Day 26 Koh Chang

Travel day today. We left the hotel at 8am for an 8:30 flight. It was nice to be a stone’s throw from the airport. 

They have no problem in distributing  "smelly food" on the plane

Sukhothai runway

Phil Boarding the Bangkok Air flight

Sukhothai Airport from the air

We had 2 40ish minute flights, first to Bangkok

I think LA needs a Royal Rainmaer

and then to Trat on the west coast of the peninsula.  Trat airport was about the same size as Sukhothai but not as beautiful.  

And no zoo!  We had a van from the hotel to pick us up and then found out why Koh Chang was a less popular beach than the more famous Phuket or Koh Samui. 

It was a 40 minute drive to get to the ferry.  As we reached the ferry dock, it was just pulling away, so we had to sit for about an hour waiting for the next ferry. 

The ferry crossing took another 45 minutes, and the final drive on very windy and hilly roads took another 45 minutes.  

We spent the entire day traveling.   The villages that we passed along the way to our hotel were pretty rustic.  My guess is that this was what most of Thailand was like 50 years ago. 

We finally turned off the main road to the Panviman Resort.  The road in was a single lane with jarring speed bumps every 20 yards until the road became dirt.  We were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.  After about ½ mile which seemed like an eternity, we reached the resort.

It was definitely a jewel in the rough.  The grounds were beautifully landscaped and the staff very friendly and accommodating, even though most of the staff had a marginal understanding of English.  We were escorted to our rooms which turned out to be in their own little compound consisting of 4 rooms with our own private pool. 

The room itself was beautiful with a four-poster bed and an enormous bath with a cascading waterfall fountain.

After settling in, we went back to reception to organize the next few days.  I arranged diving  for tomorrow, snorkeling for the four of us the following day, and then an all day cooking class the last day.

With our palns all made, we went to the beach for drinks and dinner.  We had a great table right on the beach with a gorgeous sunset.