Getting to Ko Chang

Following the success of last year’s catamaran sailing adventure off Phuket, the same crew assembled in Thailand to charter another Lagoon catamaran, but this time down near the Cambodian border on the island of Ko Chang, in the province of Trat.

On this Thursday evening, we had all arrived in Bangkok from our disparate homes around the world, but hadn’t yet met up because we were spread over the city in different hotels.

I had arrived from Australia on a Thai Airways flight, which is always a pleasure, with excellent gluten-free meals and nice wine. On this occasion I had remembered to pre-fill my online arrival card, and so breezed through security with my single cabin bag.

Hyatt Regency Suvarnabhumi 

It took me a while to find the Hyatt Regency Airport Hotel, even though I have stayed there before, but eventually a friendly security guard reminded me that I needed to take the travelators down to the basement. Once down in the tunnels beneath Bangkok airport, illuminated signs led me past the railway terminal, past a cluster of new by-the-hour sleeping capsules (springing up like mushrooms these days, I use them now and again), then through an avenue of money-changers with interesting names (Super-Rich, Lucky-Money), and on into the dark catacombs of the abandoned mall. It’s not clear whether this area has been shut down or is waiting to be developed, but I’ve never met anybody down there apart from the odd surprised airport worker catching a break.

At about the time that you start to think you’ve made a terrible mistake, the tunnels end at a stairwell which takes you up to street level, and the polished and luxurious entrance of the Hyatt itself. I understand that it is possible to get a shuttle from Arrivals, but the underworld is much more fun.

One great feature of this airport hotel is that checkout is always calculated to be exactly 24 hours after you arrive, so whenever your departing flight, you know that you are not going to be disturbed. I picked up my key from the smiling lady in the mirrored lotus flower that serves as a reception desk, and made my way up to my room.

As is usual, the air conditioning was set to very cold, so I switched it off and enjoyed a restful and comfortable night.

After a long hot morning bath to straighten out the kinks, I went down to the lobby for a magnificent breakfast. I had several helpings each of congee, stir-fried vegetables, chinese fried olives with beef, steamed aubergine, a whole host of different pickled vegetables, steamed sea bass, salted duck eggs, chinese sausage, and mackerel, all washed down with excellent coffee. I do like eating in Thailand.

My flight wasn’t until lunchtime, so I spent a quiet leisurely morning alone in my room, undisturbed with my own bathroom and a book. Delightful.

Trat and Ko Chang

Bankgkok Domestic is tucked away in the corner of the vast International departure hall, with minimal security delays. There were a surprising number of western-style eateries alongside the gates, but I found a small coffee shop that doubled as a cocktail bar and served killer negronis.

David and Mirjana were supposed to meet me there, but they got a taxi to the wrong airport, so I had a pleasant hour sipping drinks and reading my book until they arrived, in time for a couple more gin cocktails before boarding the little turbo-prop hopper to Trat.

Trat Airport is a fine example of a domestic Asian airport, housed in a wooden thatched building and surrounded by elephant-shaped topiary.

We were met by our pre-arranged driver who loaded us into his bus and took us to the ferry terminal. I had originally booked a ‘speed boat’ to the island of Ko Chang, but had been told that ‘because of the sea state, the speed boat is unable to run’ and that we would be taking the vehicle ferry instead.

It was all quite charming, and before long we found ourselves in the Santhiya Tree Resort, an imposing edifice of hand-carved wood, where my room boasted a four-poster bed and a balcony with a claw-foot bath and a small infinity pool.

We caught up with Ivana and Shanice who had checked in on an earlier flight, and all enjoyed a lovely meal under the darkening sky.

Afterward I sipped the lovely local rum in my room, alternating between the outside tub and the pool. Before dawn I moved my bedding from the four-poster to the outside divan, and watched the rain forest come to life as the sun came up over the infinity pool.

RURAL ROAD

Taxis on Ko Chang are flatbed trucks mounted with a sturdy metal frame enclosing bench seats. There is a tendency to bright colours, chrome, and many many loudspeakers.

The road from the resort on the west coast, to the Royal Siam Marina in the north, is a steep ascent up the aptly named ‘Rural Road’, which climbs through lush rainforest via hairpin switchbacks, made all the more exciting by the local custom of overtaking everything on blind bends.

The taxi dropped us at the entrance to the marina, which turned out to be quite a long walk in the midday heat from the Aqua Charters office. The crew were helpful and friendly, and the Lagoon 45 catamaran looked to be in good shape. It wasn’t quite ready for us yet, but we dumped our bags aboard just as Andrew and Vananh arrived to complete the crew. We asked Aqua about provisioning, and they agreed to supply us with beer and water, and sent us off to find everything else.

This involved another garish taxi all the way back down the Rural Road switchback to where we’d started, where we found everything that we could possibly need at the Makro hypermarket. As well as bulk packs of absolutely everything packaged and tinned, we loaded up with fresh meat and vegetables (most of the latter unfamiliar, but luckily Vananh recognised some of them). There was a great deal of confusion at checkout, because some things had to be pre-weighed, and others (notably, the enormous tray of quail’s eggs) got dropped on the floor, but we sorted it out in the end and loaded it all into our waiting taxi, who took us back up the mountain.

Having realised now that the White Sand Beach portion of Rural Road is pretty much the urban heart of Ko Chang, we unloaded our provisions onto the boat and caught yet another taxi back down the mountain to find some nightlife.

After a pleasant meal at a beach bar, a few of us ended up at Oodie’s Place, the oldest music venue on the island, and home to a band playing rock and blues and pretty much anything to entertain the punters, which on this occasion included a conga-line of ladies of a certain age who had a great time dancing between the tables. The band were really very good indeed and we sank a few beers as we listened.

Down the road, the rest of the crew had found a pool table at Golden Flowers by Linly’s Bar, and had been waiting patiently for a turn at the winner-stays-on game.

When the rest of us arrived, David finally got on, and after seeing off a few contenders, ended up playing Lily the owner. The bar was relaxed and friendly and – as far as we could tell – staffed by lady-boys, who kept us supplied with beers until we decanted ourselves into a taxi and back up Rural Road to the marina.

For tomorrow, we sail.