Koh Chang, Partying And New Friends

Magic Garden Bungalow

Hello All. Its been a while since I blogged, nearly 2 weeks now. I have no real reason other than i have been enjoying paradise island life. Sun, sea, sand and partying, lots of it. I have been on the Island of Koh Chang for the last 10 days. I was originally only going to spend 3 days here but after meeting some great people and enjoying it so much decided to base myself here for a little while. I write now because i am now coming to the end of my time here before I move on to Koh Samet for a few days before heading north. I arrived here on Koh Chang on Monday 24th October, Koh Chang is south east of Bangkok. So i left the not so lovely Pattaya at 8am, booking a place on a minivan for BHT500. It was a 4 hour journey followed by a 20min ferry crossing from a town called Trat. The journey down was uneventful, however I got talking to a girl called Jasmine who had also been in Pattaya visiting her brother who owned a bar there. Jasmine, 19 from Darlington had been travelling for 15months, she had not booked any accommodation so asked to tag along with me to see if they had any spare rooms, of course this wasn't an issue. We arrived at 'Magic Garden' which i had already pre-booked for 3 days at around 3pm. The west side of Koh Chang is where all the main beaches and towns are situated. After reading up I chose Lonely Beach as the place i wanted to be, it was the party place and more for the backpacker, with cheap accommodation and some really cool bars and places to eat. I checked into magic garden and so did Jazzy (jasmine), when i say checked in, we were just given a key and pointed in the direction of the 'bungalows'. We found them pretty easy as Magic only had 12 bungalows for rent. I had never stayed in a bungalow before. These very common on all the Island's are pretty small wooden 'shacks', usually with just one room with a bed and very basic bathroom. The bungalows in magic were on stilts, one room and a bathroom. Very, very basic but as I was so close to the beach  about 10min walk and great socialising and party scene, i knew i wouldn't be spending alot of time in it anyway and for BHT200 a night, it was a bargain. On the porch was a hammock and the 12 bungalows surrounded a garden of palm trees. Jazzy and I dumped our bags and headed for the beach, Lonely beach town is pretty small, maybe only a 1-2KM from one end to the other. We got to the beach were another resort was situated, 'Siam Huts'. They had a big bar and restaurant which overlooked the beach and sea, they had low tables with cushions to lay out and enjoy the view. This was a popular place and would turn out to be were I spent a lot of my time, especially at sunset. We wondered down the beach, with crystal clear blue clam sea with not a wave in sight to our left and a number of beach bungalow resorts and bars/restaurants to our right. The sand not quite white but nice all the same. We walked the whole beach only around a KM and started to wonder back. We were stopped by 2 English guys who were 'flyering', advertising a bar in the lonely beach center, Ricki's, it was that night and as it was Monday was the only thing going on in Lonely as Monday to Wednesday's were usually non party nights. With the flyer we would get cheaper cocktails and half price buckets of vodka, it sounded good and the 2 guys, 'beefy'and 'andy' seemed pretty cool and though it would turn out they totally over sold it we would have a good night. We left them saying that we would come along and headed back to Siam huts to watch the sunset. What a sunset it was, we had the perfect view, I didn't have my camera and was slightly gutted but I would have plenty of more chances over the next 12 days. We headed back to Magic and agreed to meet for dinner at 7.30. We had dinner and then found Ricki's, the bar pretty small but had a vibrant atmosphere. They had a local Thai playing a guitar and singing, he was maybe in his 40's, and was going for the Johnny Depp look in Pirates of the Caribbean. His guitar playing was great, however his singing was awful!! That said, everyone joined in with the songs and soon enough no one really cared as beer, cocktails and buckets of vodka and mixture flowed. Jazzy and I had bumped into a girl from the USA, Christina, 31 from NY, in Siam huts earlier that day, she was also at Ricki's and we asked her to join us. We chatted and got to know each other, Christina soon made a school boy error and mentioned it was her birthday!! In True Ruffy style i was soon wondering back from the bar with 3 sambuca shots!!! As the night went on Ricki's singing got worse, everyone got drunker and soon a french guy called Nicholas had stolen the guitar from Ricki and was strumming out 'Wonderwall' by oasis, the bar was now rocking and everyone was singing in their best drunken tone. After Nicholas was finished i made a compliment and we were soon talking, he invited me to his group, were i was introduced to his travelling friends Camille, Pierre and Cher. These guys had actually come to Thailand to do an internship in Bangkok but due to the floods had come to koh Chang until it had passed, this turned out to be the case for a lot of people i met on Koh Chang, all fleeing Bangkok and enjoying a few days on a paradise island. I would come to be good friends with the french guys, all in their early 20's, friendly, fun and overall great people. That night i also met Tomi, 27 from Finland, Dani 24 from London, also 4 English guys who were on Holiday, Phil, Guy, Karl and David, these guys were just party animals and so funny, all these guys and gals I would come spend alot of time with and subsequently party hard!! At around 2am, everyone was well and truly drunk and we moved onto a 'bar/club' called 'Himmel' were we pretty much just danced the whole time. At around 5am i headed back to Magic, Jazzy already leaving a good few hours earlier and crashed out!!

As always I am detailed in what I have done, i think If i wrote this amount for the next 11 days this would be my biggest blog yet, so I am going to summarise each day the best I can, I hope you can bare with me.

Tuesday 25th October

Rose earlyish despite not getting in until 5am. Headed down to Siam Huts and the beach, grabbed some breakfast and a Lemon shake. Lemon shakes would pretty much be my only non alcoholic drink other than water that I would consume for my time on Koh Chang, i love them and their soooo refreshing!! The sun was beaming, it was hot probably mid 30's and was boiling, I was sweating vodka buckets and sambuca, the crystal blue clear sea was calling, I found Jazzy on the beach and dumped my stuff and almost ran to the water, it wasn't as cold as i had hoped due to the heat but still so refreshing. The rest of the day was spent swimming and catching rays. I headed for Siam Hut again for Sunset, not as impressive as the day before but still great. Jazzy and I then headed back to change and agreed to meet at 8 for dinner. I was ready early and so took advantage of free wifi at magic garden bar. Here I spotted a a couple of girls chatting, one I thought was, you know 'cute'. The next line would become a running joke, as I shouted across to her 'excuse me, do you have the time?' she didn't and i had to ask someone else, the best thing about it was that I not only had my camera and phone on me but also had my laptop open, yes OK, i know it was a cheesy line and I was later to find out that the girl I had asked, Ellie, also had noticed the many other electrical items I could have used to get the time. I ended up chatting to Ellie anyway and her friend Femka. We didn't chat long as I had to meet Jazzy but said that I would be at Siam Huts later as there was a party there, they said they would come down. After dinner at a local Thai place, costing less than 110BHT for dinner and a beer Jazzy and I headed for Siam. It was here i noticed a Tattoo hut, I took a look inside and saw a picture of a Tiger on  the wall, it was about 4ft by 2ft and i loved it. Tattoo's in Thailand, if you didn't know are traditionally done by hand using bamboo. I was to experience how this worked as a Swedish girl called Sarah was having a flower on her foot, it was amazing to watch the Tattooist (Lek, being his name) at work. I really wanted the tiger but it was too big, I wondered whether he could draw it smaller. Later Ellie and Femka joined us from Magic, we chatted and the drinks started to flow, we had gotten a flyer during the day and happy hour was between 6-11 with cocktails only 50BHT a glass (£1). The french guys, Pierre, Nicholas, Camille and Char soon joined us, later Tomi and the 4 English guys, Phil, guy, David and Karl had joined the party. Even though this was an arranged party night at Siam with banging sound system and dance music, it was pretty dead. It didn't matter we had our own little group and soon the buckets of vodka, Gin and Sangsom (local Rum) was flowing with all kinds of mixes. It was soon 4am and everyone was drunk, we had, had a number of people join us, leave and new ones join. It was funny awesome night and everyone got to know each other and have a great time. The night, or should i say morning was finished with a 5am dip in the sea, myself, Tomi, Femka, Ellie and guy stripped to our underwear and waded into the the still warm sea, it was a clear night with the stars shining brightly, and the moon lighting up the night sky. we swam, fooled around and here I discovered my cheesy earlier chat up line of 'have you got the time please?' paid off!!!!!!!!

Wednesday 26th October

Woke the next day at around 9am, only 3 hours sleep but was feeling pretty good. I had arranged with Jazzy that we would hire a scooter and explore some of the many waterfalls that the island had to offer. Everywhere hired scooters and it was the main form of transport for tourists, backpacker's and locals. I hired from Magic and planned to keep it for 4 days, at a mere 180BHT a day (just over £3) it was a bargain. We grabbed a map of the island and chose a waterfall, it had been many years since i had drove a scooter, after a shaky start I picked it up again. We left around midday for waterfall on the east of the Island. Koh Chang is very hilly with lots of windy roads and tight bends. It was nice to ride with the wind through your hair, especially in the midday scorching heat. We reached the waterfall after about an hour. It wasn't spectacular but we had, had to walk for about 10mins through forestry which was pretty cool. We got back to the scooter and headed back to Lonely Beach. jazzy was wanting to book a padi course for Friday so i dropped her at one of the many dive shops. Here i bumped into Ellie, so we headed to Siam for a beer and to watch sunset. This time i had my camera on me, it was yet another amazing sunset and I snapped away, also posing for a few myself (add photo here). Here we got talking to guys from England, Kim, Will, Sandra and Lyn, these guys had arrived that morning and had started drinking at 10am, they were already well on there way. Jazzy soon joined us to watch the awesome sunset. We had picked up a flyer that day for free BBQ at one of the bars on the beach, myself, Ellie and jazzy were up for this, as well as 50BHT cocktails. We headed down the beach to 'Sandy beach' bar where the free BBQ and cheap cocktails were. The BBQ was more than a disappointment, it was basically very small kebab sticks with chicken, peppers and pineapple, we had a couple of sticks and had a cocktail and headed back to our bungalows. We changed and met back down at Siam. The french guys were leaving the following day, their internship was under threat due to the floods in Bangkok and as the situation there was getting worse rather than better there start date was still undecided, this meant that they had to head back home to France, it was sad because they were great guys. So this was their last night and of course we had to send them off in style. The 4 English guys were at Siam, along with myself, the french guys, Ellie, myself, Jazzy and Femka, who was also leaving the following day. We were soon on the buckets and playing drinking games. The french guys at first couldn't get into the party mood and i didn't blame them, they really didn't want to leave. However the drinking games soon changed their mood and they were in the partying spirit. I had been wondering for the last few days what had happened to Christina, since her birthday night i hadn't seen her, this soon changed as we spotted 2 people swimming in sea, it was 2am gone, and just like a mermaid rising from the deep Christina along with Tomi submerged from the water, it seemed surreal but probably only because we were all so wasted on buckets of vodka, Gin and sangsom. Myself and Ellie were soon joining them in the sea, however tonight it was cloudy, no stars and no bright moon, it was also cold. We didn't stay long and headed back out to say our farewells to the french guys before they left in 4 hours. We got to bed at around 5am again.

Thursday 27th October

One of many Awesome Sunsets

Had a bit of a lie in, woke at around 10am and must admit was feeling a little worse for wear after now 3 nights drinking, it wasn't to stop though, the English guys were leaving the following day and tonight was their last night, of course we had to see them off with a few buckets. The day was spent between the sea and beach, by lunch i was feeling great again, the sea, lime shakes and Stuffed Thai omelette's had sorted me out. We all met as always in Siam Huts, myself, Jazzy, Ellie, and the 4 English guys, along with a new friend Chobby from Romania. By the time myself and Ellie had got there they had started a poker game. So along with a few others that weren't playing we sat around chatting and drinking. At around 11pm the buckets were put and being passed round, we had already had at least 10-12 between 8 of us before we left Siam. Himmel Bar was the place to be on Thursday nights, so we headed there already well on our way. Himmel was rammed to the rafters and even though a bar was pretty much a club with a large dance area. The staff in Himmel are awesome, dancing, singing and my favourite pouring pure alcohol over the bar and lighting it, a few local Thai girls got on the bar at the same time and danced with fire burning between their legs. The buckets still flowed and by 4am we must have down 30 between us, if it wasn't for all the dancing I am sure we all would have been passed out on the dance floor with people dancing round us!! The English guys weren't leaving until 2pm the next day so agreed to see them at Siam before they left. I had also received a text earlier that evening from the french guys, they apart from char were heading back to Koh Chang on Friday, they had decided to wait out the floods, this was awesome news.

Friday 28th October

Next day was another sea and beach day, I actually wasn't feeling too bad, i think!!! I say that because i cant really remember now as the days seem to all mingle into one. I know the night before had been big so I know sea and beach would have probably been on the agenda. Myself and Ellie lunched at Siam where i knew the English guys would be. We talked about the previous nights antics and said our farewells. Finally no one was leaving the following day, which meant no farewell partying. Farewells may have been off the cards however welcome back party was now on the cards, the french guys had arrived back and were up for a few drinks to celebrate their return.. more buckets??? Oh OK, go on then!!! Today i had bumped into Lek, the tattooist from Siam Huts, i had asked whether he could re-draw the tiger on the wall in his parlour, he said of course, I'll do it tomorrow, I would have to pay for the design which was cool as I wasn't sure if i was going to actually go through with it. In the afternoon myself and Ellie went for a ride on the scooter, we headed for a waterfall which was just past the next the bay, Kai bae. This waterfall was in a national park and we had to pay 200BHT to go. We hiked around 20mins up to it but it was worth it, hot and sweaty from the forest canopy we welcomed the cool clean and non salty fresh water. it was so refreshing and the waterfall tho we didn't get too close was pretty impressive. we stayed an hour or so and then after a few poser shots headed back to lonely beach. That night we met the french guys for dinner in a french owned Mexican restaurant, it was really nice if not expensive for the amount you got. We headed back to Siam where we knew a party was going on that night. It wasn't long before we were on the buckets, of course. Will. Kim and Co. were also In attendance, along with another group of french internship students who had also fled Bangkok, however unlike new super french friends, these guys were not so friendly and soon enough they were make comments to Will, who even though a great guy is not one to be messed with, luckily he kept is cool after some guys said 'i hate the English but your alright?' and headed to the dance floor to shake off the anger!! Despite the our unfriendly french friends we all had a great night and yet again at around 4am  we all headed for the sea for a early morning dip! Tonight we also met Gemma, Gemma from Bristol, also escaping Bangkok where she was teaching English had come with a couple who had left earlier in the evening so we had invited her to join us, another recruit to what later would be called the 'Bucket Club'.


Saturday 29th October

After 4 days with the scooter i decided that it was no longer needed. I headed back to Magic after staying at Ellie's for the 3rd night in a row. I had parked the scooter at Magic the night before, when i walked past in the morning i thought it was gone as all the bikes outside magic were facing outwards and i remember parking it, inwards. I panicked and headed to my room, 1st thought was that my bungalow had been broken into and  the key stolen, not to mention my laptop and camera. To my relief i was wrong, so i showered and changed and headed back up with the key. Handed it in and paid, i was just about to leave when they called me back, the indicator light was broken, everything then became clear, so one must have knocked it over the night before and picked it up and turned it the other way, of course i couldn't prove this and had to pay up BHT300. Not a huge amount but nether the less, annoying to say the least. I then headed for the beach for some rays and swimming time. I bumped into Christina who again i hadn't seen for a few days. So we chilled on the beach and caught some sun, we stayed on the beach for sunset, which as always was awesome. We then headed to Siam for a beer and bumped into the french guys, we arranged to meet for dinner at a place called 'Stone free'. We met at 8, Ellie, myself, Christina, Pierre, Camille and Nicholas in Stone Free. The had a live singer playing the guitar, not Ricki thank goodness. We ate dinner, laughed, played pooled and drank, it was cool chilled night, i was getting to know all these guys so well and we all got on great, they felt like good friends who I know i will definitely stay in touch with. As the night went on, Nicholas again gave us a demonstration of his guitar skills and Ellie and Christina sang along. We then moved next door to a more lively atmosphere in 'Ohem' bar. We danced and I believe a had a sentimental moment with Pierre and Camille, too much alcohol I think!!! we left around 3am, pretty early for us!!

Sunday 30th October

Snorkelling Trip

Myself, Ellie and Christina had arranged a boat snorkeling trip around some of the smaller Island that surrounded Koh Chang. We were all picked up from our accommodations at around 8.30ish, which was good for me as I had again stayed at Ellie's and had to get back to mine, shower and change. We headed to the next bay along, 'Bang Bao', this is where the pier was and all the boat trip's for tourists and fisherman left from. The trip was only 500BHT for a whole day, it included lunch, drinking water, pick to and from hotel and snorkeling gear, we all thought this was a bargain at £10 for the whole day. We were soon to find out why, the boat wasn't the greatest, the snorkeling gear didn't include flippers and the the actual snorkeling wasn't that great either, with only a few types of fishes to see. However it was a glorious sunny day, some of the Islands looked so exotic and it made a change from drinking or just sat on the beach. The only other down side was that 90% of the people on the boat were Russian. 3 youngish girls in particular certainly stood out. Around 20ish, if that, all 3, i am sorry to say not that great looking, made the boat trip into their own personal photo shoot, I kid you not, they much have had at least 3 different bikinis which they changed between and every time they came back from snorkeling, piled on the make up like it was going out of fashion, everywhere you looked they were posing in every position possible, was funny to see but seriously who do they think they are?? Since then however i must say this seems to be a common thing with the Russians and there amateur photo shoots, even the guys in their tight speedo's and beer bellies!! We arrived back at Bang Bao just before sunset. There was some good shopping here also so we wondered around until sunset and then jumped into a bar for a beer to watch yet another spectacular sunset.


So this was week one of 2 in Koh Chang, i thought it better to post 2 blogs as, with pictures also they would be too big. As you can tell i really enjoyed Koh Chang, Lonely Beach is a cool place and ideal for backpackers, especially those travelling alone, the locals are friendly, the prices for food, accommodation and bike hire are cheap, the only thing i would say is that prices for bungalows rises dramatically in peak season, i arrived just before they changed the prices meaning i kept the original price. I will post the 2nd week shortly, which will include scooter accident, a new bamboo tattoo and of course more partying, late night dips and of course Bucket's galore!!!