It was a sad moment for us leaving Canada. We enjoyed it so much and wish we had more funds to stay longer. That said I always thought that exploring Canada in our own camper van would have been out of our reach and I certainly can’t complain with the amazing experience we had, it was truly unforgettable. With our life pulled back together into two bags each we were ready to head off to pastures new. Well kind of new. We headed back to Bangkok and Thailand were we have been so many times before.
We knew we were heading back to Asia and after living out of a small van for 3 months we were ready for some easy going chill time. Thailand was an easy choice and with Bangkok being one of South East Asia’s two biggest hubs it was the cheapest and best option for flights to get us across the Pacific and in to Asia.
We’ve been to Bangkok so many times now, maybe a dozen or so? and it was nice to touch down in a familiar place. Back in the Land of smiles, amazing cheap food, and cheap everything else for that matter compared to Canada! It was a great start to the next leg of our adventure.
We had our usual favourite hostel already booked and with our flight landing late and public transport no longer running we haggled a decent price into the city and to Soi 50 on Sukhumvit Road. Bleary eyed and tired we checked in and crashed out after a few cheeky nibbles from 7-11!
We love Bangkok. It’s one of our favourite cities in the world. We could probably live quite happily in Bangkok given the chance, it has everything. We could throw out all the usual superlatives of vibrant, exciting, a punch to the senses etc and they are all true. But to us it almost feels like a home away from home that we feel very comfortable in. Amazingly good food, something happening around every corner and a tourist industry that spans many a decade make Bangkok an easy going, accessible and safe place for any traveler.
We had 4 nights booked at our hostel and having already experienced most of the sights in the city, we chilled out, ate at our favourite places (and many new ones as well), drank copious amounts of cheap Thai Rum and started to plan our next moves.
We knew we fancied some easy island life for a few weeks and after the expense of Canada we decided on returning to one of the cheapest islands you can find, Koh Chang.
In an earlier post from our other trips I’ve spoke of Koh Chang as being a good beginners island in Thailand that can give you a little taste of what you can find elsewhere. It has the usual beaches, girly bars, Rasta bars, normal bars everything you expect from a Thai island. There are many other islands that offer all of these things and a lot better, but the one thing with Koh Chang is that it is cheaper than any of them. If your looking for a cheap slice of island life then Koh Chang fits the bill.
It is easy and cheap to get to from Bangkok. A 5 hour government bus ride costing just 260 THB gets you to the pier at Centrepoint in Trat. Then only 80 THB get’s you the short ferry trip across to the island itself. From there you hop in to one of the set priced taxis and before you know it you are at your digs and experiencing island life.
Most other islands will cost you more to get to and be more expensive when you are there. Koh Chang is cheap for an island because of how close it is to the mainland. Most of the things you will buy are the same as the mainland prices. The only other island we have found to be similar is Koh Lanta on the Andaman Sea side of Thailand.
Cigarettes, alcohol, food and accommodation are all available at mainland prices if you shop around a little. Certainly cheaper than some of the more glamorous islands. For us this was an ideal place to go and relax for a few weeks after the ridiculous spending spree that was Canada. It was also low season as well which meant that accommodation was cheaper than usual.
We stayed at Kai Bae beach again, where we stayed last time we were here. Our digs were only £10.50 a night at Jungle View bungalows. This got us a nice clean room, private bathroom, a pool and cool crisp aircon. Not bad at all for the money. It’s a really pleasant place to stay and Matt the lad from Belgium who owns the place is really nice and laid back. We shared some good travel stories with him and enjoyed our time there. We stayed 3 weeks on Koh Chang and enjoyed the laid back island life.
Like the title suggests it’s rainy season here and for the first 10 days that’s pretty much all we saw. We didn’t venture far at all, other than on a night to grab a bite to eat. We settled into a routine of chilling around Jungleview during the day with a bottle of Sang Som and some beers. Heading along the road to the small strip of Kai Bae for some good cheap food on a night. Then raiding the small Tesco Lotus shop for anything they had reduced that we could have for breakfast/lunch the following day. Most nights we picked up some amazing bargains. Small sandwiches for 3 THB (about 8p!!), Danish pastries for 5 BHT. Anything to keep the cost down (and to fund our Sang Som habit!).
We also had the pleasure of visiting Happy dogs Koh Chang quite a few times. It’s a dog shelter that helps strays on the island, ran by a lady called Martina. We had tried to get a live in volunteer position there but they were full up for most of the time we were on the island. The shelter was only round the corner from Jungleview and the opportunity to go along and help out with the lovely little fur babies was something we couldn’t resist. As most of you know we have volunteered a lot of our time over the last few years to animal shelters and Happy Dogs is one of the best we have visited. Mainly for the fact of how many of the islands strays Martina manages to find new homes for. Most of those being in Europe.
I’m not quite sure how she manages it, but it seems like every other day there is a love-able little furry friend being shipped somewhere round the world to a loving home. It’s really nice to see that kind of thing happening and the dogs there are so friendly and appreciative of the time you spend with them.
We spent most of our time trying to get as many dogs as we could out for walks down to Klong Prao beach (I know, it’s a hard life!). When the rain was too heavy (most days!) we spent our time with them trying to show them as much love as possible and making their day that little bit happier. If you ever find yourself on Koh Chang and you love dogs you have to check this place out, you will love the dogs there…and may even want to take one home!
The live in volunteers that were at the shelter were really cool as well and it was nice to spend some time there. Meeting new people, having a craic on. The usual stuff that makes traveling what it is for us. You meet nice, similar mined people all over when your traveling around and it’s nice to share experiences and ideas as you meander through your journey.
When we first arrived on Koh Chang Dani messaged around a few of the hotels there to see if any of them were open to collaborating with us. We have only recently tried to start pushing the blog and instagram a bit more during this trip and we were over the moon when one of the hotels replied to us and offered us 5 nights stay in return for a blog entry and an instagram post! We aren’t used to this. We had the free day out to see Boo the bear while in Golden, Canada but that’s all so far. To be fair it was hard to do in Canada due to lack of internet access etc. But to be offered 5 free nights at a luxury resort was unreal. I won’t bore you with it now, and you’ve probably already read our review anyway, but we were really stoked to get some 5 star R&R during our month in Thailand, it’s certainly not something we are used to when traveling on a budget. Hopefully there is more to come!
Eventually the weeks slipped by on Koh Chang and it was time to leave, head back to Bangkok and decide where to go next on our adventures.
We were a little disappointed with our old favourite hostel when we had arrived from Canada. It was still cheap and had decent enough rooms, our favourite place to eat still over the road but it was lacking in atmosphere compared to how we remembered it. We enjoyed the communal area in the past, when there would be a good bunch of travelers sitting about having a craic on. This time the place felt dead, as if hardly anyone was staying there. Maybe there was hardly anyone staying there with it being rainy season. But we decided to check out somewhere different for a change and we weren’t disappointed.
We stayed at a hostel called Backpack station this time. Not far from our usual hostel off Sukhumvit Road, just one stop up on the Skytrain at Phra Khanong.
The street we were staying in was street food heaven! The whole street was jam packed with stalls selling everything and anything to tickle your taste buds. Crispy duck soup, dim sums to die for, picky sticks (as we call them) of every flavour under the sun. The best bit? It is some of the cheapest food we have found yet in Bangkok. It was amazing and we spent a few nights trawling up and down the street trying as much as we possibly could. We will certainly head back to that street again next time we are in Bangkok, whether we stay at the same hostel or not. It’s worth the trip there just for a bite to eat.
While back in Bangkok and with our Thai Visa running out quickly we needed to make a decision on where we were going to head next.
We always knew we wanted to go back to Indonesia again to check out more of what they have to offer. Some new islands this time, of which there are over 14,000! So we headed along to the Indonesian Embassy to get a 2 month Visa sorted so we can spend a bit more time there.
We also messaged Narelle. The lady who runs the Langkawi Lassie animal shelter in Langkawi where we have volunteered at many times before. She was kind enough to offer us some free digs at one of her places in Penang first for a few days then a place to stay at the shelter in Langkawi afterwards. So Malaysia is where we are headed.
We looked into transport and decided to take the train down from Bangkok to Malaysia this time. We haven’t done this route before and rail travel is our favourite way to go. It’s so much more civilized and relaxed compared to flying. It’s not as crammed and stuffy as a bus as you can get up and go wander about. You also get to take the scenery in a lot better as well so we are looking forward to catching our overnight sleeper train down to the Malaysian border.
It feels a bit rushed. This cramming one months travel into one article but I really want to get caught up with this journal. The main reason I love keeping this blog going is that it gives me and Dani something to look back on years down the line. It also helps share our stories with our friends as well and to me it’s always the little crazy details and escapades that makes it so interesting. When I fall behind and have to play catch up you forget a lot of the stupid little things that happen and it will be nice to get caught up so that we are writing every other day again. Then we can start to get more detail of the stupid things we get up to down in writing. When you summarise things in one post you forget all those little things, and this entry does feel a little rushed, but hey! So hopefully….soon…sometime, we will be back up to date and on the ball with our journal again.
2 thoughts on “A month of monsoon in the land of smiles”
Awesome ?
Thanks!