Ko Chang Clanger

I had a clanger in Ko Chang. Only hours after arriving on this tropical island I realized my Faux Pas. My visa card was missing, lost, left in the ATM machine on the mainland. I might outline this sorry episode later in this post, more for my own therapy, and with the promise that Ill give you the option to skip that bit.

Of more interest to you, and usually to myself, is what Ive been up to in these long days where the sun always shines and the mosquitos always bite. I popped on to Ko Chang, partly on your recommendation Vick, to see what I could see see sea. A good place to decompress after Asia before India and a good place to do an Advanced Dive course.

Im now an advanced diver, which means that Mel, Justin and whoever else wants to jump in can buddy up with me. Ive completed all the neccessaries and picked up some cool skills on my optional dives too. Visability was terrible when I did my ‘navigation dive’, counting kick cycles and working off my compass. My night dive was a bit wobbly – my instuctor and I went down, and immediately my torch failed and I was forced onto my backup. When we surfaced the speedboat had gone -the bloody Thai captain thought he’d do a bit of fishing while we were down. Disapointingly I didnt begin to feel any effects of Nitrogen Narcossis on my deep dive, as I did my times tables all to quickly at 28 metres. My ‘search and retrieve’ dive was a favourite – learning to swim search patterns underwater, locating the object (a weight belt), tieing a bowline knot underwater and filling the float bag with enough air to gently raise the object to the surface. I must’ve tied a million knots on the boat before trying that one underwater.

To skip my blab about my credit card disaster and move on to something worth reading Click here

I appealed to Visa to cancel my card which they did expertly in quick time. That was the last time anything was done in quick time. My flight to India was to leave on the 7th, though I soon became resigned to the fact that that date would need to be set back. Visa replacement cards are only valid for 6 months and can’t have pins on them for ATM’s, so Visa sought out ASB to send me a brand spanking new one that could. Back and forward went the phone calls in the middle of the night, costing me baht and knotting my tummy. My phone went flat, I had no plug in my room to charge it, and then the next day there was no power on the whole island. ASB were to send me this new card to my address on the island, only, I found out, they sent it to Visa instead who didnt release it to me! My short stay had been extended to 8 days while I waited, stranded, all for nothing. Meanwhile STA travel, (my love goes out to Zara Goldswain), made my flight changes effortlessly.

The new plan is for Visa to send a replacement card (no pin remember) to a bank in Mumbai and for me to pick it up from there – an errand I could do without on my first day in Bombay. I’m getting by on a few kernals or rice a day and dried fish when I can get it.

Lessons learnt:
-Know your visa card number – they always tell you never to write it down, but when it comes to it they need it.
-Dont get down to your last $100 like I did, stash some travellers cheques in a sock or something.
-Dont depend on replacement cards working out quickly – time differences, different call operators, blah blah adds to the circus.
-Cellphones are handy, I dont know how I would have organised the call backs without one while on Ko Chang
-Find a friend (cheers Rich) who’s willing to back you up with some cash if it all turns to custard

Fingers crossed they’ll change my baht to Rupees in Mumbai Airport

Im a ‘doing’ person most of the time and just lying on the beach didnt appeal. After Rich left following his open water course I was by myself again for the first time in ages. I cruised around the island on a motorbike for a couple of days, at times with the balance of a new born foal. I visited a pretty waterfall which Farang are charged 200bt to get to in the National park ~grumble~, and did some trekking into the interior with a guide to the second highest point on the island. Thais dont like to trek – fact – so the tracks are pretty raw, steep and rugged, being under utilised. The guide left me with a couple of monks half an hour into the trek to go back down and pick up another couple, who looked after me pretty well and gave me a saffron robe on which to rest my head. I also met a local working on a small rubber plantation who enthusiatically mimed to us about his work.

My snorkling trip to the outer islands was cancelled due to high winds, so on a tip from some Frenchies I went to explore another waterfall close to Kaibae Beach where I was staying. Coincidently I met them there. The lady, whose name I dont think I ever got, spotted a rope leading up a 6 metre rock. Her and I hauled our way up here, and pulled ourselves up on vines to get to the top of the waterfall. From there, with some trepidation of King Cobras, we trekked inland for about 30 minutes following the river / stream. The forest here was denser and more rugged than anything we’d seen on our trek the day before.

Ko Chang verdict: Lovely island that I predict will be developed like Ko Samui in less than 5 years. Great for couples having a retreat, Bangkok Thais, and pasty middle aged men with a Thai girl on their arm. 8 Days for the independant traveller waiting for his visa card to arrive is a little too much.

Back to the Kok

For the first time in Asia my mini bus arrived early in Bangkok, early enough to orient myself in Khao San rd and find a guesthouse. Vereana and Anna, my Austrian friends from Nam were in town so I found their guesthouse and grabbed a room. (Recommendation for Rainbow Gueshouse). I met Penny in an Internet cafe who has been living in Bangkok a few months. Not finding the Austrian girls, Penny showed me every bar in the area which equalled a lot of drinks and a better reintroduction to Bangkok than my first landing 3 months ago.

I liked Bangkok a lot more this time, although ‘liked’ is still the wrong word. I checked out the weekend markets in Chatuchak, rumoured to be the largest in the world and too big for me to conquer all of in one day. We rode the skytrain which I was over excited about, and generally got around Bangkok with a spring in my step.

I met up with Verena, Anna and Penny in the evening and as a four ventured into Patpong. Now I’ve seen it all.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 12th, 2004 at 9:18 am and is filed under Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.