Yo Yo Yo Amphoe (Koh Chang)

This past weekend was spent on a fantastic island on the boarder of Cambodia and the Gulf of Thailand's eastern seaboard. Ko Chang, not to be confused with the Koh Chang coming up next week, is the country's third largest island, after Phuket and Ko Samui, and the largest in the Mu Ko Chang National Park. The park consists of approximately 85% of the island, together with colorful and healthy coral reefs. With the name meaning "Elephant Island," it has an elephant-shaped headland. Our time was spent mostly on the water traveling through different islands in the area where we could see tropical fish and sealife while in the water, and monkeys through the jungles.

To get to the island we had to take the ferry at the crack of dawn, as it alternatively took about 7 hours to arrive in the area from Bangkok by mini bus. After a seemingly restless nap and exploring the area all day, we came back to the hostel for an elaborate Thai dinner of local seafood. The dinner consisted mostly of shell fish, which gave me quite a case of puffy eye syndrome the next morning.

Waking up to the mountains on the water is a sight that the group and I seem to be taking for granted while living in such a marvelous place. Before going out on the boat our first day, we even saw a pod of dolphins swimming and playing peacefully in the bay. I am becoming nervous that when we arrive home, I will miss the sight of the mountains and tropical forests here too much and will just swim back to Thailand.