Friday 14 June 2019

Pit Stop Trat & Exploring Koh Chang Island

Back to Thailand and I stopped at Trat for one night before finding out about Koh Chang the second largest Island in Thailand.  

I knew Island in Thailand was really poison for tourist but a ferry ride across to an island where the reviews says the roads are treacherous with curves and steep slopes makes me even more intrigue. 

The actual part that make me decide that it will be ok instead of the struggle in Chumphon and Cambodia was that the review also said all the roads were sealed tarmac so if this time I fall down riding, it will be pure skill instead of inexperience riding on weird surface road.

Trat was nice and easy with few things to see. Could not really justify staying more than one night especially with the price of accommodation and the quality of it but the turning point to move and visit the island immediately was when I suddenly saw a price drop at booking.com giving me a whole bungalow Air-Conditioned Hut for 300 baht per night. Koh Chang it is then. 

Lighthouse at Trat on the wyay to Natural Bay Harbour 

Trat to Natural Bay harbour was about 30 km , slow nice ride and once there I just rode up to the ticket booth and paid 120 bath for the ferry over with Bluey. They keep asking how many cc is my bike which I said 125 cc and I wondered if it made a difference in price but i guess not. 

Ferry from Natural Bay Harbour Trat to Koh Chang

Bluey on the Ferry to Koh Chang
At Koh Chang immediately after disembarking the ferry I headed for the main beach area on the east coast of the island. I could understand now why they asked for the bike cc. If your bike was too small, there was no way in hell one can go uphill in Koh Chang without power. 

It was steep as hell and at any point in time if one were to stop dead middle at the steep hill, it was an accident bound to happen. 

The View after climbing the treacherous Steep Winding Road of Koh Chang Island
The steepest part always comes together with a ridiculous sharp curve ... needless to say, for those that like riding, even slowly this was a very nice road to ride a bike with very stunning scenic views. 

Double rider seams to be more dangerous though. At some uphill point climb with sharp curves, I could see the pillion getting down and pushing the rider uphill till they reach a more gentle slope. Bluey was all the way down to 1st gear but still within good faith.

Koh Chang was just riding around for me. The roads were scenic and beautiful without the tarnish of mass tourism or rather the mass tourism was contained on one small street of the island. 

Riding Around Koh Chang

Riding Around Koh Chang

Riding Around Koh Chang

Riding Around Koh Chang

Riding Around Koh Chang
I could see most of the island was develop for tourism but somehow they did a good job in balance between people and nature reserve. 

Traveled on : Dec 2018
#Kohchang #Trat