The night before my flight, I sat on a sofa in downtown Taipei constantly refreshed my weather app. Praying for a miracle, a break in the torrential downpour, a sun emoji miraculously replacing the lightening bolts flashing across my screen. My heart sank as the reality hit me, my upcoming trip to Koh Samui would be inevitably ruined due to flash flooding and tropical rainstorms.
My friend and I started frantically looking for other options… Phuket: disaster, Ko Phi Phi: flooded, really any small southern islands: heavy rain and flooding. Desperation set in as we started with where the weather was good… Bangkok. While no one wants to replace a dream beach vacation with a city it was a start. We trailed our fingers down the map, and stopped on a tiny green island just south of the city. We had landed on the magical, wonderland of Koh Chang.
We immediately checked the weather, fully sunny and 85-90 degrees, realistically heaven at this point. We then did a generic Google search of the island as we’d both never heard of it… dreamy images of white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters insured this was the getaway of the century.
After a few intense phone calls, canceled and rebooked flights and a few emails... we were on our way to Koh Chang, all within a short seven hour window.
Getting to this tropical paradise seems harder then it actually was due to the fact that there isn't an airport on the island. But rest assured the transport is exceptionally seamless, especially for a small island that isn't inundated with the likes of Phi Phi tourists. We flew from Taipei to Bangkok, then Bangkok to Trat (TDX)... across the water from Koh Chang.
Upon leaving the airport we loaded our bags into a transfer taxi... took the taxi onto a drive-on ferry, that then drove us directly to our hotel. We stayed at the Emerald Cove and it was beyond incredible (full review coming soon).
In a beautiful nutshell... Koh Chang is: tropical rainforests, coral reefs, white sand beaches, hidden waterfalls, fruity drinks, island time, Thai massages, German (mostly) tourists and local/beach bars with the occasional herb. The seafood is incredible, the weather is much more temperate that the southern islands and while astonishingly picturesque... it still somehow remains calm, beautiful, and isolated.
If you're in or around Thailand... Koh Chang is an absolute must. Xx