confused about when we should be asleep. We packed up and left Ban
Jaidee Guesthouse and Trat, not realizing how good we had it there. We
found coffee for breakfast at a small, foul-smelling shop that catered
to Westerners, but the coffee was amazing. I'm talking Vivace-good,
for those of you in the know. We are starting to try out simple Thai
phrases like thank you and how much, which is fun and amusingly
embarrassing. Next we were approached by a sangthaew (truck taxi)
driver, offering us a ride to Koh Chang for 50 baht. This was the
standard price, so we agreed and jumped onto the back benches. We felt
clever finding our own way instead of waiting two hours for the
arranged shuttle we heard about through another guesthouse. The taxi
driver got us to and on the Centerpoint Ferry over to the island of
Koh Chang and off we went.
Changing locations, although scary at first because we weren't sure
where or how to go, was shaping up to be pretty simple thanks to the
well-worn track from Trat to Koh Chang. When the ferry let us off, we
expected a taxi to be waiting for us, but no one seemed to notice our
arrival. We walked around the little shops there, got a meat stick,
which was cold, but we were so hungry we ate it anyways. Now what? We
eventually cornered a taxi driver, but he told us to wait for more
people so the price would be less. So we waited. We watched people
amass to take the ferry back to Trat and kids playing a game with
little rocks (like marbles, it seemed). Robert payed 5 baht to use the
bathroom, then we noticed the free, public bathroom, in front of which
we were sitting. Gotta love paying to use a free service.
We spoke to a German taxi driver going the other way and he told us a
few amusing things in his very broken english. First, he called this a
journey as in, "is this your first journey?" i thought this was an apt
descriptor of what we are doing, especially better than vacation or
holiday, which isnt really what we are here for. Also, he told us
about his previous four journeys: first-intro to thailand, second -
fell in love in thailand, third - visited his girl in thailand, fourth
and current trip - girl broke his heart. Poor guy, he was not a happy
camper. Finally, he explained the thai structure of importance:
buddha, king, thai people, ladybugs and then falangs (foreigners).
Again, i think he was pretty fed up with thailand at this point, but
an interesting point of view. The only westerners we have seen running
businesses here have been French men with Thai wives, who increase
their legitimacy. Off he went on the ferry leaving us to keep waiting.
Anyways, we got frustrated with waiting and went to flag down a taxi
on the road. The first guy we found told us to go back to the pier,
apparently there was a system for getting a taxi and we were not
allowed to flag down our own cab. Annoyed, we walked back to the pier
- oh, no! He wasn't jerking with us, the taxi at the pier was finally
loading and a million falangs had just gotten off the ferry and were
getting on to the taxi we just spent hours waiting for!!! Trick was,
they didn't really know what was going on. I walked right up through
their confused faces, asked how much (1/12th of the price I was quoted
as a single rider earlier) and jumped on. Done. We crammed 12 people
into that tiny truck and off we went. Our companions were: Germans,
Aussies, and Brits, no other Americans. We are odd-ducks it seems.
The road led straight up the mountain at a remarkable slope and then
straight down the other side. This truly isn't a place to learn how to
drive a motorbike as we were repeatedly told. We got dropped off and
spent some time wandering past and ignoring touts of all stripes. We
needed help, but universally refusing help from a tout, someone who
comes up to you with an offer, is the first rule of savvy traveling.
Finally, I broke down and asked another westerner for directions. He
was quite helpful and gave us a map - you know, the map that many of
the touts were offering! Oh well, we got ours eventually and were able
to find the few backpacker guesthouses we had heard about.
Story-worthy: Independent Bo Guesthouse
This was the first place we found in Koh Chang and for that reason
alone we shouldn't have agreed to stay, but we did. The place is known
for it's crazy decor, mountainside location and bohemian "vibe," which
apparently is a selling point for some. All three descriptions were
spot on. We were shown to the two free rooms at the top of the hill -
up twisted concrete staircases, with equally twisted hand rails. I'll
post a picture, the walk up is insane.
Then we got to the available rooms. The lower room was a wooden shack
with a technicolor paint-job complete with a room-sized bed, one
window and a shelf. I'm not sure the last time someone stayed here
because there were leaves and tree bits - on the bed! The wooden plank
floor was covered with blue stick-on laminate (think college-dorm
drawer lining). A bare, fluorescent bulb hung from the ceiling and a
picture of bob marley was pasted to the wall. There was a porch, with
an ocean view (obstructed by jungle, but there was water through the
trees too), one chair and an external padlock. Home, sweet home.
The bathroom was...well, you can decide on an appropriate descriptor.
Imagine. You scale a five-step wooden ladder to get to a landing where
you push open a white pasteboard door to find: a western style toilet,
minus the flush handle, a giant, blue plastic fifty gallon water drum,
a hand scooper sitting on top of the drum, a water hose on the floor
and a hand-held shower head attached to the wall. Oh - and a present
was left in the toilet, just for us, rotting away ever since the room
was last let - before the tree bits accumulated on the bed.
After this glowing introduction and the 300 baht price tag, we were
sold! Mostly we were ready to be done moving and figured this would do
for the night. Surprisingly, it did.
Pictures will follow.
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