I guess it's been 4 days now since I was at the other end of the Island around the Bai Lan Bay Area. New Year's Eve was quite a raucous affair in the area and fireworks were being let off starting around 9:0 PM carrying on until 2014 came into being.

My guest house, Lazy Republique got into the party spirit and I was awakened before midnight by Madonna's "Holiday". The music continued loudly until 1:30 AM... it was all good as the owner's musical tastes were right up my alley.

On New Year's Day, on the advice of Laun, my guesthouse owner, I walked about 1.5 miles up and down hills to the infamous "Lonely Beach". You know the saying, "you never get a second chance to make a good first impression". Well my first impression was "What a disgusting dump". I had turned in towards the beach at Siam Huts. Perhaps this is how a backpacker hostel is defined? I don't know, but I would definitely classify it as a dump. Had I checked in there, I wouldn't even have gotten out of the taxi. The huts on stilts reminded me of row housing. Very closed together, no privacy and garbage strewn about every place I looked. I was surprised to see what had been a burning mound of garbage right in front of a group of huts. Disgusting. (I've since come to realize that everything here gets burnt eventually, plastic bottles included. Shocking in this day and age coming from a first-world country). I wonder to myself that at one time the owner must've had a vision of the type of property he wanted to create. Was this his vision?

Laun told me to go to the very far end of the beach. So glad he told me to do this because my first impressions of Lonely Beach were not much better than my impressions of the Siam Huts. I walked as far down the beach as was possible (probably 10-15 minutes), and it was much nicer. The rentals on the beach looked to be "upscale" and for the most part the beach wasn't littered with garbage. I spent 5 hours or so on Lonely Beach and had lunch at the closest beachside restaurant. I could've taken a taxi back to my guesthouse but I was up for the exercise and wanted to stop in the little Lonely Beach enclave to buy some water and go to the Pharmacy to tend to my cold so I walked the 1.5 miles back to my guesthouse.

Lots of wild monkeys in this area. Scared the bajeezus out of me when I first saw one sitting on the road. Scared me so much that I crossed the road hoping all the while that he wouldn't try to jump on me. There were lots of monkeys on this particular part of Koh Chang (Bai Lan Bay area) so by the time I did the full walk I wasn't as fearful of them and stopped to take some photos of them from a safe distance.

There really isn't much happening in the area of my guest house so I order dinner at the guest house (fried fish that was very chewy and very spicy) with the ever-present white rice.

Breakfasts are included in my accommodation here. A hearty breakfast of tasty coffee, orange juice (which I haven't been able to stomach as it is definitely not the type I am used to), muesli with fresh fruit and yogurt and 2 pieces of toasted french bread with jam, and then a plate of pineapple and watermelon. Thailand seems to centre it's life around food.

It's time for me to check out now and head to the Klong Prao area of the island. I have no clue which direction any place is on this island. I stand on the side of the road and flag down a songathew. I show him the address and the name of Baan Rim Nam (my next guesthouse). He says he can take me but he will only drop me on the highway. I know it's a 1 mile walk into the guesthouse from the road and I'm not keen on lugging my suitcase a mile on a mule trail. I convince him to bring me all the way into the guesthouse -- he agrees - for a price! 200 BHT but it was money well spent and he delivers me to the door. The road in here from the highway isn't all that bad. It's mostly paved until the last 1/4 mile which is sand, but I still wouldn't want to haul my luggage that far.

Ian, the owner, gives me the lay of the land and a map he has created of the area, the best restaurants etc.

I decide I'm up for a walk into the village area for lunch and find one of Ian's recommendations of a family-run restaurant. The place was packed and they were turning people away at about 3:00 PM. I order a pineapple shake which was absolutely delicious. Probably the tastiest fruit shake I've ever had. I order my usual stand-by, cashew chicken and decide to try some spring rolls. It was all very good. At the end of the meal they serve complimentary sliced watermelon. The bill was just over $3.00. I stop in at the Pharmacy to buy some pills called NAC 10 that someone had recommended to me when they heard my cough. $9 for them but I'm getting quite fed up being sick by this point so am happy to try anything if it'll work. It's a scorching hot walk back to my guesthouse and I'm now having second thoughts about my bright idea of walking into town and back in the mid-day heat. Lesson learned. I don't do much the rest of the day except enjoy the lovely decks at Baan Rim Nam, and then I find the trail to Klong Prao beach and check it out. The sunset is gorgeous.

Friday, January 3: Another day of no definite plans. I walk into town to the only place that seems to be open at 9:00 AM which is the bakery where I enjoy an iced coffee and cinnamon bun. By 10:00 I'm back at my guesthouse. Now what? I really would like to canoe up the river but I'm questioning my canoeing abilities. I've only ever canoed with a partner and am not so convinced I can handle that big "Canadian" canoe on my own and more precisely know that if I should flip the thing there is no way I'll ever turn it over on my own. There are 4 kayaks, one of which is a single person kayak. Hmm.... maybe, just maybe I can manage it despite the fact I've never kayaked before. I manage to get into the kayak without flipping it. Success!

I paddle up the river in the direction Ian told me to paddle, past the elephant stand. I paddle way up the river hoping to find the waterfall I've heard about but never came across it. I did, however, paddle until the river came to a rocky bed of an ending. I look up and there are 3 elephants headed my way. I take in the sight. Fantastic. The elephants and their paying patrons sitting atop them pass by me and I turn in the direction from which I came. Eventually I come upon the elephant stand and all 3 of the elephants are there in the water with the patrons atop them. The elephants bow down into the water and the people fall off the elephants laughing like crazy. The elephant trainers are standing on the back of each elephant tapping the elephants with a cane to get them to do whatever commands they're supposed to be doing with the paying patrons. It was fun to watch. I had a lot of laughs and the people were having a hoot. The one thing I noticed is that elephants like to poop when they're in the water. Yuck! That there turned me off of ever attempting to swim with the elephants. Paddling through it was enough of a look-see for me. I'm quite enjoying kayaking and pass on by my guest house and go to the oceans edge to check out Sunset Beach.

After a few hours on the beach Ian calls me a boat from a restaurant across the river. They paddle over, pick me up and deliver me to their seafood restaurant. After dinner they paddle me back.

Saturday, January 4 I walk into town with a plan to go to the bakery again. I get there and it's closed for the day. Dang it! I walked all the way into town for nothing. At least it wasn't in the heat of the day and I'm thankful for that.

On Ian's recommendation I go to the Tiger Hut on the beach for breakfast. It's okay. Nothing to write home about but it's close. Although this guest house is lovely, there isn't a lot around here and being I don't drive a scooter it is a bit off the beaten track and I've found that food isn't within 5 minutes away. I decide to hang out on the beach today. The water here is on the cool side of warm. It's even warmer than the Caribbean sea.

Later in the afternoon I chat up a guy staying at this guest house. He's been here with his brothers and Mom for a few days, from Macau. He used to live in Toronto and speaks good English This is his second time staying at this guest house and he is a plethora of information on places to go, places to eat.

There is a fancy resort next to Baan Rim Nam called Panviman Resort. You can't see it from here but I walk past the entrance way on my way to/from town. He told me to go there for dinner and said it's a lovely resort. I plan to do that in the next night or two.

The guest tells me that his 70-year-old Mom walks the road from town in the dark. Hmm... maybe I can get up the nerve. I decide I'll walk back into town for dinner and walk back in the dark. I stop in at the Pharmacy and she sells me some antibiotics and some other pill. $15 and I'm out the door. Still coughing and I have wondered if it's turning into bronchitis. Easy to get antibiotics here. Hell, my Doctor at home has never ever prescribed them to me no matter how much I've been coughing up a lung.

The walk back in the dark is okay. Lots of people pass me by on their way walking into town and plenty of scooters going both directions. All the while I'm saying "thank you" to my friend Keith for gifting me with a lovely powerful little flashlight which I was so happy to have on hand tonight.

Ian has booked me an elephant trek for Sunday or Monday. The company will pick me up here at the guesthouse so that's a bonus. The cost is added to my "tab" here at the guesthouse and I square up with him on my last day. He even took my laundry into town and added to my tab as well.

I was thinking of taking a Thai cooking class but am not keen on spending 6-8 hours indoors and, really, I only want to earn how to make Tom Sum Gai so will scour the internet and hope to find the ingredients when I return home.

I kinda feel like I'm running out of time now and feel like I shouldn't "waste" away too many more hours on the beach. I booked myself a 3 1/2 hour spa package on Tuesday afternoon at the Panviman Resort spa and then am planning to treat myself to dinner at what Ian says is the best restaurant in the area. It's also the restaurant that has a cooking school attached to it.

Ian has arranged for my shuttle pick-up for my return to Trat on Wednesday. Such a relief that he offers to arrange all these things.