A Little Slice of Paradise- Koh Chang, Thailand

We have had a wonderful year of traveling...our first trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand and seeing Doi Suthep, The Umbrella Making Factory, amazing 3-D art museum, waterfalls, experiencing Angkor Wat & the floating villages in Cambodia, and seeing the wonders of Disneyland in Hong Kong.  I have loved everyone of our trips this year and really still feel like I need to pinch myself to remind myself that they were not just a dream.  All of our trips have been "on the go" and not very relaxing.  We were desperately needing a beach vacation to relax, read a book, and just watch the boys play.

We are very lucky that Ben has two weeks off of school for Spring break, so we decided to head to one of our very favorite islands, Koh Chang. We visited Koh Chang a year ago and had an amazing time.  We saw wild monkeys right on our front porch, took our first (& last) elephant trek, and just experienced island life. We were excited to get back to this island.

To get to the island, we took a mini bus from the airport and drove 4 hours to the pier to Koh Chang.  This bus driver was amazing and very cautious, unlike our ride home. More on that later!  Once you get to the ferry, it takes about 45 minutes to get over to the island.  Then hop right back on the minibus to your hotel. Thankfully, our trip to the island was very uneventful.

 On the top deck of the ferry to Koh Chang.

 This is the ferry that take you to the island.  

If you have a car, you can drive right on to the ferry.

This time we decided to just relax and enjoy the beach.  There was a lot of  building in the sand, swimming in the pool, and relaxing.  It was just what we all needed.

 I never thought I would see this, but Grey kept taking breaks to read his book!

 Building sand castles

 Digging

 Playing Frisbee

Swimming

On one the of the last days, we decided to take the boys snorkeling for the very first time.  None of us have ever snorkeled before and we had no idea if the boys would even like it.  All of the hotels have many options for different excursions to book.  We decided on a 3 hour snorkeling trip to one island instead of the all day option that would take you to 5 different islands.  The snorkeling company, KaiBae Hut,  picked us up at our hotel, dropped us at the docks, fitted us with the right size life jackets and we were off on a speedboat to the tiny island of Koh Yuak.  It was beautiful.  The water was crystal clear and as soon as you put  your head in the water you are surrounded by hundred of fish and coral every color of the rainbow.  It was stunning.  The boys could not get enough of it.  Greyson was obsessed with finding all the sea glass he could.  It was a really lovely morning and I look forward to doing that again with the boys.

 Getting ready to go snorkeling

 The beach was full of shells

 The water was crystal clear!

 The company that took us snorkeling

The island of Koh Yuak

Later that night we went Bang Bao Fishing Village.  It is supposed to be a traditional Thai fishing village.  It may be, but really it seemed more like a tourist trap to me.  The entire strip is built up on stilts and is lined with souvenir shops and places to eat.  We walked all the way to the end of the pier and looked at all the fishing/snorkeling boats and the beautiful lighthouse.  We had dinner in the village.  We had a little bit of a difficult time getting back to our hotel, due to the songthaew drivers asking way too much money for such a short ride.  Sometimes you just have to give in and pay a little more if you ever want to get home again.

 Snorkeling boats in Bang Bao

 Lighthouse at the end of the pier

The beautiful sunset while we were eating our dinner

We had a fabulous week at the beach.  It was full of fun moments, special bonds being made, and a week full of memories.  We are already talking about when we can try to make it back!  

 The boys on the beach

 Our hotel, Siam Beach Resort

 Special morning walk with Lincoln

Getting ready to head back to Bangkok

Now, getting home was a completely different story altogether!  Our driver that picked up up at our hotel was flying through the hills on the island.  We were just inches from rear ending a car.  I thought that maybe he was just in a hurry to catch the ferry, but by the time we were on the mainland we were still flying down the road.  I felt like we were in that scene of Harry Potter when he is on the bus and it it swerving all over the road and speeding like crazy.  This driver would get so close to the back of a car that I really have no idea how we did not get into an accident.  Finally, after a very stressful 3 hours in the mini bus, another passenger called the owner of the buss company and demanded that he slow own.  Once we go back on the bus, he was a completely different driver.  Almost Perfect.  Because of this situation, I will never go with that bus company again and plan on only hiring private drivers in the future.  But, we made it home safe and sound.

We have a few more days off for Spring Break and have a couple more adventures in store for the boys!