Koh Chang~ my little slice of paradise

Swinging in the hammock of my oceanfront bungalow, I'm overwhelmed with happiness and grateful to have finally found my own slice of paradise. I've been searching for a placid island such as this since I've arrived in Thailand.
The island is called (little) Koh Chang, not to be confused with the big Koh Chang. This Koh Chang is located in western Thailand.

The previous Thai islands I've visited had all lacked the qualities I had pictured in my mind as my perfect little spot to chill. Mostly, they were too crowded with tourists for my taste. Some of the other islands had deafening loud music thumping from the clubs until 4 am. I'm not looking for a wild drinking vacation here. The drunk teeny-bopper party animals hooted and hollered as they rallied through the streets, embarrassing themselves and giving tourists a bad name. Other islands were taken over by weird hippies, the annoying type of hippies. No skanks, please.
Koh Chang fit everything I was looking for. It's laid back, quiet and has a scant amount of tourists. I needed a place to relax and unwind. I found an ideal bungalow, located directly on the beach at Sawasdee resort. The soothing ocean waves are now my bedtime lullaby. All my stress melts away as I stare into the endless ocean.
I easily get lost in the 1500 pages of my "Gone with the wind" book. I think that will keep me busy for awhile. Funny choice for a book you may think? Well, it was the only book in English I could find on the island. The rest are primarily in German or Swedish.
Oddly, Koh Chang has nothing but German tourists. I tend to like Germans. I have a lot of German blood myself and I have a lot of German friends. I find them to be refreshingly straight forward. They do like their beer. I'll get to that later.
As great as it is to laze around on the beach, I'm not one to sit around all day. I get antsy. I gotta move! Plus, I don't need any more of a tan, I'm already as black as I could possibly get. It's safe to say that I have more energy than the average person. There are plenty of activities on this island to help me wear off this energy. There are a number of paths to get lost on throughout the island, I can rent a kayak, do yoga, run on the beach (even without my fancy running shoes!), play with the many dogs here, ogle at the local Thai children, socialize with those crazy Germans for a good laugh, clamber across the rocks along the rugged coast as large crabs scramble out of my way or I could walk the long beach until my legs fell off.

Another plus about this island, it's cheap. I'm renting this nice bungalow on the beach for $25 a night. It's a steal. You can also find one for $7 but it won't be as comfortable. (think large insects, reptiles, and poor bathroom conditions). It's better to just spend a little more in order to have a good experience.


My luxorious bungalow

 The food at the resort is prepared fresh. It's healthy and delicious and costs only $2-3 per meal.
Internet is scarce, and the connection is slower than molasses in January, but who wants to be connected to the outside world when you're in paradise?
Being the dedicated blogger that I am, I want to please my fans, so I spent 1 hour at this computer just to post this. You're welcome :)
If you decide to come here, make sure you bring enough cash because the island has no ATM and very few of the "resorts" accept credit cards.
Walking along the backwoods path to the almost nonexistent town center, I pass by smiling locals on motorbikes, sometimes a whole family of 4. I stroll past the rare hut that could barely be classified as a house.

It's very simple living here. Everyone seems to be cheerful.
Cashew nuts are abundant on the island and create a good income for the locals.
The locals are very polite, giving the respectful palms together greeting of the wái as I come in contact with them. I return the gesture.
We exchange the friendly greeting of "Sa-wat-dee-ka", which means hello. "kop-kum-ka" means thank-you. Pleasantly pleased with the island and the "resort", I've extended my stay from 3 nights to 6 nights.

harvesting coconuts

You might wonder if there is anything bad about this island? Well, yes, there is one thing. As with other tropical environments, you will have a problem with insects and rodents. It comes with the territory. So far, I've seen rats, cockroaches, geckos, lizards, spiders, ants, bees and millipedes. My first night here was miserable. The only accommodation I could find was a beat up shack on the beach. I had no choice. There was about 2 inches in between each wooden slab of the walls and floor, which meant no privacy and fair game for animals to have a free stay. There was a mosquito net, but it had gaping holes in it, so It didn't do me any good. At night, I discovered a large lizard tail sticking out on the wall above the head of the bed. Further investigation revealed a 12 inch long lizard! I gasped. Goodness gracious, what am I going to do with this thing?! I scan the room for an object to shoo him out with. (why am I always shooing things out of my bungalows?)
A hanger! That will do. I stand on the wobbly wooden night stand because I don't know how fast he can move and I don't want him scrambling over my feet. This was all well thought out. I throw the hanger at my unwanted guest. He moves a couple inches. I throw another hanger. Another 2 inches. After roughly 7 hanger tosses with no success, I decide to call in the troops: The drunk Germans. Haha. I knew they'd be drunk enough to grab the pesky reptile, freeing me of my midnight insanity. I tiptoe through the darkness to the restaurant where they have gathered to party and approach the group of obviously drunk Germans and explain my situation. Their English isn't the best and they're hammered so it takes awhile to communicate. Eventually, after repeated refusals by me to drink a beer with them, 1 girl and 2 guys, full of liquid courage, decide they will rid me of this repulsive reptile. Swaggering to my bungalow with the assistance of flashlights, they enter my shack with such drunken abruptness and noise, it scares away the lizard. I see it run into the crack of the roof. Yay! Danke, my German friends! I'm entertained for the next 15 minutes as they argue with each other if it was a gecko or a lizard since only the girl actually saw it. They all use my toilet and then finally leave, after a little encouragement from me, and more refusals from me to have a beer with them. Those Germans sure do like to party. My room wreaks of alcohol. I knew they were good for something. I chuckle at myself for being so resourceful. I really like them Germans.
One other negative aspect about the island is the lack of electricity. We only have power for 3 hours a day, while they run the generator. This is a sufficient amount of time to charge any electronics, so it's not a big deal. You must make sure you are in possession of a flashlight during the night. Otherwise, things could get tricky.
I'm really surprised the island isn't overrun by tourists like the other islands. So shhhh.... don't tell anyone. We want to preserve it's serenity, don't we?