Ko Chang

Our next destination in Thailand was the beach. After an interesting night train ride back to Bangkok, we boarded a bus for the island of Ko Chang. We were looking for an isolated beach that wasn't touristy, but after a ride through the steep mountains of Ko Chang we found an unending stream of restaurants and hotels. Our hostel had another location in the undeveloped area of the island. We spent two night there - and undeveloped means there was no electricity (they ran a generator at night), no running water (we bucket bathed with collected rain water, no road (the gravel that we drove on up the mountain had occasional mud slides blocking the road and sometimes it seemed like the truck wouldn't make it up the mountain or around the hairpin turns, the island views from the top were beautiful though), no massage parlors, no internet, no restaurants, and no way out except for the daily once a day taxi. Our room was a straw hut with a bed and about two feet of space. It was like a resort for backpackers. We laid on the beach and one day we raced through the waves in a speed boat to go snorkeling. The waves were unusually high that day, but that didn't stop the boat drivers from driving really fast and completing soaking us. The water was perfectly clear and we went snorkeling through coral reef looking at the tropical fish and fauna.