My little slice of heaven

Koh Chang is an Island of many faces. There is the party side with numerous bars, the more crowded tourist beaches with an abundance of restaurants and then the quieter areas. I am staying in a quiet area on the south of the Island on a small strip of beach called Khong Koi. My accommodation is in a small converted house directly on the beach and sandwiched between two restaurants filled with comfy cushions and hammocks. The general ambiance is very laid back and the sound of the sea lapping on the shore is the loudest noise to be heard. Its the kind of place where you cannot help but feel relaxed and biggest chore of the day is deciding which of the restaurants you will chose for each meal.

The sand is soft, the sky is mainly blue (although unfortunately the south is having some early cloudy and rainy weather some days) and the view across the bay is beautiful. I have spent the majority of my days so far sitting on the beach or lazily swinging in a hammock reading my book. If you like animals (which I do!) you wouldn't be put off by the numerous resident and stray dogs which prowl the beach and chase each other in and out of the sea (of course if you are wary of dogs this would not be the place for you). There are also a number a cats around but they tend to be in a semi comatose state the majority of the time lying on anything relatively comfortable.

Across the bay you can see Bang Bao pier which stretches out far into the water and offers a range of boat trips to the neighbouring Islands. I decided one overcast morning to walk the 20mins along the road to the pier. It was a pleasant walk and I wondered slowly with my camera in hand taking photos of the sights along the way. Before you get to the entrance to the pier there area few little stalls, a 7-11 and a random sleeping PIG!

I made my way along the pier and was struck by how different it was since I visited there 5 years ago. What was once an atmospheric slightly rickety structure had now been turned into a high ceiling concrete construct. There was still the same type of little open frontage shops along the walkway but I felt the whole place had lost its authenticity.

As I walked along looking at the charter boats I was feeling the effects of the humidity and had been reduced to a sweaty mess.  While other women ambled past with no more than a healthy glow about them I was struggling to see as droplets of sweat tricked off my eye lashes (I try to re assure myself that I am still acclimatising to the climate change but deep down I'm half resigned to the fact this is going to be me for the next few months!).

Everyone is really friendly here and I have been really fortunate to meet a lovely mother and daughter from England who are staying at my accommodation. Maggi (mother) has come out to Thailand to see her daughter (Grinure) who is teaching English. They are adorable and I have been spending a few evenings with them.