Ko Chang Questions

[femi fan]

threads move slowly here, everyone having too good a life...?!

Hence starting this one, couple of questions for any helpful ko chang folk who are taking a break from the beach:

We had a great holiday last may, staying at tiger huts in klong prao beach.

Is tiger huts the same? Or did they sell the land and new bungalows replace them?

How is weather at the moment? We're coming back next week, and hoping to see less rain than here in chiang mai.

And last time we drove down and took the ferry from ao thammachat. This time we train down to bkk, then get a bus from ekkamai bus station in sukhumvit (assume this is still the starting point). How long is the bus journey roughly? And will it take us to ao thammachat, or just trat town? What do ko chang residents do when coming back from bkk?

Cheers

[Changian]

Tiger Huts is the same. Nothing changed there. They have been fixing a few of the huts this week and slowly getting it ready for the coming High Season.

The land belongs to CP Group, one of the biggest companies in Thailand. Not the sort of thing that will sell easily in the current economic climate, especially with Koh Chang still being relatively quiet. So I dont expect Tiger Huts to close anytime soon.

Until a couple of days ago the weather had been beautiful, hot sunshine and calm clear seas. But there's been a bit of rain recently - not as much as in Bangkok and up north though. Having said that, after another sunny start to the day it has just started raining quite heavily about 10 mins ago.

Take the 0745 or 0945 bus to Laem Ngop from Ekkamai. 250 Baht/person. Takes around 5 hours. Sometimes drops people off at Ao Thammachat, sometimes at Centrepoint ferry. If you miss these buses just take any bus heading to Trat. You'll probably be dropped off about 25km before you reach Trat and put on a puck up truck taxi that will take you to one of the piers. This saves time as you avoid having to go into Trat town and then take a pickup truck taxi to the pier.

I dont know about other Koh Chang residents but I always drive when I come back from Bangkok.

[mrtoad]

I dont know about other Koh Chang residents but I always drive when I come back from Bangkok.

I have not taken the bus yet - feel a bit reluctant to try it as it would probably be a fairly arduous journey. I have driven on several occasions, and have also used the plane from Swampy to Trat, which to be fair is quite pleasant and only 40 mins.

As for the weather, not raining here now - but did have an earlier downpur when I was driving over to Chai Chet - here at Bang Bao it's clear.

[femi fan]

Hopefully we should be able to make that 7.45 bus. Thanks' for the info.

Get the weather back on track for next week!

Yeah, i knew about CP owning the land, hence my worry about any changes that might have happened. It's always a pretty sad story to hear how big companies or individuals buy up huge swathes of land from locals. It's how things change for the worse in my opinion, although i sometimes hear it called 'progress'.

For me tiger huts represents old style thai island holidaying. Fantastic place. Very happy to hear it's the same still.

[Changian]

It's always a pretty sad story to hear how big companies or individuals buy up huge swathes of land from locals.

Before you shed too many tears, lets not forget that the locals chose to sell. Or that the intelligent locals chose not to sell. For example, the 400metres of beach just north of Panviman all the way to the mouth of the river, the quietest stretch of beach on the west coast. The old Thale Bungalows are here, they were probably closed when you came last but have reopened as 'The Hut' a few months ago but then closed for the low season, looks like they will reopen soon - about the same price and standard of comfort as Tiger Huts.

[femi fan]

Yeah, they were closed, i remember looking at them last year thinking what a good place it must have been. Hope they're open while i'm down there. I can't remember anything called the panviman though, or... maybe i do! I seem to recall a place, a sort of ramshackle place where i'd get a beer, before the thale bungalows i think. Anyhow, it's good to have a dodgy memory because you discover everything again.

I didn't mean sad for the locals, i meant sad for me! The saddest thing is that usually we lose the tigers and thales and instead get four or five star resorts, and companies instead of families running the show.

[onlooker]

Panviman is that big luxury resort right next to Tiger Huts. The one with the temple style roofs and large Russians sunbathing on the terrace by the beach.

[Deeral]

Posted Today, 14:59

Mudslide on Koh Chang kills one, injures another

Trat - A mudslide on tourist-destination Koh Chang killed a Cambodian worker and injured another Monday morning.

Officials said the mudslide hit Rock Sand Beach Resort at the White Sand Beach.

The mudslide hit four bungalows of the resort. A bungalow collapsed on a Cambodian worker, severely injuring him while another worker was buried by the mud.

-- The Nation 2010-10-11

[onlooker]

Almost accurate from the Nation - Little Chang bungalows was wrecked, close to Rocksand.

See: Wrecked Bungalows & Landslide Path

[Deeral]

Almost accurate from the Nation - Little Chang bungalows was wrecked, close to Rocksand.

See: Wrecked Bungalows & Landslide Path

THre Bangkok post has a more detailed article.

KC there is/was a blackout on the island.

The tragedy has bee attributed to "building work"

many areas are closed to tourists as they are considered mudslide high risk areas.

[femi fan]

Now back in chiang mai after my week's holiday in chang. Thanks for the glorious weather lads! Seriously, i've had dozens and dozens of island trips in my time in thailand and can only remember one trip with weather worse than that! Still managed to enjoy myself though, but i have been reminded that rain is not the real enemy for a beach holiday, it's wind.

Have to say that tiger huts is real good value, especially for food and beer. And i like the tiger hut 'family' which includes four dogs and a nice cat/kitten.

I guess within a day or so you'll be getting glorious blue skies and green/blue seas... oh well! And, low tides back to day time. That was a bummer too, missing out on daytime low tides. Guess i should check up on tide times when i next head back to chang.

I found thor's on white sand beach by accident on our last day, which was amazing for me. I'm not sure he/she remembered me, but was polite enough to say yes. I had first gone there in 97 and me and my mate spent nearly all our time between kc huts and thor's on the beach. Such a different place now, but amazing to still find thor there. Those were the days...

I found the sea to be not clear at all. Was that because of the weather, or is it normally like that? I thought i could remember nice clear water.

Edited October 17, 2010 by femi fan

[onlooker]

The sea around Koh Chang is at it's clearest towards the end of the rainy season . . . providing there isn't a storm blowing and waves crashing on the shore. In which case it will be understandably murky - as it has been for the past 10 days or so. Two or three weeks ago it was great. Really clear and very good snorkelling around the islands off Klong Prao beach