Living by the sea

Although we spent the majority of our holiday by the beach on Koh Chang, I must take this opportunity to mention the Suk11 hostel in Sukhumvit area of Bangkok. A hostel with a difference and that difference is character. I was stunned on the first evening as we walked through a terrace garden up wooden stairs and then through corridors lined with artifacts from all over the world to a room which was clean, cool and oh so very reasonable. I have always loved the idea of living by the sea, and enjoyed it immensly when we did in Tunis; however nothing compared to the beautiful beaches and bungalows of Koh Chang. We spent the first two nights on the island on Kai Bai beach where although small, our bungalow lay about 2 metres from the edge of the water. To fall asleep at night to the sound of the ocean competing with the crickets was magical. A short walk and we were on the most wonderful white sand beach with coconut palms and plenty of sunshine. On Monday we moved to Nature Beach Resort, which on the next beach with the contradictaroy name of lonely beach. Although futher down the coast of the island lonely beach was much more alive than Kai Bai had been and the bungalows where we stayed were a favourite with young backpackers. Once again housed in a lovely bungalow, this time a little futher from the beach, but equally as beautiful as it stood amongst the coconut palms. Nature Beach came fully equipped with a restaurant where the seat of choice was a cushion on the floor, where one could sit for hours sipping on delicious fresh juices and watching the sea go by. On our first night in Nature Resort we discovered the joys of the evening barbeque, carefully prepared by an extremely attractive Thai chef. Anna and I were distracted from our food as we watched him carefully prepare the food for the barbeque. The fresh corn and barbequed red snapper were done to perfection, and I throughly enjoyed myself as I watched one of the employees of Nature Beach carry out some amazing tricks with two flaming battons. Lonely Beach was equally as inviting as Kai Bai Beach and I spent several hours lying there staring at nothing but the palm trees above my head and the sand below me. The peace and tranquility was disturbed only briefly on our last day when first I was attacked by a swimming crab desperate for something to cling onto and figured I looked inviting. Then later, what I like to think was the same crab, decided that Anna's toe located good enough to eat! To the peace and tranquility of the beaches of Koh Chang - I hope that they will always remain that way.