Surely many are already fed up with winter, the chilly weather and dullness on the street. Therefore, I invite you to plunge into the summer cocktail of Koh Chang: blue sea and warm rain, hot sun and lilac sunsets, emerald greens and mountain landscapes. I only stayed on Koh Chang for about two weeks, nevertheless I managed to pretty much drive around it. At least for myself «considerably», Since I usually spend a lot of time blogging while traveling and commuting, I don't have much going on. This time I went somewhere every day and hardly sat at the computer. I also have a separate detailed post - What to see on Koh Chang.
First of all, I would like to share my photos of those places and beauties that I managed to see. In my opinion, some of the pictures turned out to be very good, I like it myself. Although, of course, they do not convey even half of how beautiful it can be. Secondly, I would like to tell you quite a bit about my impressions of the island of Koh Chang. Just keep in mind, I do not pretend to be a connoisseur of this island and I may be wrong about something. On the other hand, it is the first impressions that are valuable when the eye has not yet been blurred. Of course, second impressions that arise after living there as an expat are also important, but this is not my case 🙂
Koh Chang in pictures
Photos for me will not be associated with text in any way, that is, impressions are separate from photos. Therefore, just a photo-series in sequence around the island from the west coast to the east.
Impressions of Koh Chang
For living, I liked White Sand Beach the most, the most crowded and most popular. Perhaps because it is the closest to get to it, there are minimarkets, budget housing, a mini-market with pockeys. From here it is most convenient to ride around the island and see the sights, it turns out that you are, as it were, in the middle of all routes, you can go one way along the coast, then the other. I also really liked Long Beach, where, on the contrary, there is no one at all, complete unity with nature and a bunch of the same «hippie», like me.
I also got the impression that I could not live here for a long time. Come for a week, yes, maybe a month, but no more. One of the reasons is the infrastructure, of which there are not very many on the island. Although not to say that I use something so special. The only thing I missed there was some big Big C. But the main thing, why I didn't really want to stay there, was the atmosphere. I won't say that it is bad, it's just the usual atmosphere of the resort, and I don't really like such places. But there is no other way where there is a sea. By the way, many old-timers say that Koh Chang has deteriorated over the past two years after there were many visitors from Pattaya. And I am inclined to agree with this, although I have not seen old Chang. There are enough bags from Pattaya, the inscriptions are already in Russian, the Thais speak Russian ...
However, Koh Chang is still a pleasant place to spend some time by the sea. And in general, it is worth going here for nature, the landscapes are excellent, the waterfalls are cool, the sea is blue. When you ride a bike around the island, you just can't help but notice all this beauty. I recommend taking a ride to the east side. It's just that a trip along the coastline itself can already be considered entertainment..
The only thing, but if you are not in tune with the bike, then moving around will be somewhat problematic, at least when it comes to the east coast, since minibuses rarely go there. But while riding a bike, you need to be careful and not drive too hard. There are a couple of steep climbs with turns, but if you don't get excited, then you can pass them without any problems. It makes sense to be especially careful in the rain, right in front of me people fell on turns and at low speed, apparently the tires were completely bald.
In general, the island left mixed feelings, and it seems there is something attractive in it, and it seems that it is not quite right ...
P.S. Somehow I already had a similar post with a small amount of text, it was called «Thailand in pictures»: part 1 and part 2.
P.P.S. If you are interested in how to live on Koh Chang, we have a description nice and budget bungalow, and you can look for other bungalows and guesthouses at RoomGuru.