Koh Chang

So one of Jim's aspirations  for this trip was that we would get to have some time being "beach potatoes". You know, like couch potatoes, but the couch is replaced by a towel  and the TV is replaced by a sprawling expanse of turquoise water just slightly  cooler than a luke  warm bath. This brought us to the island of Koh Chang, lesser known or backpacker-y  than Koh PiPi or Phuket, and closer to Bangkok.  It was a minor splurge, but well within  budget given the favorable exchange rate.

Our first full day on the island, we slept in an enjoyed the beach, on the second day,  we hopped on a snorkeling  excursion to several  of the outer lying islands in the Gulf of Thailand.

Jim's  snorkel selfie

Enjoying  the second deck jump off the boat and into the water

To spy on some colorful fishes and  corals

On our 3rd day on the island, we managed to not  leave the beach from 10:30am until well after 7pm.  We watched the local restaurants  set up their  beach tables in time for sunset, and treated ourselves to some beers in celebration  of a successful beach potato  day.

Our 4th day on the island, we forewent  the beach potatoing in favor of a search around the island for mangroves  and kayaking.  We did manage to find the kayaking place, but it was closed. So instead we enjoyed this nature walk.

That dead ended on this dock, leaving us totally by ourselves,  and provided ample opportunity  for a quick swim.

Ohh, and how did we get to the other side of the island you ask, well by moto of course. With an ID and about 8 USD you can have one of these bad boys for 24hours. No training, so safety course, ohh and did we mention Thailand is a left side drive country?  Needless to say the traffic and mountain switch backs were a bit harrowing, but when we had the open road to ourselves (not too many tourists venture to this side of the island), tooling around on this thing was quite fun.

And we never had to be worried about access to gas because at every roadside stand, you could buy it by the used 750 ml used liquor bottle full for about 1USD.