I had a most
interesting visit to Koh Chang (Elephant Island) that I thought I should tell
you about. Koh Chang is the second
largest island in Thailand after Phuket and is located in the Gulf of Thailand
very near the Cambodian border. I
left Bangkok at 9:00AM last Friday in a minibus headed to the ferry dock at
Laem Gnop. I caught the 5:00PM
boat to the island. I was actually
heading for a place called Lonely Beach on Koh Chang but as it was getting dark
when I arrived, I thought I would take a place close to the pier and then seek
out an alternate place at Lonely Beach the next day. Many Thais go to Koh Chang for the weekend so, knowing
accommodation might be tight, I booked into Mac Bungalows, the first place I
checked, and got the last bungalow they had. I had a nice
dinner in their restaurant, it was very newly decorated, and the food was quite
good. I was in bed by 11:00PM.
At 2:45AM I was
wakened by a goddamn mosquito biting me and was lying there semi-asleep when BOOM! An immense explosion.
There was a scream almost simultaneously, and over the roar of the blast
I could hear glass breaking, debris hitting my roof, and I was nearly tossed
out of my bed. It was a thunderous
noise.
