As you may know, it is currently the rainy season here in Koh Chang. Well, does it ever! So far in the 3 days we have been here, it has rained for half the day everyday and yesterday it rained all day and night. And I mean thunderstorming downpours that turn the roads into rivers, and whip the sea into the kind of frenzy that froths and roars in the background. It's a little difficult to do much of interest (like walking or snorkelling) and we're glad we haven't ventured onto one of the little quiet islands south from Chang, as there'd be even less to do than there is here.
We arrived here pretty late after leaving Sihanouk at 7am. The mini van was crammed with tourists, a driver and two extras (one sat on the roof with the bags and the other kept jumping out to fix things - resident mechanic it seems). It started raining a few minutes after leaving Sihanoukville and poured so hard you couldn't see the road (or the other traffic including slow moving buffalo carts who treat the main highway like a rural lane). It may come as no surprise to hear that the death rate on Cambodian roads has dramatically increased since the introduction of tarmac and these 'great' American built roads. They now drive in their jelopys at breakneck speed referring occassionally to the Indian rulebook of driving. To give you an example, our vehicle had water pouring in both sides, a broken door that slid open quite randomly when it wasn't refusing to open altogether, broken windscreen wipers and windows (including a rather hair-raising smash on the front windscreen). We all hung on to something as we careered and aqua-planed our way west, and wondered if the guy on the roof was still there since we couldn't actually see out of any of the windows.
So at first it was a relief when we reached the end of the tarmac, and found ourselves on the infamous Cambodia red dust roads - with holes the size of small vans and bumps that could launch a small plane, we slowed to a pace where we all felt we might actually survive when we crashed (rather than if). But then came the mud - and I mean miles and miles of road that was a quagmire of orange gloop - like someone had tried to solidify the Mekong. How this front wheel drive shed of a vehicle got us to the border, I really don't know. I think credit has to go to the driver, who seemed to know every slip and slide, and just how far he could push it. We got stuck 3 times altogether, with Lee getting sprayed orange while helping push us out the mud. JCBs hauled overloaded vehicles from the gloop, while we all waded ankle deep to get to more solid ground. In between mud baths, we had to cross several rivers on a raft-like car ferry. At one point it looked like someone had started the building work for a bridge but then abandoned their efforts as all the pillars were sinking at odd angles. The car ferry looked the better option at this point - but given the tricky door on our van, we opted to get out the vehicle while crossing, in case we had to swim.
Eventually we reached the border - signed out with the Cambodian officials and signed in with Thai immigration. The van awaiting us on the Thai side was a gleaming air-conditioned leather-seated affair and whisked us to Trat in no time at all. We missed the 5 o'clock ferry but fortunately there was another at 6pm. We also booked accommodation for that night on the main island (and our return bus for Bangkok). Because it's low season, the rooms here are really cheap at a third to half their usual prices. So we are staying at White Sands Beach (not that nice but then it's blowing a storm out there) in a brand new rather swanky place called Alina's (huge room and balcony, two king sized beds {Roisin was very happy about the sprung mattresses}, aircon, TV and a lovely swimming pool) - only 12 quid a night.
There's loads of restaurants around to keep us occupied with food (while it rains some more) and today, in the brief interim this morning when it didn't rain, we went out on mopeds to explore a bit. It's pretty well developed down the west coast of the island - maybe tomorrow if the rain holds off, we can venture round the other side and explore some more. Until then, it's back to the backgammon and guitar playing.
