We Were Up Early For A Good Reason,

we were on holiday,

 up at 06.00AM, the taxi arrived at 08.00 and we were off, at 10.30 we were sitting at a petrol station having a break,

 Diana was all smiles as Nick, Maureen, Diana and myself were making our way to Koh Chang,

 Nick and Maureen had very kindly offered to treat us to a holiday with them, we arrived at the ferry crossing about three and a half hours after leaving Pattaya, upon arriving we studied the map of the island,

 and waited for the ferry,

 it appears that they run every hour or so,

 you can of course take your car across, but we decided to go on foot,

 leaving the mini bus that had brought us to the dock, but for 280 baht each the ticket we bought for the ferry included being picked up by a mini bus and transported to our hotel,

 there were 2 new ferries, this I guess was the old one,

 we slowly pulled away from mainland Thailand, looking to the right,

 and left,

 as we left the dock on our 30 minuet cruise to the island,

 naturally after the rigors of the drive we had to have a pre-lunch time beer,

 'Cheers!',

 Diana decided against a beer,

 as we arrived at the island a small fishing boat passed by,

 we approached the island past what I think was the old jetty,

 we were soon insight of some of the local homes,

 and on dry land at last,

 a few quick pictures and we were on our way,

 to Paddy's Palms where we will be staying,

 so up the steps,

 and in we go to a well stocked bar,

 there was plenty of seating downstairs,

 with lots of nick-knacks to look at,

 with even more tables at the side of the bar,

 going upstairs there was a large seating area,

 with lots of cool comfortable seats,

 and sofas,

 plus a pool table,

 as it was by now midday it was time for Sunday lunch, we all went with the Sunday roast,

 but Diana decided on a huge hamburger,

 and it was huge,

 as were the roasts,

Nick and Maureen decided against a dessert, but we went with a shared sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce and ice cream,

 after our lunch we had a quick look at the pool,

 and nice it looked too,

 then to our rooms,

 after a quick shower we were on our way to explore the town, first stop the beach,

 we made our way along the main road till we reached this point a few hundred meters from the hotel,

 the public access to the beach, most of the seafront can only be reached by going through hotel and resorts private property,

 but the tide was in, nowhere to sit or walk unless you wanted to get wet,

 looking back the water just got deeper,

 but looking along the beach the sand seemed to get wider,

 so back to the main road,

 we continued walking for a few hundred yards,

 past a shrine then we found we could again access the breach,

 but before we got to far on to the beach we saw these strange patterns in the sand,

 there were made by some incredibly small crabs, there is one just an inch or so from Diana's finger,

 it appears they sift the sand looking for food then expel the balls of sand once their food has been sifted from the sand,

 the holes that are left in the sand are also used as a retreat when danger threatens,

 we made our way along the beach,

 which had lots of nice trees over hanging the beach,

 and only a few people, I guess the high season had not yet started,

 naturally I had to take a picture in panoramic mode,

 

 looking back along the beach where we had just walked,

 a little further along the beach we spotted this,

 a swing,

 well Diana just had to try it,

 and contemplate the ocean,

 as we made our way further along the beach,

 many of the beach front restaurants,

 had laid out tables and decorated the trees ready for dinners to have a meal on the beach and watch the sun go down,

 then back to Paddy's Palms for a refreshing drink after our walk,

 Nick then challenged me to a game of table football,

 which I had not played since I was in my late teens at the London College of Printing and at the Saltbox Motorcycle Club,

 the game was fast and furious,

 both of us concentrating,

 and determined to win,

 it was soon 4-4 with 2 balls to go, then a lucky break,

 6-4 to me!

 then time for a late night snack we had said goodnight to Nick and Maureen so we ordered some food, poppadoms for Diana,

 and a cheese sandwich for me,

 'Cheers!',

 next swimming costumes on,

 for a late night dip in the pool,

 what a perfect way to end a perfect day,

 just chilling out under the stars,

 trying to keep afloat, by now it was late and we were tired to say the least, so for us we were then off to bed.