From the Land of Smiles...

Ko Chang

Hey Everybody,

I just got back yesterday from a trip to Ko Chang (elephant island) with a bunch of my exchange student friends. 10 actually. It was so amazing, I had such a great time! It was so exciting to go to an island and actually spend some time on it...and I finally went swimming in the Gulf of Thailand! Yay! And, of course, it was really great to get to spend more time with my friends.

I left Rayong on Friday, and a few of my friends from a neighbouring city came and met me here and we took a bus on to the next city where we met 3 more peolpe. Then we rented a song taew (mini-bus, which is basically a truck with seats on the back) to take us right to the peir where we caught the ferry. The ferry ride was nice, and we got to see the beginning of the sunset, which was beautiful. Once we got to the island we didn't want to pay the ridiculous prices of the song taew drivers so we started walking up the road, and then got offered a ride by a really nice guy in the back of his truck. It was going really well until a song taew driver made the guy stop and then made us get out. It was ridiculous. I guess they have a complete monopoly on the island. We were sooo mad, so clearly we weren't going to give us our business, so we started walking again. Eventually we got tired, and it started to get dangerous to be walking because it was a winding road in the mountains without any lights, so we got into the next song taew that passed and got off at the beach. Then we walked along the beach looking for a place to stay.

We had gotten pretty far along the beach and were all just about to walk up this set of stairs when siddenly a huge wave came and soaked us....including some of our bags and everything in our pockets...That included Hugo's new cell phone, and Aspi realized that he had lost his too. At that point we were tired and wet, so a bunch of us just sat down there and a few people went on to look at the next place, which luckily had a few rooms open and for a good price, so we stayed there. That night we all decided to go for our first swim in the Gulf of Thailand, which was nice and warm. And then when we swam down the beach a bit we saw a guy who was doing Poi, which is basically a fire show. He had 2 chains with fire on the ends, and then did it with a stick with both ends on fire. It was sooo cool. And then my friend Kyle walked over and did it, and then Aspi, and then Nicklas went up and did it with the stick. It was crazy! They were all really good too, although we were soo worried that they were going to light themselves on fire.

The next morning Chris and I ended up waking up way earlier than everyone else so we decided to walk down the beach and find breakfast. I ended up getting French Toast and he got a banana pancake and we both of banana shakes. It was really good except that they gave us honey instead of maple syrup! It was quite dissapointing, and tasted really different, but wasn't bad, i just was looking forward to maple syrup, being the canadian that i am...When we got back we found out that we had to change where we were staying because we didn't confirm for the next night, and it was booked...so we packed up and ended up getting rooms at the place we wanted originally, which is basically where all rotary students stay when they go to Ko Chang. The people there are great..and they even have some rotary banners up from exchange students...

That day a couple of us got henna tatoos and when we were walking down the main street we found out about a reef at a beach about halfway down the island. We decided to check it out. ugo and Aspi had rented motorbikes for the day, so they shuttled us down to the beach, and I got to chek out the view from the mountains too, which was beautiful... The reef turned out to be pretty small, and not that great comparing to what else I know you can find in thailand, but it was still pretty cool. And it was really cool watching all the other people who had never seen anything like that before. They're going to absolutely love our southern tour in April.

That night when we got back we decided to go for a cheap dinner...meaning food from the 711 (where we went countless times over the few days) and then went back to the rooms and rested a bit before getting up again. It was still early so we just hung out...played some games, like "I never" which is an awsome get to know you game... Then a few of us decided that we wanted to go dancing, because there was a place down the beach, so we headed down there. It was alot of fun, and it was so funny, because when we were there I saw Brittany and Robin, my friends from Bankhai, who happened to be there at the same time. I sat and talked with them and some of the people they were with for a bit...people from Switzerland and Sweden (we met sooo many people from sweden that weekend) and a bunch of other countries. It was really cool.

The next day we all slept in lae and decided to just have a really laid back day of laying on the beach and swimming...It was really good, but we couldn't lay on the beach for long, beacuse it was just too hot, so we layed around in the water instead. Around lunch time we got hungry so we went and walked along the main road to find something. While we were walking I started to feel really sick...My stomach felt a bit weird, but I had just figured i was really really hungry, and then i started to feel weak, and just not good...so I bought some water and drank that, but still was not feeling good, so I went back to the rooms, and Chris was nice enough to walk me back. On the way y stomach got really bad and i ended up throwing up into the plastic bag that i luckily was carrying (sorry for the detail, although i could give more..but i won't)...When I got back to the room and layed down for a while and drank alot more water I felt much better...I'm guessing that it was mild heatstroke, since I had been out on the beach and in the water all day and hadn't really drank any water all day, but I'm really not sure...it was so weird...

Later that night we played a game of volleyball against some swedish people and while we were waiting to go to dinner some of the guys had made some practice poi chains. They had used rope and water bottles and ripped up a towel for the handles. It was really cool, because then a bunch of us got to learn. It's really fun, and I really wanted to try it with fire, but ran out of time. We went out to an Italian restaurant. It was good, but didn't meet our really high expectations. I guess they have to make it with Thai ingredients, but still...It was really nice to get to have cheese though. I miss cheese... After that we heard a band start up at the place next door so we went and watched that for a bit. The guitarists were really good. The one guy was playing a left handed guitar, but playing the way you'd play a right handed guitar. It was crazy, and was so weird if you listened and watched his hands. After that we hung out at the bungalows a bit and went dancing again, but it wasn't as good this time. They kept playing slowish songs, and there was a creepy guy watching us..but luckily we had boys with us... It was a good last night though.

The next morning we got up early and packed up, got breakfast at 711 and caught a song taew to the peir. Unfortunately it took us so long to catch one that we just barely missed the ferry. A few of the Korat girls had to get back before dark, so they ended up taking a speedboat back (which was more expensive) and we waited for the next one. Brittany and Robin ended up coming back with us too. When we got to the other side we took a song taew to the bus station and then Brittany and Robin and I got a bus right away back to Rayong. It was a crappy bus, but we just slept the whole way anyway...and it was nice because it was an hour shorter than it had been to get there. Once we got back to Rayong we had a very early dinner and then headed home...It was kind of weird though, because my family was still in Bangkok for the next few hours, so I had the house all to myself...

Anyways, sorry that was sooo long...and i'll try to get pictures up soon. I didn't take that many this weekend because other people were carrying their cameras, but i'm planning on getting ahold of those...I'm also goign to attempt to post the pictures tonight of the last trip, so wish me luck with the new computer...

I hope everythings going really well back home and that you're all enjoying Christmas preparations...

And good luck on your exams everybody! Yay, you're almost halfway finished first year university!

I miss you all!

-Lauren

posted by Lauren @ 11:27 PM