Koh Chang

Since last Friday and Monday were national holidays, Gail and I decided to engage in a little R&R. We decided to visit a little island off of the coast of Thailand named Koh Chang. It is a beautiful island with many colorful choral reefs and tropical fish both of which we enjoy very much. Getting there was another thing.
We knew starting out that the 200 mile trip would take some time due to the lack of adequate roads. We traveled by moto taxi, tuk-tuk, truck taxi, mini van, bus, boat, and ferry. The boat pictured above was probably the most comfortable and the ferry the least. Let me explain. On the way over we traveled primarily by bus and boat. On the way back we decided to try a mini van which could have been faster. It wasn’t! We knew that we would have to cross 4 different rivers by ferry. What we didn’t know was how long the lines would be. They were long! We waited at one crossing for 2 hours. We did get to watch the local people interact and react while we waited. You can never stop learning in a new culture.
All in all we had an enjoyable trip but were happy to arrive back home. When we arrived we found out that a boat captain had been hired for the Mekong medical boat. We had met him earlier and felt he would be a good choice. He has 26 years of experience on the rivers of Cambodia.