A trip to Koh Chang

So about ten days ago, I had a chance to get out of town. I'd been working my booty off, as many as 10 hours per day, and my morning class finally finished. In addition to that, my night class was canceled on both Friday and Monday. So, it was a long weekend, and I decided to go to Koh Chang (Elephant Island, ) the same place I went to see in the New Year for 2006 (see January 2006 postings on this blog.) The rainy season has arrived two months early this year (the climate is just as screwed up here as it is in the rest of the world - we had street flooding a few days ago!) , so I was a bit worried about the weather. However, despite a few downpours, it wasn't too bad, as none of them lasted more than a half an hour, other than a few in the late night or early morning. This did, on the other hand, have a bit of a negative effect on the last day, when I went on a fishing/snorkeling trip. The seas were quite heavy, and at one point, I nearly sacrificed my breakfast to Lord Poseidon - I even had my head hanging over the side of the boat! But I did get to do some good snorkeling, and I did catch a fish. The other days, I would run into the surf, get wet, come out, dry off in the sun and read Salman Rushdie, and when I was dry I just repeated the process. It was glorious. To the pics!

The moon over Koh Chang at about 5:30 am. I left BKK at 11 on Thursday night, and arrived in Trat city at 3:30 am. Hung around there for a while, took a pickup to the pier, and then the ferry to Elephant Island.

The sun rising, back over the mainland, toward Cambodia.

I may have the winner for next year's photo contest, pops! This was a guy fishing in the Gulf of Thailand as the sun was rising over the mainland. I took a lot of this guy. Pretty nice image. Lookout, Minnkota Photo Contest, 2008!

I arrived at my bungalow at 7:30 am. This was the view out my door. A massive storm was rolling in, and the air was cool. The beach was nearly deserted, the tide was low, and the surf was heavy for the Gulf of Thailand. At 7:35 am, I was in the water. At 7:55 am, I went back to my bungalow and showered. At 8 am, it started pouring, and I slept until 11. It felt absolutely glorious to have a morning like this after spending 6 weeks teaching 6 days a week. Ah, I'm gonna miss Thailand.

More views of the storm coming.

A man and his son, watching the storm roll in.

Orchid.

This is the pier from whence the fishing/snorkeling boat I was on left.

Another view.

Fog on the peaks of Koh Chang in the morning.

People snorkeling on a reef near a small island. The reefs were pretty cool, with lots of live coral, urchins, colorful fish, anemones, etc, but there were so many people snorkeling that everyone was bumping into everyone else, so it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been.

Another small island, shrouded in mist.

This is the fish I caught. I snagged him by the gill, so as I was reeling him in, he felt a lot bigger than he was. We used bits of squid as bait. This is ironic, as I had really wanted to go squid fishing, but it would have costed 2000 Baht (over $60.) Also, it could be the only time I've ever fished where the bait actually probably tastes better than the fish that was caught. This trip would have been a lot of fun had it not been for the seasickness, and had I not cut the soles of both of my feet and been sloshing around in the salty sea water. Ouch!

The guys on the ship were pulling in a net here, as you can see. There were loads of scallops, as well as some small fish, a few squid, and crab in the net. Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat any of it! Bummer.

Ah, lovely.

Just before I left.

The view of the beach I was staying on, as seen from the top of the mountain. I didn't wanna leave.