but this undemanding fantasy was crushed right away. seconds after boarding the koh chang ferry, equipped with backpacks full of bathing suits and tanning oil and chang beers in hand to celebrate the long blissful weekend, the island loomed straight ahead with a thick grey mass smothering the peaks of the green mountaintops. oh ya, it’s rainy season. up in pattaya, this means sporadic and crazy rainstorms every day or few days. here in koh chang, resting over 4 hours southeast of our homebase and nearly bumping butts with the cambodian border, the rainy season doesn’t mess around.
poncho-less, flashlight-less, and with nothing but my 3 sundresses to help soak up the monsoonage, my simple expectation of a restful beach weekend was washed away, along with the powerlines, roadside trees, and bright orange clay hillsides of the tiny island. and this made for the best of weekend adventures i could have ever imagined. koh chang trip quickly became an exciting blur of rainforest explorations, wild motorbike rides, elephant encounters, and a twist on the usual backpacker bar scene with the lack of electricity creating a stunning backdrop of candlelight and lightning over the ocean. what more could i have asked for. case-in-point: leave the expectations at home, and you never know when a simple beach weekend can morph into a crazy rain-filled vacay adventure.
our wild ride ripping from the pier to white sands beach hanging off the back of a baht bus over steep and windy rainforest roads takes us to the best deal on motorbike rentals ever: 400 baht for three days. it being the low season, we are struck with good luck on deals. apparently no one else decides to brave the island monsoons for their quiet beach weekend getaways… everything goes better than we can imagine. with teacher misty riding on the back of our speedy little teal and white honda, we roam on paved but nevertheless thrilling narrow and hilly roads down to lonely beach. dangerous enough with our lack of experience on the crazy roads dipping up and down with sharp narrow turns, an abundance of potholes, and no warning of the next obstacle, the breathtaking ocean views between the breaks in the lush untouched rainforest hills makes keeping my eyes on the road quite a challenge! i am already pleasantly astonished by the lack of complete commercialization and overdevelopment of this island, and the tiny dirt sois and family-owned beachside restaurants and guesthouses of lonely beach completes my picture of paradise. here we stumble upon another too-good-to be true deal brought on by the deterring rain of low season: 200 baht a night to stay at paradise cottages. the amazing hammock setup, open-air bathrooms, and simple palm leaf-roofed huts are too good to be true. siah, the owner, is more than welcoming and accommodating. we spend the first day on a nice little foot exploration of lonely beach, finding our instant favorite restaurant/bar: “stone free.” a tree-fort-ish setup run by a young thai hippy couple and their young son pin, whose english skills and work ethic are ridiculously impressive. our love for this family and their amazing food and ambiance is likely not reciprocated to the same degree as we spend the next three days closing the place down after midnight with intense jenga matches then ignoring the close sign (we hopefully assume they just forget to turn it…) as we lumber back every morning for the hangover-curing brew and my obsessive orders of every type of curry on the menu, even before 10 am. at least our combined orders of beers, fresh fruit shakes, tofu, curries, and obscene amounts of american breakfast items hopefully made up for our constant presence in profits…the other noteworthy late night spot we find on the first night is the ting tong, with 4 happy hours of 2 for 1 bucket deals, live music, and 24 hour food service.
day two: RAINforest hiking. (i came to learn, during this trip, the meaning of “rainforest”). as much as i would have enjoyed a more lengthy and challenging hike to the waterfall, the hiking path turned rushing/flooded bright orange clay river makes the short hikes quite exciting in itself. and who doesn’t like waterfalls! more motorbike explorations in our soaking clothes take us all the way down to the bottom of the island to ban bang bao fishing village (fun just thanks to the detail that the entirety of the village is on stilts our into the water) then back up to lonely beach for a wet night of tranquilizing thai massages and socializing with other wet but happy explorers.
day three: elephants! yes, we actually get to swim in rivers with the elephants! my day is just great. afterward, the slow but bumpy elephant-paced trek through the amazing mountainous jungle land is just right for taking photos in the unexpected short break from the monsoonage. my anxiety about the viability of this sanctuary’s animal-friendly claims is not completely assuaged until our ride home next to elephants freely roaming and having snacktime in the grass. with clearly no cares in the world.
we arrive back home to the late afternoon sun in jomtien. with the looming prospect of just another day at school tomorrow, it’s hard to believe i am still so content to be back on my home turf.
oh wait.
i AM in thailand. on a beach. just got back from four days of ripping around on motorbikes past monkeys and watching crazy storms from the safety of my personal beachfront hammock and hanging out with elephants in rivers. can’t let the monotony of the 9-5er let me forget the crazy reality that i am so grateful to be experiencing here in the land of thai…
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