Wednesday,

after breakfast Nick and Maureen made their way to Lay Lay Tong beach,

 for us we were going to have an adventure, which started with us hiring a motorbike, first stop for petrol, but on the way we had a look at some of the islands attractions,

 like this semi 'unofficial' viewing point, it is just a clearing by the side of the road,

 but the view is great,

 also on the way to the petrol station is the Chinese Temple, 

 so we stopped off there as well,

 lots of steps leading up to it, with many elephants by the side of each step, well it is Koh Chang, chang being the Thai word for elephant,

 at the top of the stairs is this impressive temple,

 with each column having a dragon protector,

 I guess breathing fire,

 around the base more elephants,

 large ones at the front with them getting smaller towards the rear of the shrine,

 the main temple itself is equally imposing,

 a last look at the dragons,

 and a selfie for Diana and we were off, 

 we filled up with fuel and retraced our steps going back past Paddy's Palms to the first viewing point,

  it was pretty steep going, but we made it to the top,

 or so we thought, hidden from view was this short walkway,

 leading to another set of steps,

 which lead to this building,

 I am not sure what it was other than a temple, 

 for one of the services, I am guessing navy, it had two of these guns pointing out to sea,

a nice view of the islands in the distance,

 Diana strikes the pose,

 the front of the temple,

 at the side of it there was this display of life preservers,

 we continued driving till we spotted the pink elephant, well he was last time we were here, but he needs a lick of paint to bring him back to his former glory,

 it was here that we went on one of our elephant treks last year,

 so we stopped here for a soda,

 and an ice coffee,

 for Diana,

 back on the bike and we were off again,

 heading for the Mu Koh Chang National Park viewing point,

 and here we are,

 with a nice view of the islands,

 we will be visiting some of the 40 or so islands that make up the National Park later in the week,

 Diana as lovely as ever,

 a slightly closer look at one of the near islands,

 the parks watch tower,

the parks postal box,

 next to the information board this palm tree has so many flowers,

 and bees to pollinate them, 

 back on to the bike,

 and goodbye to the park for today,

 we continued our way to Bang Bao,

 it is a town that has a jetty with lots of shops, plus more just before you arrive at the jetty,

 shops, yummy!

 just before the entrance to the jetty I noticed this strange looking straw-house,

 the entrance to the jetty,

 which stretches almost as far as you can see,

 all of the buildings are on stilts,

 with water ebbing and flowing underneath,

 it is almost impossible to describe every type of shop here,

 many of course dealing in local handicrafts,

 and souvenirs,

 like these, 

 if you fancy living over the water here is your opportunity,

 we continued along the jetty,

 it was remarkably quiet, but just a few hours ago the whole place would have been packed with people going to boats for a day out,

 there were a number of businesses like this one,

 a restaurant that you had to walk through a second off shoot jetty to reach,

 but most restaurants had a front to them with live seafood to tempt you,

 like these mantis shrimps,

 I am not quite sure why the bike is here, but it has definitely seen better days,

 another restaurant with it's own walkway,

 one of the common stores is the ones that sell shells,

 from small pieces shaped into rings or jewellery to doorways,

 another restaurant, there are more than I remembered from our last visit, but it may be that I am now noticing them more,

 another piece of real estate,

 and another restaurant,

 tucked away,

 eventually the covered in part of the jetty opens up,

 this is where the boats are moored,

 for people going on day trips, both big,

 and medium sized boats are available for hire,

 making our way back to the covered area,

 I noticed a number of stone carvings on display,

 at the front of a business,

 it was then time for coffee, 

 and cakes,

 Diana was taking a picture of us,

 so I had to zoom in to take a picture of her telephone,

 coffee,

 and hot chocolate with a cinnamon cake is served,

 as we are going snorkeling later in the week,

 I decided to treat myself to a new mask, 790 baht later and we were on our way,

 back past the restaurant displays,

 and clothes shops,

 I found this stall quiet interesting,

 as the wood used was coconut,

 a movement in the water below the houses caught my eye,

 a group of needelefish seemed to be having a spat,

 we made our way out from the jetty into the sunlight,

 another quick look at the straw-house,

 and a couple of colourful towels,

 past one of the local chickens,

 and we were on our way,

to this little hideaway,

 a couple of deckchairs,

 on a raised sundeck, over looking the sea, what could be better? one cold coconut for Diana and a ice coffee for myself, what a way to spend the afternoon,

 now here is a good idea, Diana spotted this on our way out, so we stopped to have a look on the way back to Paddy's I wonder if this service will catch on?

trip over we arrived back safe and sound, so a wash and brush up to see what the evening will bring when we meet up with Nick and Maureen,

and after a drink in the bar at Paddy's we were off to our evening meal at Indian Hut,

 so 'Cheers!', from all of us at Indian Hut,

Diana as all of us were so looking forward to our Indian meal,
 

starting with poppadoms,

and onion bahjes,

and for us with chicken tikka massala and chicken korma,

and for Nick and Maureen chicken Madras,

 'Cheers!',

 after our meal we made our way back to Paddy's,

where Frank delighted us with his singing of Irish and other popular songs, another busy day on holiday tomorrow, then for us we were off to bed.