At the International school we get 2 weeks holiday during the middle of the semester, nice. We didn't really know what we wanted to do but the idea of a beach sounded soo good to us. Our friend David, whom Shawn likes to hang out with quite a bit, was heading to Koh Chang. He has a friend who is living in Korea at the moment and he was coming to visit in Thailand ad wanted to go to this island. Cool. We thought it would be a great place to visit. Koh Chang is in the Gulf of Thailand and it is a pretty large sized island and apparently the development on the island has boosted tremendously in the past 4 years. Koh means island and Chang means Elephant, so Elephant Island. There is a few Elephant places on the island but I will get to that story in a bit.
School gets out on Friday and the Rugby World Cup is Saturday night and we plan to leave Monday night for Bangkok and then the island. On Saturday Karen, our housemate, is on the internet and goes to ajarn.com and searches for jobs in Lamang and there was one available and so Shawn sent and e-mail to them promptly. Then we head to the Tesco-Lotus for some groceries, the phone rings and it is that job calling for Shawn and they would like to meet with him....awesome. So Shawn hurries back to the house to change and go to the meeting. We finish shopping and return to the house. SHawn is still there so Karen offers to drive with him to the place because it is a little difficult to find. All in all, Shawn comes back and he has a job!!!!! Yeah!!! Such fate!!
The Rugby World cup is a HUGE event to Karen as she loves the Springboks and they were playing in the world cup against England. Karen was having a 10 PM bryie in preparation for the 2 AM start time. She went all out. She even went to Big C and bought Champagne for the event!! Many people showed up and it was a great party!!
Karen signing the South African National Anthem with a bottle of champange over her heart!! Now that's pride!!
The guys cooking up the bryie....yum!
My boss, Dr. Pim, or Goong...which is a nickname that means shrimp!!
Karen downing the Champange during the World Cup....she couldn't wait until SA actually won.....but they did!!
Our boss was there and she had mentioned that she had sent me an e-mail but that it wasn't a big deal and it could wait. Cool. I was thinking it was something about the Halloween Part that David and I put together the day before. The night goes on and at 2 AM the game begins. Many people are into the game and those that are not end up going home by that time.
I have had a bit to drink so I decide to fill my time with the internet. I see her e-mail and open it and read it. To my utter horror, dismay, amazement, disgust, the e-mail says that over the two week break I will be needed at the school for an English Day camp. I could't believe it. I felt so ill. I couldn't talk to anyone about it because they were all having a fabulous time with the party and the game. I had no idea that this was going to be expected of me, because no one said anything to me. Also, It was now 3 AM Sunday morning, my tickets were bought to go to Bangkok, and plans were made to meet people in Bangkok. By people I mean Pam of course!! I had to just go to bed and hope that it was all a bad dream.
The next morning I told Shawn the bad news and he really wasn't all that suprised as the Thai was is to do everythig last minute. But this was a bit unbelievable last minute. I mean had someone told me on Wednesday or even Friday I would have understood a bit more, but now break had officially started and I had already bought tickets and such. What a pity!!!! And it is a new job and I need an job and I thought that things were going well for me there.....how could they do this to me soo last minute......and why?
I call my boss and there is no answer so i write an email explaining the situation, I understand that I have lost face in this situation but sometimes this is the price that you pay. I understand that it is far better for me to lose face than for a thai to lose face, I get that. My boss calls, and I explain the situation and how badly I feel about the email and all of that and she tells me to go ...she understands that it is such last minute and that I have already purchased tickets. I thank her endlessly and yet I still feel bad. I hope that I haven't damaged my relationship with her and I also hope that this does not happen again to me.
So off we went!!! YEAH!! Holiday in Koh Chang!! David, Shawn and I took the VIP bus into Bangkok. Shawn tried to tell David about my sleeping abilities anywhere..and he did not believe until he saw that I didn't even wake for the food stops! When we arrived in Bangkok they woke me and my reply was 'we are there already?' We headed to a guest house on Koh San Road to sleep and meet up with Pam. Turns out that her quest to get to Nepal was not going so well so she decided to head to the beach with us. After hanging around for the day we decided that the next day we would bus it to the island. David was meting a friend from South Korea in Bangkok and he had the days confused so we went without him and would meet up with him later. Bus it to Trat, songthew to the ferry, ferry to the island, and songthew to Kai Bae....and we are there!! We had found this plae to stay that was impeccably clean, which is a plus n my book, and rested for the night. The next day we rented motorbikes for a excursion of finding another beach 'resort' to stay at that was on the beach. This ended up with us keeping our original place as everything else was really dingy or too expensive...we had the best from what we saw in our price range. It was directly on the beach but it was less than 500 yards away and that was good enough. Plus it gave us free tea and coffee, which is a real plus!
At David's Beach Hut...
The Beach Group!
We met up with David and his friend Tim and they decided to stay in these huts right on the beach. We hung at the beach and decided that the next day we would go to the elephant camp that was on the island. Because Chang in Thai mean elephant! The next day we woke and drove our bikes to the closest point of the island to the camp and hired a songthew driver to take us up to the camp. When we got there they were full and hadn't remembered that we had called and made a reservation. They actually said that we must've called the boss who was away in Bangkok and so they didn't get the message. After that ordeal, we decided to hang on the beach again, after all we were on the beach!! We had decided that we wanted to go snorkeling and booked a tour for the next day.
We woke early and went on the tour. They actually came and picked us up!! This exceeded our expectations right off the bat!! Took us to the southern pier where we loaded onto the boat, without of course first hitting us up for B100 for fins!! They are not included with the price of the snorkeling tour!! Of Course!!
Mak loy!! The coined phrase for the trip!! Means very much!! David and Shawn spent countless hours on this phrase!! They were imitating this cartoon Dog and Chimp that is a very popular Japanese carton show here in Thailand.
All geared up for some snorkeling!!
The day spent snorkeling was very cool...they took us to four different spots, fed us awesome food along the way as well. The trip was full of Thai tourists on holiday and us and maybe a few other farang. There was this lady on the trip who we think must have been a celebrity or just super rich because this guy was following her taking pictures of her everywhere. To my suprise, as I was putting on sunscreen she was standing mear me and they were taking photos of me!! I couldn't believe it!!
Ha!! So we scretely took a picture of David near her!
We also had to be the crazy farang, after all we were already crazy for wearing our swimsuits, as Thai just wear shorts and t-shirts swimming, very modest! We decided that jumping off the swim platform was not for us so we jumped off the second story of the boat, because this is Thailand and there are no rules against this type of thing, so we did it!! Crazy Farang we are!!
Shawn jumping
David jumping
Me jumping, yes I actually did it, a few times!!
What fun!!
After a day of snorkeling we were starved adn we couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at the Porn Restaurant!! Porn isn't the same word in Thai, it is actually a very common name I think.
David's friend had a bought of bad luck though. He was on David's porch of his bungalow and the floor gave way and he fell through!! The place was nice and bought him supplies for is wounds, and gave David 1/2 off on a nights stay!!! He was okay though, good thing!! Can you believe it!! Crazy stuff!!
Overall it was a very nice holiday with lots of time spent on the beach and just chillin!! Koh Chang has really developed over the last 4 years but we enjoyed it!! Evrynight we would go to this little hut bar near our guesthouse for some drinks. There was this gatoy (boy-girl) there who wouldn't let us out of the area without caling out to me 'Teacher!' So we were obliged to drink there. Koh Chang has some beautiful sunsets as well..
Me in the water at sunset...
Shawn and I enjoying the sunset together...
The gang hanging out on the last night on Koh Chang!!
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