Expat Life On Ko Chang

[T_Dog]

Just returned from a great vacation week on the island of Ko Chang and was wondering if there is much of an expat community there. Seems like a quiet island where one might get "rock fever" from not having enough to do. Is there an organized expat's club there? What immigration office do you do 90 day reports at? Where do you shop for groceries and hardware items? In general, am wondering what it would be like to live there. Everyone dreams of living on a tropical island, but is it practical?

[BigSnake]

I found it quite nice, relaxing a great to escape all the nonsense, noise etc of city. We loved will return often, sure as heck beat pattaya for this old cowboy and my mate. But if you are looking for the bright lights, the pretty show girls by all means pattaya is your place. ENJOY!!

[Junglejumbo]

I used think about living there. There is some ex-pat community and some houses for sale owned by foreigners. I'm told that people are taken in by the island, retire there for about a year then get bored and decide its not for them. New hotels may have improved things or made it more superficial, I haven't been there recently.

I do remember going to this local restaurant where the special of the day was Chicken Alfonso pasta advertised on a big board besides the road, which is a chicken in white sauce, and thought it was worth a try for Koh Chang so I stopped and ordered it. It took about one hour to arrive, and the sauce was cold mayonnaise, while the pasta was all stuck together and the chicken pieces were placed separately on a plate besides the pasta and mayonnaise. When I complained that this wasn't the way to make it, the owner threatened to set his two huge dogs on to me which were waiting in chains barking and snarling in a corner. I just paid and left without eating anything.

The hospital there isn't up to much, and even on the mainland its a fair drive to the nearest one. There are stories amongst the locals that if you have a heart attack you die.

On the other side of the Island there's karaoke bars for the locals.

[TVmonitor]

Before you commit, just spend August and September there.

[T_Dog]

Before you commit, just spend August and September there.

Is the humidity or rivers of rain that get to you?

[Changian]

Just returned from a great vacation week on the island of Ko Chang and was wondering if there is much of an expat community there. Seems like a quiet island where one might get "rock fever" from not having enough to do. Is there an organized expat's club there? What immigration office do you do 90 day reports at? Where do you shop for groceries and hardware items? In general, am wondering what it would be like to live there. Everyone dreams of living on a tropical island, but is it practical?

You definitely need a reason to get up in the morning. Otherwise the novelty of sitting on the beach all day can wear off quite quickly. If you can keep yourself busy with a hobby/ business or whatever and don't have to rely on someone else to provide entertainment or activities for you to do then you'll like it here. If not then better to look at one of the more developed islands.

No expats club. No form of kindergarten/ schooling for expat kids. I'd have thought they'd be a demand for this but no one has bothered to organise anything yet.

Tend to see quite a few middle aged/elderly expats who stay here for the high season passing the time in the small roadside bars. The appeal of that is lost on me but each to their own.

You buy hardware from one of the builder's merchants and groceries from the supermarket or the market. Same as most places. But less choice. If you want Tesco then drive to Chantaburi. There's a co-op & crap department store in Trat. The international Clinic here is good, but it's aimed at tourists with travel insurance. Bangkok Hospital in Trat is OK but not as good as the one in Chantaburi apparently.

In the rainy season, from June - Oct it rains a lot - it's pretty much the wettest place in Thailand. But there are some lovely days too as it doesnt rain all the time, just very heavily when it does. So use that time to have holidays elsewhere.

You;d use Laem Ngop immigration office 5 mins drive from the ferry piers. Laid back place with none of the hassles associated with Bangkok

[kbvicar]

I used think about living there. There is some ex-pat community and some houses for sale owned by foreigners. I'm told that people are taken in by the island, retire there for about a year then get bored and decide its not for them. New hotels may have improved things or made it more superficial, I haven't been there recently.

I do remember going to this local restaurant where the special of the day was Chicken Alfonso pasta advertised on a big board besides the road, which is a chicken in white sauce, and thought it was worth a try for Koh Chang so I stopped and ordered it. It took about one hour to arrive, and the sauce was cold mayonnaise, while the pasta was all stuck together and the chicken pieces were placed separately on a plate besides the pasta and mayonnaise. When I complained that this wasn't the way to make it, the owner threatened to set his two huge dogs on to me which were waiting in chains barking and snarling in a corner. I just paid and left without eating anything.

The hospital there isn't up to much, and even on the mainland its a fair drive to the nearest one. There are stories amongst the locals that if you have a heart attack you die.

On the other side of the Island there's karaoke bars for the locals.

So jj, was there anything you liked about KC? or were you even actually there? You sound like the kind of person who would have a bummer wherever they went...

[T_Dog]

Just returned from a great vacation week on the island of Ko Chang and was wondering if there is much of an expat community there. Seems like a quiet island where one might get "rock fever" from not having enough to do. Is there an organized expat's club there? What immigration office do you do 90 day reports at? Where do you shop for groceries and hardware items? In general, am wondering what it would be like to live there. Everyone dreams of living on a tropical island, but is it practical?

You definitely need a reason to get up in the morning. Otherwise the novelty of sitting on the beach all day can wear off quite quickly. If you can keep yourself busy with a hobby/ business or whatever and don't have to rely on someone else to provide entertainment or activities for you to do then you'll like it here. If not then better to look at one of the more developed islands.

No expats club. No form of kindergarten/ schooling for expat kids. I'd have thought they'd be a demand for this but no one has bothered to organise anything yet.

Tend to see quite a few middle aged/elderly expats who stay here for the high season passing the time in the small roadside bars. The appeal of that is lost on me but each to their own.

You buy hardware from one of the builder's merchants and groceries from the supermarket or the market. Same as most places. But less choice. If you want Tesco then drive to Chantaburi. There's a co-op & crap department store in Trat. The international Clinic here is good, but it's aimed at tourists with travel insurance. Bangkok Hospital in Trat is OK but not as good as the one in Chantaburi apparently.

In the rainy season, from June - Oct it rains a lot - it's pretty much the wettest place in Thailand. But there are some lovely days too as it doesnt rain all the time, just very heavily when it does. So use that time to have holidays elsewhere.

You;d use Laem Ngop immigration office 5 mins drive from the ferry piers. Laid back place with none of the hassles associated with Bangkok

Changian.... Thanks for a very informative post. Appreciate that a lot. The expats I met there were running restaurants or dive shops so I see what you mean about having something to do. Lot's of outdoor activities there, that is for sure with sailing, fishing, diving, and I even saw some paragliders, although I could not find where they were launching from. (Didn't look like there were any clear launch sites up the mountain, which is restricted access anyway.) Thanks again for the post.

[Changian]

No paragliders but there are sometimes paramotors in the air. One is owned by a Brazilian guy who lives here but if you saw one last week that was probably Joey Boy, the Thai rapper, who is into paramotors and came down with his machine and was flying around for 2-3 days. Some of his mates have a small resort here.

A German guy is trying to get a beginners paragliding set up going and has found a hill from which he can take off, that isnt in the National Park, but not easy to get permission and get the hill licensed as a temporary airfield.

[JR Texas]

No paragliders but there are sometimes paramotors in the air. One is owned by a Brazilian guy who lives here but if you saw one last week that was probably Joey Boy, the Thai rapper, who is into paramotors and came down with his machine and was flying around for 2-3 days. Some of his mates have a small resort here.

A German guy is trying to get a beginners paragliding set up going and has found a hill from which he can take off, that isnt in the National Park, but not easy to get permission and get the hill licensed as a temporary airfield.

I'm curious about condos there.........where do expats live? Also, looking at maps you can see lots of islands nearby.........people live there too?

[TheUsernameIsAlreadyTaken]

Chang is terrible, I was once there, never again, thank you!

[Changian]

I'm curious about condos there.........where do expats live? Also, looking at maps you can see lots of islands nearby.........people live there too?

I live in a house. One of those 4 walled things with a roof.

There are condo developments in Bangbao, Pearl beach and Klong Son on Koh Chang. If you are looking for anything under 5 million baht then you'll need to look elsewhere. In Bangbao you can expect to pay Bangkok city centre prices ie over 100K Baht/sqm for 60sqm condo. (But they are very nice.)

Also now some condos on Koh Mak soon.

People live on some of the outlying islands. Some are private islands, some are uninhabited. For expats there's only really Koh Mak which has a growing number of farangs who either live there and run businesses or who have holiday homes on the island.

[JR Texas]

I'm curious about condos there.........where do expats live? Also, looking at maps you can see lots of islands nearby.........people live there too?

I live in a house. One of those 4 walled things with a roof.

There are condo developments in Bangbao, Pearl beach and Klong Son on Koh Chang. If you are looking for anything under 5 million baht then you'll need to look elsewhere. In Bangbao you can expect to pay Bangkok city centre prices ie over 100K Baht/sqm for 60sqm condo. (But they are very nice.)

Also now some condos on Koh Mak soon.

People live on some of the outlying islands. Some are private islands, some are uninhabited. For expats there's only really Koh Mak which has a growing number of farangs who either live there and run businesses or who have holiday homes on the island.

Thanks........will start Googling Koh Mak.