Trip to Koh Si Chang – Part 2

This is the second post about my recent trip to Koh Si Chang; you can read the first part here.

The Tuk-Tuk driver took us to his favourite restaurant – I hadn’t done my research so had nothing better to suggest. I felt a bit annoyed with myself for this omission because my son is a fussy eater, and I’m vegetarian, so we prefer somewhere that offers a bit of selection. I don’t really bother with western food much in Thailand anymore, but I do like a bit of variety when it comes to Thai dishes. As usual the only option for me was Khao Phad Pak (vegetable fried rice) and my son had to settle for the meaty version of the same.

When the Tuk-Tuk driver said that we could hire him for the day so that we could tour Koh Si Change I sort of expected him to stay with us. This was not his plan though and he gave us a phone number to call when we needed him. This was to be the routine throughout the rest of the trip. I didn’t mind the arrangement at the time because the fact that the island was so small seemed to suggest that he would never be far away – that was my logic anyway.

Saan Chao Pho Khao Yai

He arrived after a few minutes and took us to our first destination – Saan Chao Pho Khao Yai. This Chinese Temple overlooks the port where we landed and has apparently been on the island for centuries. There is long flight of steps up to the main monastery, but it is certainly worth the effort. My son impressed me by managing all the steps himself – not bad for somebody who hasn’t yet turned three. The temple contains shrine caves that are truly spectacular; one had a Buddha image carved out of the rock. The view from up there was also something to behold. The only drawback was that the bank holiday crowds made it hard to appreciate everything fully – I would love to experience the place on a more peaceful day.

After the temple the Tuk-Tuk driver took us to a coastal walk on the other side of the island. There was a small stony beach but it didn’t look too inviting. There was a nice path along the coast though, and the view of the nearby cliffs along the coast was quite impressive. My son started getting antsy so a long walk was out of the question.

King Chulalongkorn Residence

Our next destination was a former residence of King Chulalongkorn. This was surrounded with a pleasant park where art students were busily creating scenic paintings. I was suitably impressed by their efforts but tried not to stare. I always find myself feeling a bit awkward around people who can paint or otherwise create art -like they possess some type of magical skill.

Koh Si Chang Beach

The final destination of the day was to be the beach. By this stage I was getting a bit fed up with the Tuk-Tuk driver as the gaps between our phone calls and his arrival was getting longer each time. I decided to just pay him off and pick up another Tuk-Tuk to take us back to the port when we were finished on the beach.

Koh Si Chang beach was certainly not what I expected from the pictures I’d seen on the web – it is tiny. To be fair though, apparently it usually gets far fewer people and this would likely make it feel a bit less claustrophobic. We allowed my son to play in the sand for awhile, before the rain started. We then did our second sprint of the day as we looked for a Tuk-Tuk to take us back to the port. I was worried that if the rain got too bad there would be no more boats back to the mainland.

The boat back was even fuller than the one coming across, but we all managed to find a seat. I settled for a plastic chair set in the middle of the aisle. I was feeling a bit tired, but enjoyed the scenery on the way back. We passed a few tiny islands and as usual I imagined what it would be like to live somewhere like that. When I see an island it always make me thing of the poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by WB Yates. All in all it was a nice day out.