Post 274: Koh Chang

A week? I can’t have been on Koh Chang for a week? Maybe the calendar’s wrong, it only feels like a couple of days since the gruelling journey to get here finally ended. I guess Koh Chang is one of those rare places in Thailand where you’re much more likely to loose your sense of time than your virginity. I guess that there are places here where a Gentleman my receive his Relish in abundance, but if there are such places then thankfully they’re really very well hidden. Either that, or I’m simply not looking for them, probably both …. mai pen rai

I’m trying to think of things to tell you. Things that have happened that might be of some interest. Well, I broke my toe, the first toe on the left foot. Technically it’s a dislocation of sorts, but the pain is probably the same. The pain wasn’t really as bad as it might have been. I know this to be true because later that night I caught the same toe in a hole in my bed sheet and discovered that the ‘’Worst pain imaginable‘’, is only a temporary accolade. Unfortunately, my ’Travel Insurance’ didn’t commence until two days after the incident and the medical assistance that I sought was therefore quite rudimentary. I was told to put some cream on it, which I did. It didn’t stop the pain, reduce the blackness or even lessen the swelling, but at least it slipped through the torn bed sheets a lot more easily than before.

I’ve been pottering around the Island on my little Honda Click, enjoying the scenery and watching tourists who would never dream of riding a bike at home, kissing the tarmac at every tight bend. Is it the sun? Is it some chemical in the SPF 15 tanning lotion? I’ve no idea, but there’s something about holiday islands that tempts ordinarily sane people into acts of sheer lunacy. It really is quite scary at just how crap some people are at riding these things but it makes it easier to understand why travel insurance is so bloody expensive. I watch them brake when they should be opening the throttle, turning in when they should be running wide and I seem to be the only person on this Island wearing a crash helmet. Did I mention filling up with petrol? Probably not, but you fill up using fuel stored in whiskey bottles and buy your fuel grade according to colour. I’m Orange.





Not content with just this one beautiful Island, I hopped onto a boat at Bang Bao and spent some glorious time on several others. A little snorkelling, diving with some borrowed scuba equipment and too many hours spent under too much sun with too little sun cream. Does life really ever get much better than this? As a man who once resided in the fine County of Essex, Canvey will never seem quite the same again. I’ll tempt you with come pictures another day when I‘ve got more time ….. mai pen rai














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