As the captain announced that we were starting our descent my stomach started to turn with excitement. Finally, after a long journey of almost 16 hours, I had almost reached THAILAND. Was I nervous to be entering a new country? Was I scared? ABSOLUTELY! But what overpowered all of that fear and anxiety was an innate desire to explore the unknown and venture into the world. Once again, I had set aside my fears of the outside world and dared to experience something new.
I arrived in Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Bangkok, at around 10:30 in the morning. I had taken two flights: My first flight left around 11:00 pm and went from San Francisco (SFO) to Taipei (TPE). Then I switched planes and got on my 2nd flight that went from Taipei (TPE) to Bangkok (BKK). The timing of it all actually worked out great! I was lucky enough to sleep a bit on the plane so when I arrived at the airport I was ready to make my way directly to my final destination: Koh Chang.
Getting to Koh Chang is fairly simple and there are multiple ways of doing it:
#1: Take a Flight:
The first option is you can fly from BKK to the Trat airport. Then once you arrive at the airport you take a taxi or a bus to the ferry, ride the ferry and then take another taxi to your hotel/hostel/bungalow.
#2: Take a bus:
The second option is taking a bus. The bus takes you all the way to the ferry then you get on the ferry on your own and once on the island grab a taxi to your accommodation.
#3: Take a Minivan
The third option, and the one I took, is taking a minivan. The minivan goes directly from the BKK airport to wherever you are staying on Koh Chang. You can buy a ticket on the bottom level of the airport for around 600-700 baht (roughly $18-20). The ticket includes the ferry ride ticket purchase. You board the van at the airport and then it takes you the rest of the way. The journey takes around 6 hours but budget in more time just in case there are delays.
I caught the 1:00 pm minivan to Koh Chang and tried my very hardest to stay awake the whole journey. By the time I reached Indie Beach Bungalows it was dark and roughly 9:00 o’clock. Thankfully, the Bungalow Restaurant was still open so I grabbed some dinner before going to sleep. Because I had stayed up all day, and had had a long 24 hours of traveling, my body was ready for sleep. It just so happened that it was also night time and the next day I woke up rested, adjusted to the time change and ready to explore the island.
Pixie Sioux
💕