"Rayong Beach To Ko Chang Island" 30/03/2005 - 05/04/2005

Udi and Ya have headed home to Chiang Mai. We have decided to stay on at Mae Rumphung for a couple of extra days as our entire group is heading down to meet up with us. We are using our mobile and satellite phones to keep in touch. The GPS are excellent as well as we just relay the readings so everyone can find each other. We are just buying a local pre paid sim card for our mobile which seems to work the best and the satellite phones are ok 75% of the time.

The four vehicles are now all together as we await news for when we will have our papers approved to enter China. The hotel is happy for all the vehicles to park in their grounds and to use all their facilities, swimming pool, hot showers, power for the air conditioners etc. At this stage it looks like its going to be several more weeks, so we have lots of options open to us.

Sunday 5th April we decided to hit the road again but not before we saw the Crusaders cleaning up the Warratahs on TV in the super 12s which was a real buzz for us being so away from home. Watching that was way better than the swim we had planned at the beach!

We met up with the Pinders on route, the Robertson’s are staying on at the hotel as they are getting some work done on their vehicle and the Vogrinecs headed south a day earlier. The four of us had a great time exploring the South East of Thailand. Cruising down the smaller side roads we came across some interesting fishing villages and Lawrie and John decided to give all the boats the once over. We drove down to Hat Lek and looked at crossing into Cambodia at Koh Kong but decided against it due to advice on the poor condition of the roads. Although the 4x4 was given the green light, “good old Ruefee”, the Pinders motor home was not suitable.

We found a great camping spot right on the beach at the Red Cross camp at Ratchkarun Beach south of Trat and used it as a base for 2 days. Then heading North we caught the vehicle ferry from the mainland to Ko Chang Island, (a bargain for us and our vehicle B160 which is NZ$6.00) which is part of a marine park comprising of over 50 Islands. We drove around the island as far as the road would allow as the resorts block off much of the public access for vehicles to the beach. So finding room to park 2 vehicles overnight was always going to be quite a challenge. We found a rest area overlooking Bang Bao, a traditional fishing village built on a series of piers out over the water. The roads around the island were very narrow and swept up and down around cliffs.

As we led, we kept John and Lynda informed of oncoming cars and steep inclines. At one spot John had to reverse down hill as he couldn’t get up the steep, sharp cornered hills! So it was air conditioners off and foot flat to the floor trying to get a good run on to make it up the hills. At the end of the road we came across the Grand Lagoona Resort where all the accommodation was on boats. One boat was 7 stories high and was parked in a lagoon whilst others were scattered around another lagoon. A real find on the island was the bike hire which we hired to explore the resort grounds. We were even lucky enough to use their private beach, showers and light refreshments all for a couple of dollars each. As we were cycling around the sealed pathways, we all spied some hammocks nestled under the palm trees. Lawrie and John raced towards them. Lawrie came screeching to halt, dropped the bike like a hot potatoe and dived into the hammock. Then with an almighty crash, Lawrie tumbled to the ground with an almighty THUD! The supports holding the hammock had snapped. If only we had of had a movie camera to record the event, it had resorted John to a giggling gerty with tears rolling down his face just cracking up.

We booked a boat trip from Bang Bao (NZ $10 each) and visited 4 different islands. The snorkeling, swimming and exploring was exceptional. The Island boasted a huge variety of marine life and fish were everywhere to be seen. Lunch was included in the trip, but what ever was in it just about blew our heads off and had us all reaching for water after the first bite.

Back on the mainland we continued north on the 317 and stopped overnight in Khao Soi Dao Waterfall National Park. We found a great spot on a grassed area with lots of butterflies flitting all around us, it was really pretty. As we set up camp we heard someone say “hello kiwis”! Low and behold, thousands of miles from home was a fellow kiwi Tony West from Ward who has been traveling around on his BMW. Tony is the first Kiwi we have met since leaving home. Just as we were all relaxing with a drink after doing all our washing, the park wardens invaded our idyllic setting and asked us kindly to “move on” as the so called idyllic area we had chosen to settle in for the night was a very dangerous. Little did we know we would have been sharing the night with lions, elephants, cobras and monkeys that would steal our washing and anything else that wasn’t bolted down. Tony was able to speak Thai so he was able to translate for us which was very handy. The warden didn’t have to ask us twice, so we packed up and were escorted to a safe area, with a gun bearing duty guard and camped safely there for the night. Next morning saw us headed to Aranyaprathet to cross into Cambodia.

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