Bang Bao Ko Chang Thailand

I haven’t written anything on my blog for the majority of my time abroad in the last few months. I guess I get bogged down with doing other things, and then want to write about what I have already experienced, and end up just not writing at all. I think I need to make a conscious effort to just write, and not be worried that I won’t write about all of the amazing experiences I am having. I also feel pressured to write decent essays, instead of just writing unpolished journal entries…also not so good for keeping a blog. This is the beginning of my concerted effort to write more, I promise, half way.

(The Pier at Bang Bao Ko Chang, Thailand)

Currently I am watching the sun set over the island of Koh Chang in southern Thailand. I have been in Thailand for over two months now, and my time here is coming to an end. I had never been to the south or the beaches before. My entirety ( almost 5 months total) of time spent here has been in the north. I love the north. I loved it so much last time I was here that I didn’t leave, even though I had planned to travel south.

This year I dragged my feet out of the north and headed south. I miss the north already and can see noticeable differences between the two, but so far I’m enjoying myself and can’t really complain. I went to Koh Chang in search of a little paradise. I went all the way to the southern tip of the island to a little fishing village called Bang Bao. To sum up in one word, it is quaint. The village hasn’t been overrun by the regular half naked farang tourists yet (although some are here). I’m happy to see that there are also many vacationing Thai tourists here, with their families, or young couples.

(Sunset at Bang Bao, Koh Chang, Thailand)

The town is situated around a pier with seafood restaurants, kitchy shops, diving tour places, and fishing boats. My hotel is also on the pier, where I can here the soft rolling of ocean waves under my bed at night. How awesome is that??????

I’ve walked around this area a little bit. Yesterday I visited a beach nearby and sunned myself like a big lizard. Today I climbed over craggy rock cliffs, and found a remote place to strip down and jump off of rocks into turquoise colored water (although, I was a little afraid at first because there were schools of fish swimming around and lots of crabs). The rest of the afternoon was spent napping underneath the palm trees featured in the above photograph. Truly idyllic.