Ko Chang and The Final Visit to Bangkok

My night in Trat involved a night in a bar talking to Chris from the Isle Of Man. The following morning I made the journey to the island of Ko Chang. The aim was to take things easy. After my recent treks in North Vietnam and the long hikes through the streets of Bangkok, I'd been very active lately. It felt like a good time to visit the islands of Thailand and do absolutely nothing - and maybe try to relive the days of Sihanoukville. It was time to relax.

Once I arrived on Ko Chang I hopped into a songthaew; an open share taxi with two opposing benches to sit on. The beach I had chosen was one hour away. Not long into the journey I was reminded of a fact that had previously barely even registered; it was the Thai New Year. In Thailand, this means water fights - water fights with anyone. Just minutes into the journey, a spray of water came into the crowded taxi - it was an enthusiastic young Thai with a water gun. Shortly afterwards more sprays followed. Not long after that, buckets of water arrived - lobbed indiscriminately at the taxi passengers. We were sitting ducks at the fairground. Locals and the occasional tourist were lining the streets ready to soak whatever was driving past.

At first I was very grateful for the overweight Brit opposite me - he was taking the full brunt of the attacks from the left. All I had to do was look to the right and prepare for some timely dodges. However, after around thirty minutes of transit I was the only passenger yet to depart the vehicle. By the time I arrived at my beach, I was drenched. So much for coming to Ko Chang to relax!

My time in Ko Chang was spent on Lonely Beach. Ironically, Lonely Beach has become increasingly popular over the years and is now far from lonely, although it happens to be the low season at the moment so it was hardly crowded. Whether this affected my Ko Chang experience I don't know, but my time on the island was quite uninspiring. Maybe I'm just not suited to doing nothing all day, but I often felt like I was wasting my time there. However, my time in Sihanoukville had proved that I could have a good time while doing nothing, but Ko Chang just left me feeling empty. Maybe I was lacking the large group of friends which I had at Sihanoukville. Furthermore, the lack of variety in the book shop was no help; I ended up spending my time reading a biography of Paul O'Grady!

After just 24 hours of lazing about and catching up on how successful Lily Savage was becoming, I started to doubt whether there was any point being in Ko Chang. I decided I may as well start the journey south. This is where the majority of Thailand's islands lay. In these islands there would be activities to do in between the laziness. That night would therefore be my last on Ko Chang. I spent it in a bar talking to a friendly Israeli guy and listening to a live Bob Marley tribute act. He was very good actually. His voice and guitar were great, although his grasp of the English language unfortunately let him down slightly. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition of "I Shot The Cherry".

Despite protesters in Bangkok making the headlines, I made the journey back to the capital today in the hope of instantly catching a train south. On the journey to Bangkok, however, I realised that I may not be in luck - my guide book recommended booking the train journey a day in advance. When I arrived in the centre of Bangkok, however, a separate problem became apparent. As I exited a sky train and walked down the platform, hundreds of voices could be heard from the streets below. People from the platform were peering down at them. 'Surely the protests haven't spread this far' I thought.

As the sky train I had just exited began to leave, and the rumbling faded into the distant, the noise from the crowd became clearer. However, there was another noise seeping through as well; the beat of dance music. As I peered over the platform I saw an ocean of Thais on the street below. However, they were not protesting - they were still celebrating the New Year! Not only were they all half drenched and armed to the teeth with water pistols, but many of them were covered in a white powder as well. I began to wonder how I would get to the train station without another drenching.

The sights of the crowd, however, brought about a separate fear. I had a flashback of something I had read in my guidebook; 'Book your train one day in advance, or one week in advance on national holidays'. My chances of catching a train had just dissolved. Nevertheless I stumbled on, snidely eyeing the hoards of dripping young Thais and their arsenals.

To my surprise, I arrived at the train station having been subjected to just one small water pistol attack. To my absolute shock, a place on the train was available! I now await for a sleeper train to Chumphon. From there I go to Ko Tao island, famous for it's diving. This is something that for most people is the highlight of travelling. For me, it scares the life out of me.