Birthday in Koh Chang

While everyone in Catalonia was preparing Sant Joan’s party, we were travelling to an island in the south-east of Thailand, Koh Chang, to celebrate Gerard’s 31st birthday.

To take advantage of the weekend, we left Pattaya on Friday afternoon and slept at a nice guest house in Trat (we were willing to have dinner at the night market again!). From there, on Saturday early morning we took the ferry (with our car as well). In front of us we could see a dense piece of jungle right in the middle of the sea, surrounded by long white sand beaches and with some fog on the top of its mountains. Pretty wonderful.

Kacha Resort was as paradisiacal as the island itself: luxurious bungalows (even with jackuzzi!) and a swimming pool on the sea shore.

After a while of sunshine, we decided to drive around looking for less touristic places; we went to the North and we drove along the east coast till de south of the island. Then we tried to go into the jungle, but a tropical thunderstorm made us go back to our resort.

On Sunday we woke up with an adventurous feeling. According to Lonely Planet, there are so many snakes in the “elephant’s island” as in the biblic garden, but I didn’t want to go home without having seen anything but Had Sai Khao (“white sand beach”). So, I chose the less scaring way to get into the jungle: elephant trekking! I expected that I wouldn’t be afraid of the snakes if I was on an elephant, but anyway I didn’t have to worry about it: when we were in the middle of the trip, it started to rain like cats and dogs, so we got soaking wet and snakes hided themselves.

And after the rain, the sun shined again (this is the best thing about monzons!): we had our last bath in the sea… and took the ferry back home.

On Monday, already at home, we finished to celebrate Gerard’s birthday. As we went out for dinner at an American restaurant (that means too much food), we decided to blow the candles in a more exotic way.

The gift, a frammed picture of Koh Chang.

Going backwards in time: Cambodia

We started this June in Cambodia. We had a 4 days long weekend, so we decided to visit the temples of Angkor.

As we expected, Angkor Wat and the others wonders truly fascinated us. Each temple is a great work itself, from gorgeous Angkor to the meticulous carving of Banteay Srei, or the engimatic faces of Bayon, Pre Rup pyramid and the five hundred year-old trees that cover Ta Prohm temple (famous for the film Tomb Raider). But looking at these beauties for the sunrise and/or the sunset, was breathtaking.

Apart from that, Cambodian people and the tiny part of the country that we could see went straight into our hearts. It really was like going backwards in time: sandy streets, bycicles and motorbikes (without mirrors!) instead of cars and a basically rural population. We couldn’t help being surprised by seeing ten year-old girls riding the firewood home and very young boys leading the cows along the fields (if we were in war, this children will easily survive!).

We stayed at a luxurious but not expensive hotel in Siem Reap downtown. So, after walking for hours and hours under the sunshine, we could take a bath at the swimming pool, have a shower and sleep for the whole night.

About the city itself, we will only say that it’s young and vibrating. Maybe we’re lucky and we can go back some time!