Do check out my site, www.lawlor.me It’s a free Travel landscape photography website. This is mainly a Ko Chang Guide, but a brief summary of main cities and other islands in Thailand is included, This is all based on about 10 months of travel in Thailand since 2000. (1) Bangkok (a) Koh San Road I don’t bother staying near Koh San road anymore, it’s in the old city and traffic can get impossible at rush hour, taxis refusing you at these times as you can get stuck for up to 2 hours getting across Bangkok. But for rock bottom backpacker accommodations, and a central location near sites etc. in the old city, it’s the place to stay. At one end of Koh San road , across the road, there is a monastery on the right hand side about 100M along the next street, Wat Channa Songkhram. In the street behind that, there are a few very low cost & clean guest houses. You can walk directly through the monastery in the day. Bella Bella is good, but you need to be there early to get a room, like 7 to 8am if its busy, you cannot book. Around B170 for a clean single fan room with shared bathroom. Remember to get away outside rush hour traffic. (b) Schukumvit Rd I stay on Sukhumvit around Soy (street) 11. Schukumvit is a very long road with soys from 1-50. Around 1 to 5 is a high end shopping mall area, around 20-35 are all the big hotels, but around 6-14 is middle range hotels. The highway to the new airport (Svarnabhumi) is right beside so it’s easily accessible. Good mid range hotel is www.grandbusinessinn.net basic clean rooms for 1,600B. If you email them they do have a basic hotel with shoebox rooms for 600B in a street behind if you’re on a camping budget, but be prepared to deal with a few cock roaches. (2) Chiang Mai & Pai (North) Chiang Mai is a very cool chill city, Libra guest house in Chiang Mai is a well run & located cheap, clean family guesthouse. MuanMuang, Soy 9. www.librahousechiangmai.com/. Rooms from B200 to B400. They sell a unique treck that has a less crowded route than other guest house treks. Cheap, about B1500 for 2 nights. Night train from bKK is about B500, flights are cheap but some go from the old airport in Bangkok, Don Muang. About 4 air carriers in total fly to Chiang Mai, Bkk airways, Air Asia and 2 other cheapies, from Don Muang. Pai is cool mountain town, about 3 hour’s minibus from Chiang Mai, lotsa great hikes. Many young Thai couples holiday there since a recent romantic movie released in 2009 made it the Venice of Thailand. (3) Islands Puket & Koh Samui: are big resort/hotel islands, not my scene. Chewang beach is the main drag in Samui, if you’re new to Thai, try 3-4 nights here then get the hell out and discover real Thailand. But if a 7 night stay in a flash hotel with a beachside pool and lotsa shopping is what youre looking for, lock it in. Koh Pha Ngan:, Full moon partys and all. Bottle beach on the north is said to be very, chill, cheap & beautiful, but also beaches, Had Yuan, Tien, Yao. These secret beaches beside one another are a taxi boat ride around the corner from Had Rin (Full moon Party beach) They are not accessible by road, totally cutting them off from the madness nearby, they truly are paradise beaches, a few nights on these beaches is enough relaxation to last you a year. Koh Tao: Very beautiful, 2nd only to Koh Chang for me. Harder to get to, 3-4 hrs boat from Pha Ngan or Samui. Lotsa diving, $15 for a dive if you have a license, cheapest place in the world to get your license.

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Koh Lanta: Nice, large, quiet. Right down the end of the island is a magical budget resort called “last beach resort” in 2000 it was the only resort on the whole beach, it may still be the same as it was well out of the way. Koh Phi Phi & Krabi: The most beautiful islands to the eye, lotsa white stone cliffs, but a little more expensive and touristy than Koh Tao and Chang. I have heard of a kick ass beach near Rai Leh in Krabi. Rai Leh is part of the mainland but cut off by cliffs so its boat access only. Its called Ton Sai, cheap, lotsa rock climbers stay there. I will go there next time in Thai for sure. Great reviews. Koh Yao Noi: I tried this little island in Jan 2013, very nice, right beside Puket/PhiPhi. It is surrounded by hundreds of PhiPhi like islands so many great daytrips if the weather is right. It’s a quiet island with a few resorts and resteraunts, a nice break from Puket. http://www.sabaicornerbungalows.com/ was a great mid range place to stay. (4) Koh Chang, is in Trat province, My favorite island in Thailand, It is truly beautiful, It has a lovely chill atmosphere, It has a bit of everything you need, a busy part, one main nightclub, (sabay bar) massages on the beach for B250 an hour, many restaurants, yet it is peaceful and quiet. If you are new to Thailand I always recommend ripping it up and burning your energy in one of the busier places in Thai first, (e.g. Samui or Puket) once you are 3-4 days in, people usually will be sick of that tourist scene and really appreciate Koh Chang. Perspective; In 2010 I travelled the world for 18 months to 17 countries, having visited Ko Chang 10 times in the last 12 years, I was partly in search of an island to beat this favorite of mine. None could beat it in the end, the ones that came close were, Corn islands Nicaragua, Morrow de Sao Paolo Brazil, San Blas Panama and Isla Baru, San Andres & Providencia Colombia. All special in their own way, but none knocking Koh Chang off the number one position in my book. The others were either too undeveloped, too expensive etc. As of 2015 I have stayed on 35 islands, Two new favorites I have are Kauai Hawaii and Moorea in French Polynesia, but they are way, way more expensive than Ko Chang. Ko Chang has mountains up to 700m, it’s the second largest island in Thailand after Phuket. The Koh Chang archipelago has over 200 islands, of which Koh Chang is the biggest. Other cool and very chill islands nearby are Koh Wai, Koh Mak and Koh Kood which is very chill indeed. (full details a few pages down)

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Trat province is the most undeveloped for tourism of any province in Thailand, but also probably fastest growing, due to all the mountains there is no airport on Koh Chang, you need to fly to mainland Trat Airport and get a ferry across. Most beaches are not that nice, stones etc. but this is good because that’s kept the crowds away and White Sand Beach is just beautiful, beautiful sand, sunsets every night, it’s getting busy at the south end of the beach but overall the island is way quieter compared to Samui or Puket. Best stay just off the main drag a few hundred meters on the north end of White Sand beach, all the resorts I mention below are located there. The south end of white Sand Beach is handy for shopping, eating etc. but not the place to stay in my view unless you like being in the middle of it. There is a whole selection of other beaches down the coast, Kai Bae & Klong Prao are the biggest, theyre ok, quieter and some very high end resorts down that way but I don’t think anything beats staying at the quiet north end of white sand beach where you can walk about 500m to 1km to a little hustle and bustle down the south end when you want it. In 2000 I saw 7 islands travelling Thailand, WS beach Koh Chang was my favorite, I have been there 10 times in total since. WS beach is not the backpacker’s hidden secret it was back in 2000, but despite its development, It’s still pretty amazing. In rainy season for southern islands (Oct-Dec ish) it seems to get pretty nice weather, rain and clouds every third day, I have been there three times in rainy season whereas Ko Samui and Pha Ngan were overcast every day for weeks on end at that time. Lonely beach, All the backpackers are down on Lonely beach, 14km south of white sand beach, the actual beach is shitty compared to WS, but lots of cheap accom and lots of backpacker bars, most people I talk who have stayed there never saw the beach in daylight coz they party all night long, so if that’s what you’re into, the grungy side of the backpacker scene, you will make a lot of friends down there, but I don’t care for it.

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Koh Changs highest peak, 700M & White sand Beach Getting There Bangkok Air from Bangkok to Trat, Bangkok Airways, (1,500-4000B each way) There are mini buses at the airport that will take you across the ferry to your resort from Trat airport, (800B return) Minibus. If you take the bus from BKK its a 6 hr drive is 300B. (2010) There may be a new air route in high season direct from Samui by now, It was a planned in 2010.

North White Sand Beach Resorts: 1) White Sand (WS) Beach Resort, on WS beach, 400M walk by beach to the main area, out of the way, bungalows on the beach, its pretty beautiful. Bungalows for 1,500B to 4000B a night. ($4,000B ones being built now, Sep 10, will be finished soon, they look amazing & perfect location)

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Their email is: [email protected] WebSite: http://www.whitesandbeachkohchang.com/ Best Room: You can book through either website or email. But its best to request bungalows between V1 and V16, and B1 to B4 as this resort is 1km long, so if you are at the far end it’s a long walk on the beach to town and home again. The bungalows I mention are in the south half of the resort on the beachfront. It is easier to request individual bungalows through email then booking through the site, if you don’t request a cabin by number they will put you up the far end of the resort, (B4 to 1 are closest to town, then V16 to V1, V1 being half way up the resort beside the restaurant, V16 beside B4. I would not go much further than V1 unless you want to be totally away from everything)

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See here Bungalows V1 to4 on the left, in rainy season (Sep to Jan-ish) you can have a river and sea at your doorstep, one of the most beautifully unique bungalow views I have ever seen. But the river changes course in the sand so can run in front of bungalows V6-8 instead.

White Sand Beach Resort view from the sea.

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2) KC Grande Resort, I think its 5 star, (Bungalows 3,000 to 7,000B in low to high season) (low season is April-May to Nov, High is Nov-Dec to March-April) perfect location, not as far down as WS beach resort but just off the main drag, bungalows on beach and apartments, recommend bungalows, 5117, 5115, 5111. They are right on the beach, surrounded in palm trees, beach is not that busy where they are. Pictured below. Google resort to book or look on www.ikohchang.com (the bungalows don’t look like much, have not seen inside but it’s a very high end resort, im sure they are amazing)

KC Beachfront bungalows on the right

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KC Beachfront Bungalows

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Cheaper resorts nearby and off the main drag of south WS beach. (all in between WS Beach resort and KC Grande) 3) Maylamean (200B to 2,000B) (I got a terrace room for 150B with 7th night free in low season, same room is 400B in high season. [email protected], +66 8 2257 6271 4) Rock sand on Right, Maylamean on left, in between WS beach & KC Grande, (350B to 1000B), +66 0 8478 10 550 [email protected], www.rocksand-resort.com

Left: Maylamean. (Thai land owner has two daughters called May and Mean)

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Theres a bunch of other cool budget accommodation options at a string of hippy resorts in between KC and WS resorts.

Koh Chang Must sees: • The Koh Chang, Klong Prau waterfall is a must, amazing pool to swim in at end. • The island snorkel trip is cool, you can stay overnight on Koh Mak or Koh Wai if you want a real chill night. • The Indian curry at Cookee Bungalws in the middle of WS beach is a nice dish for just 100B. If you don’t stay at WS resort, suggest walking up to have a lunch or breakfast, beautiful deck restaurant surrounded by trees with an amazing view. On Fridays there’s a 1 day treck to one of the mountain peaks, from there you can see the uninhabited central jungle of the island.

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Sunsets like this are a regular occurrence, it’s a sunset coast. Other Islands in the Koh Chang Archapelligo: I also discovered a few of the other islands in the archipeligo, Koh Mak, Wai and Kood. All very quiet, Koh Mak has one bar that can go off at "monkey island resort" www.monkeyislandkohmak.com Bunch of thai hippies run it, everyone joins in song and dance at night. Koh Wai has just two resorts, one called Koh Wai Paradise ([email protected]) 081 7622 548, both are ok places to stay, Koh Wai does get a few overnight tours passing through Koh Kood, (or Ko Kut) second largest island in the Koh Chang national park, 2 hr speedboat trip from Koh Chang, its really beautiful, amazing resorts too, but not as much as a bar outside the resorts, one I found that was amazing is "neverland". about 10 bungalows with no other resorts in a pretty big bay, powder white sand beach, just amazing, very quiet and chill, I recommend a few nights here to chill like you never have before! A bit like San Blas islands in panama, 2-4 nights here is enough relaxation to last you one year.

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Neverland Koh Kood: Pictures not that good, this resort was pure quiet paradise when I passed through in Jan 09. Email them direct to book, they may take up to a week to respond, you may need to resend once or twice, book well in advance a lot of Russian tours book up this 10 bungalow resort quickly. [email protected] Also as I just learned, (Sep 10) in low season the speedboat does not run, you can only get there from a mainland Trat port. It may be easier to book through one of the tour offices. I hear Captain Hook resort is amazing too, but expensive. PS, I have sent over 15 people to Koh Chang in last 10 years, everyone loved it and most said it was most beautiful place in Thailand they had been. Do reply if you find any other gems in SE Asia or anywhere for that matter☺ [email protected]

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www.lawlor.me

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