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TonyT's 8th Thailand blog:
A month in and around the country:
March - April 2025.
Page 5
KOH CHANG
Here's some facts about Ko Chang:-
Ko Chang island, known also as ‘Elephant Island’ named because of its elephant shaped headland, (no natural elephants on the island... they can't swim that far) is Thailand’s third largest island after Phuket and Samui. It is located around 300 kilometres east of Bangkok in Trat Province, in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border.
From jungle covered mountain peaks to sweeping bays, great waterfalls to flourishing coral reefs, beach huts to luxury resorts, Koh Chang has plenty to offer for everyone.
Ko Chang is part of the Mu Ko Chang National Park. Despite its increase in development and tourism in the past decade or so, it has retained its remote and rugged character.
With an area covering approximately 212 square kilometres, 70% of Koh Chang is covered in rainforests, mountains and beaches. The highest peak on the island is Khao Salak Phet, rising from the ground at 743 meters, and given its mountainous terrain there is an abundance of waterfalls with the tallest but not always the most accessible being Klong Neung waterfall, which can be found in the south-eastern corner of the island.
WEDNESDAY 2nd:
Our resort this time was the KC Grande, one of the first resorts one comes to after leaving the ferry on White Sands beach.
Shown to our room which was quite impressive although we would have preferred a room with a more open view. But, in truth one only uses the room to sleep in and get changed in; we're not ones for dossing in a hotel room all day at all.
We did get freshened-up and then went for a look around and ended up in the beach area and plonked down at a beach front table and ordered some ice-cold beers. However, this was short-lived as after a few minutes there was the rumble of thunder and large drops of rain splattering about. We beat a hasty retreat to the nearby restaurant area and finished off the beers there. Having secured a decent table we all agreed we were very hungry and there and then ordered an early dinner (5:30pm). Very good food and reasonably priced.
It was surprising how tiring the 6-hour drive with only a few stops was as after several beers and a dinner we were all ready for bed by an astonishing 8 o'clock. Slept well on the comfy bed and awake by 6am with a coffee on the go.
LEFT: First beers before the rain appeared.
RIGHT: Young Jack perusing the dinner menu.
THURSDAY 3rd:
Predictably, we were all wide awake early after the early night and down for breakfast around 07:30. Very impressive breakfast offering with numerous varieties of foods on offer.
Fooled around in one of the upper pools (there's at least 3 on top of the main huge pool) and the three of us went down the water slide... good fun. Weather now hot and sunny. Grabbed beach chairs and a parasol and chilled in sea and pool. Strolled down the beach and lunched in a beach bar some way down White Sands.
This is comparable to any Caribbean place I've ever been to and a darn sight cheaper.
The day just went by and by late afternoon we were making the most of the resort's 3-for-2 happy hour.
5pm treated ourselves to a foot massage followed by wine and dinner on the beach. SUPERB!
Only gripe here is that the bottled beers a not chilled enough.... nothing worse than warm lager, so in future we'll either drink beer elsewhere or (better still) buy the ice-cold from the 7-11 and store in the room fridge.
TOP LEFT: Panoramic view of the White Sands. Our resort and pool (KC Grande) centre right.
TOP RIGHT: Aom on the room's balcony.
CENTRE LEFT: Breakfast on the beach.
CENTRE RIGHT: Part of the well kempt gardens at the KC.
BOTTOM: The main pool from within the pool.
FRIDAY 4th:
Early breakfast again and chose a table right beside the beach. Another excellent breakfast.
Decided on a road trip today so we sparked-up the pick-up truck and drove down the eastern side of the island. Our aim was to find a lovely little cove we found back in 2022. In spite of the fact we had a new map of the island it took us ages to relocate it and made numerous wrong turns. At this point I have to call in my wife's very dubious ability to read maps; putting the wrong turns down to her not being able to read a map.
In the end, we did find the place again but were very disappointed as the onshore wind was quite strong creating large waves. The weather, although hot was overcast. We only stayed 10 minutes and headed back.
We were greeting with rain when back on 'our' side of the island; very humid.
For lunch we simply bought heated odds and ends from a 7-11 and ate them by one of the pool-sides. Later Aom & I sampled the Horizon Pool on the roof of one of the accommodation blocks... lovely infinity pool.
Evening meal at a beach restaurant.
SATURDAY 5th APRIL:
Getting used to these fantastic breakfasts now. Profuse offerings to suit any taste; the biggest problem being refraining from overeating. KC Resort would be a place I would consider returning to on Ko Chang.
Bit of a lazy not-doing-much in the morning thru early afternoon. Dossed around the main pool for a time.
Mid afternoon, took the car along the coast towards the port of Bang Bao with Aom driving. She overshot the turning towards Bang Bao and only noticed this as the road slowly deteriorated from a tarmac road to a concrete one end ending up with a narrow strip clearly with a dead-end not far ahead. A u-turn got us back on track.
Interestingly, you still cannot circumnavigate Ko Chang by road. There is still no road to Salek Phet on the eastern side of the island (2025).
Evening saw Aom & I sharing a bottle of Chardonnay on the balcony before heading out for dinner at a beach restaurant.
TOP & BOTTOM LEFT: Scenes on White Sands adjacent to our resort.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Family pose.
Here's some facts about Ko Chang:-
WEDNESDAY 2nd: LEFT: First beers before the rain appeared. RIGHT: Young Jack perusing the dinner menu.
THURSDAY 3rd: TOP LEFT: Panoramic view of the White Sands. Our resort and pool (KC Grande) centre right. TOP RIGHT: Aom on the room's balcony. CENTRE LEFT: Breakfast on the beach. CENTRE RIGHT: Part of the well kempt gardens at the KC. BOTTOM: The main pool from within the pool.
FRIDAY 4th: TOP & BOTTOM LEFT: Scenes on White Sands adjacent to our resort. BOTTOM RIGHT: Family pose.
Ko Chang island, known also as ‘Elephant Island’ named because of its elephant shaped headland, (no natural elephants on the island... they can't swim that far) is Thailand’s third largest island after Phuket and Samui. It is located around 300 kilometres east of Bangkok in Trat Province, in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border.
From jungle covered mountain peaks to sweeping bays, great waterfalls to flourishing coral reefs, beach huts to luxury resorts, Koh Chang has plenty to offer for everyone.
Ko Chang is part of the Mu Ko Chang National Park. Despite its increase in development and tourism in the past decade or so, it has retained its remote and rugged character.
With an area covering approximately 212 square kilometres, 70% of Koh Chang is covered in rainforests, mountains and beaches. The highest peak on the island is Khao Salak Phet, rising from the ground at 743 meters, and given its mountainous terrain there is an abundance of waterfalls with the tallest but not always the most accessible being Klong Neung waterfall, which can be found in the south-eastern corner of the island.
Our resort this time was the KC Grande, one of the first resorts one comes to after leaving the ferry on White Sands beach.
Shown to our room which was quite impressive although we would have preferred a room with a more open view. But, in truth one only uses the room to sleep in and get changed in; we're not ones for dossing in a hotel room all day at all.
We did get freshened-up and then went for a look around and ended up in the beach area and plonked down at a beach front table and ordered some ice-cold beers. However, this was short-lived as after a few minutes there was the rumble of thunder and large drops of rain splattering about. We beat a hasty retreat to the nearby restaurant area and finished off the beers there. Having secured a decent table we all agreed we were very hungry and there and then ordered an early dinner (5:30pm). Very good food and reasonably priced.
It was surprising how tiring the 6-hour drive with only a few stops was as after several beers and a dinner we were all ready for bed by an astonishing 8 o'clock. Slept well on the comfy bed and awake by 6am with a coffee on the go.
Predictably, we were all wide awake early after the early night and down for breakfast around 07:30. Very impressive breakfast offering with numerous varieties of foods on offer.
Fooled around in one of the upper pools (there's at least 3 on top of the main huge pool) and the three of us went down the water slide... good fun. Weather now hot and sunny. Grabbed beach chairs and a parasol and chilled in sea and pool. Strolled down the beach and lunched in a beach bar some way down White Sands.
This is comparable to any Caribbean place I've ever been to and a darn sight cheaper.
The day just went by and by late afternoon we were making the most of the resort's 3-for-2 happy hour.
5pm treated ourselves to a foot massage followed by wine and dinner on the beach. SUPERB!
Only gripe here is that the bottled beers a not chilled enough.... nothing worse than warm lager, so in future we'll either drink beer elsewhere or (better still) buy the ice-cold from the 7-11 and store in the room fridge.
Early breakfast again and chose a table right beside the beach. Another excellent breakfast.
Decided on a road trip today so we sparked-up the pick-up truck and drove down the eastern side of the island. Our aim was to find a lovely little cove we found back in 2022. In spite of the fact we had a new map of the island it took us ages to relocate it and made numerous wrong turns. At this point I have to call in my wife's very dubious ability to read maps; putting the wrong turns down to her not being able to read a map.
In the end, we did find the place again but were very disappointed as the onshore wind was quite strong creating large waves. The weather, although hot was overcast. We only stayed 10 minutes and headed back.
We were greeting with rain when back on 'our' side of the island; very humid.
For lunch we simply bought heated odds and ends from a 7-11 and ate them by one of the pool-sides. Later Aom & I sampled the Horizon Pool on the roof of one of the accommodation blocks... lovely infinity pool.
Evening meal at a beach restaurant.
SATURDAY 5th APRIL:
Getting used to these fantastic breakfasts now. Profuse offerings to suit any taste; the biggest problem being refraining from overeating. KC Resort would be a place I would consider returning to on Ko Chang.
Bit of a lazy not-doing-much in the morning thru early afternoon. Dossed around the main pool for a time.
Mid afternoon, took the car along the coast towards the port of Bang Bao with Aom driving. She overshot the turning towards Bang Bao and only noticed this as the road slowly deteriorated from a tarmac road to a concrete one end ending up with a narrow strip clearly with a dead-end not far ahead. A u-turn got us back on track.
Interestingly, you still cannot circumnavigate Ko Chang by road. There is still no road to Salek Phet on the eastern side of the island (2025).
Evening saw Aom & I sharing a bottle of Chardonnay on the balcony before heading out for dinner at a beach restaurant.