroom, and all the amenities that you would find in a more expensive hotel. There's two very nice pools. This new section if located across the street from the old bungalows but you can use both sides of the resort.
We arrived on a weekday which is a good idea to avoid the weekend crowd. We noticed a long line of cars at the ferry terminal going back. The Kacha Bungalows were at 100% occupancy but not the resort hotel. Not all of the room were open yet, but there was some available but I would not want to pay the rack walk-in rate. The place was packed to the rim with Swedish couples and families. The Swedes travel with their teenage children, generally unheard of in USA. I only saw one other PLU, a french guy with a lady-boy. These Swedish people don't take notice of us or the guy with the lady-boy and seem to be in their own world jabbering away in Swedish.
Breakfast at the Kacha is very good if you can find a table. The sea side restaurant is now too small for the recent expansion of this resort. These Swedes sure pack away the food. The children are lean but the parents and older ones are quite well nourished. They don't age too well I notice.
The hotels of White Sands now have copied Ko Samet in offering table candle lit sea side dinning right on the beach. There's several options along the beach and reasonably priced, much more than Ko Samet. It's a little quieter than Ko Samet and not at all crowded. Then they cranked up the music and had a beach fire show, identical to those at Ko. Samet. For some reason Ko Chang offers a lot of Italian food, even the Thai restaurants have pizza on the menu. No German food, and come to think of it I did not hear anyone speaking German. I also did not hear one English native speaking person anyplace on Ko Chang, including Australian. It's a sea of blond haired, blue eyed Scandinavians.
I noticed now that there is regular songthow taxi service along the west coast from the ferry terminals to Bang Bao. You flag them down and tell them your destination and your given a price. I don't have a clue how much but given that I did not see a lot using them, it's on the expensive side I would guess. These drivers are very reckless and tend to drive in the middle of the road. The other drivers to watch out for are farangs on motorbikes. I would not ride a motorbike on Ko Chang. The roads are narrow, steep and there's lots of hair-pin curves but not a lot of traffic on the island.
There's some rocks right along the area in front of The Kacha on White Sands beach but if you walk down just a few hundred meters, the beach is smooth. The water is nice, easy swimming and no rip currents. There's a few Jomtiem style beach chairs but mostly people don't stray from from the swimming pool.
I wanted to do some snorkeling but did not want to join a group tour boat. In the past I found independent boat owners that were willing to take me and the BF out alone to near-by reefs near ko Yark or ko Kra but it seems that the tour companies now have a monopoly on dive and boat trips. Back along the coast of Rayong, I had several reasonable offers from boat owners for trips but nothing on Ko Chang. I opted to do some off shore reef snorkeling at Maprao Bay and was surprised that there was so much marine life to see. They rent sea kayaks too but my BF will not go out in the open sea in a kayak, he can't really swim.
I liked Klong Prao, Kai Bae and Had Tha Nam (Lonely beach) best and might look into resorts at those beaches for my next trip to Ko Chang. I would not stay at Bang Bao Bay or Bang Bo Cape. Too developed and crowed. There's a long covered pier lined on both sides with Silom type vendors. It's where you go to get the boat to Ko Kood. There's resorts on Ko Kood now, last time I was there it was a national park with hut camping or nothing.
The east coast remains the mostly undeveloped and beautiful. There's a few isolated resorts and a lot of scenery.
I first went to Ko Chang about 10 years ago and thou there have been some changes it remains a very nice island with development not as rampant and haphazard as Ko Samui. No gay venues, take your own BF or BS if you want a romantic get away.
http://www.koh-chang.com/
http://www.kohchangislandguide.com/
http://iamkohchang.com/guide/a-to-z/e.html