Let's get to it. Rewind to Ko Chang.

So. Where were we? After our elaborate scam booking to Chang Mai, we canceled the whole idea and decided to head where life seemed simpler. We hopped on a 5 hour bus journey to Ko Chang.

Thai roadside rest stop meals win

ferry journey.

First view of Ko Chang

Upon arriving at the ferry, we were told to book our accommodations in advance & went with the cheapest available option (300 baht/$10). It must have been the only room of its kind around -- the grounds were beautiful at Sai Khao Inn and I believe all the other cabins were legitimate (and more than 300 baht.)
Ours was not worth much more:





 Our budget room happened to be at "White Sand Beach", the more expensive resort area of the island:

Dinnertime beach fire show.

(39?)The guy on the right dropped his fire often, which seemed dangerous

 

























After one night & delicious free breakfast we relocated to the cheaper and more isolated "Bailan Bay" area.

This journey further south on the island cost us an additional 100baht and another terrifying taxi ride (them hills are steep and curvy! Plus you sit in the back of a pick up truck on a bench holding on to a bar for dear life).

After being dropped in the "Bailan Bay" area with no reservations, we wandered in the heat until we found the lady-boys that run Bailan Hut. Lady-boys are quite common in Thailand,  I've heard they have the largest number of transsexuals in the world -- they certainly have the most convincing/attractive ones. While at our White Sand beach cabin, we watched a special on Thai lady-boys and how impressively beautiful they always seem to be.
We loved the staff at Bailan Hut. My favorite gal had the best response to everything, no matter what was said: "Can we stay one more night?" "Shu-ah. No Probrem." "You have such an adorable puppy! I miss mine back at home." "Shu-ah. No Probrem."

Quite the restaurant view at Bailan Hut.

One of the 9 or so cats at Bailan Hut

Hut with free computer & geckos

The head gal's pup. Awesome.

The snorkeling boat trip on Ko Chang was well worth it. They picked us up at Bailan Hut and drove us to the giant boat. The crew was amusing: "We have pills if you need to vomit, you know, vomit?" and "Errybody! If you sink and drown, I dive down to save you like Supa-man! I am Supa-man."
The boat stopped at 4 islands, the first two of which were great and the second two essentially resorts for swimming less than coral and fish life. They fed us delicious curry, noodles and fruit, plus I ate my first shrimp. There is video proof of my squeamish removal of the head, etc. I didn't like it, as it turns out.

After the journey ended, I discovered a strange new leg marking which google advised could be "fire corral":

 

 Thankfully, it didn't amount to anything life altering. Although becoming a half-ocean-creature-half-superhuman-hero wouldn't have been too bad.

Overall, Ko Chang was quite relaxing. Pretty built up and a bit litter-y, but beautiful. We found a strange art yard:

 

There were cute dogs around, which I enjoyed:

The best mutt ever (at the rest stop on the road to Bangkok):






Ko Chang was a lovely 2 and a half days of our journey.
Some of the most exciting moments of the trip -- including a glimpse of an island full of wild monkeys.