Koh Chang

While on vacation (yes again) I headed off to Koh Chang (Elephant Island). Originally for this break I was going to go back to Koh Tao, but due to some cancellations back home, I had to change my plans around. Since I do not have much time left in Thailand I wanted to visit somewhere I have never been before - life is too short to do re-visits ;)

My friend Abby came over from Australia to make the trek to Koh Chang with me. After many hours on the bus and a totally sketch ferry ride, we finally arrived at yet another tropical paradise in Thailand. Koh Chang is BEAUTIFUL! A few of my friends from Bangkok also happened to be there, so we spent the next 5 days relaxing on the beach, swimming in our beach-side pool (the ocean was oddly too warm to swim in), eating way too much, dancing the night away at a local reggae bar, scuba diving and elephant trekking.

For my first full day in Koh Chang my friend Stacey and I decided to hit the underwater playground once again. With a few minor mishaps in the beginning (malfunctioning regulators and a tank that was supposedly full, but wasn't) we finally made it down and had a great time. I cannot tell you enough how much I LOVE diving! Every time I go down I am amazed at what I see. Whether it's something I've already seen a million times, a cute little Nemo or a new piece of coral, I am constantly in awe. Honestly I think I was born to be in the water. That may come as a surprise to some of you, especially since I cannot swim; however, strangely enough, I am 100% comfortable once I am underwater. Every instructor I have had thus far is amazed at how at ease I am and the lack of oxygen I use under water - some instructors come up with less air then myself and cannot believe their eyes when I show them my air level - apparently I have gills. Not only did we see amazing things on this trip, we also met a great couple from San Diego. The wife is a dolphin and seal trainer for the navy (totally jealous of her job by the way!) and is working with a pod to send up to Banger in Bremerton of all places - small world huh?

After scuba diving for the day and relaxing by the pool the following day I decided it was time for another adventure. Abby and I set off for some elephant trekking. When in Thailand one must ride an elephant right? This is something I've wanted to do since moving here; however it was NOTHING like I expected.
Did I like it? No. Would I recommend it? Probably not. Am I glad I did it? Yes.
Would I do it again? Definitely not.
We signed up for the 2 hour option where we could do an hour of riding/trekking and then spend an hour in the water with the elephant - sounds cool right? Wrong. Within the first 5 minutes I wanted to be done. Not only was it uncomfortable, it was insanely rocky. I was getting motion sickness and thought I was going to puke on the poor elephant's head. I decided I had to suck it up and continue on. Once we ventured around the tropical rain forest (SO AMAZINGLY PRETTY THERE!) for an hour or so, we were told via hand gestures to get off the elephant and walk around - where to? Not sure. Our guide barely spoke a word to us, but we gathered we were suppose to climb through some bushes to the water source. We definitely were not prepared for this one - thankfully I had my Chacos on, but poor Abby only had flip flops. You can imagine we had a bit of difficulty navigating through the overgrown forest. We finally came to where we were to swim and bathe the elephant and I about died. Stale, stagnate, insect and poop infested water was what we found. It was absolutely disgusting! Did they seriously expect us to climb on in there? Ugh, no thanks. Instead we watched the elephant splash around and drink the nasty water. The guide asked if I'd like my picture taken with the elephant in the water and I said yes. What I didn't understand was that he wanted me to climb onto the elephant's head while she was still bathing. The picture below may look like I am enjoying myself, but really I wasn't. Check that one off my bucket list! Glad I did it, will never do it again.

The remaining few days were spent at the pool reading a book and relaxing. The evenings usually consisted of a happy hour drink during sunset, a delicious BBQ on the beach then live music and dancing at the reggae bar.
It's a rough life I lead and the best part is I still have another week of vacation! Off to the mountains for some more relaxation, then a 4 day country wide water fight!