Christmas island

We're at Ko Chang, the second largest island in Thailand located in the south-east, near Cambodia. We cancelled Cambodia, partly because we couldn't take the rental car there. We met a Swede in Trat who'd been bussing around Thailand and Cambodia for weeks, so we're thinking about doing Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand by bus next time.

Monday 22: We were 25 minutes late for the last ferry to Ko Chang (running 6:30 am through 7 pm every 45 minutes), so we spent a night in Trat in a room with a bed that was 2m long and 3m wide! A/C, warm water, TV, and wifi for less than $15... The next morning, we took the ferry over and shopped for a room. We ended up in a modern bungalow with sea view next to a small beach where they make the best mango smoothies. The name of the place is Ko Chang Bailan Beach Resort. Price: $30 per night. The service is great.

Tuesday 23: We spent the first day on the beach and shopped around a bit. The island is not crowded at all, but this is highly likely partly due to the world economic situation and the unfortunate political issues that have weakened Thailand's image a bit over the last three years. The short-term result is that lonely beach again fits it's name and that getting a room, a table, or a stool is almost too easy.

For the second time on this trip, I was caught breaking the law. We we're northbound on the road :-) and were stopped in a routine traffic control. I'd left my wallet in the room while swimming earlier, so it was time to pay another 200 baht to uncle police. Yes!

Wednesday 24: Astrid got a foot massage and had 20 nails done. She spent the rest of the day in a hammoc. Anders went scuba diving all day - two great dives with a professional Thai crew from The Dive Experience. We had our Christmas dinner together accompanied by Blues Brothers (just the movie) including the worst t-bone steak ever, but it was perfectly leveled with my expectations, so no harm done. Just remember to order fish or chicken if you want good food! We spent the rest of Christmas Eve in each our hammoc with wine coolers and fried banana in crack powder :-)

Thursday 25: Merry Christmas to all Americans! It's time for breakfast (Astrid is finally up) and this blog will be continued soon... Thanks for following us!