Koh Chang

We just got back from a really nice and relaxing long weekend in Koh Chang.
It is an island about 6 hours away from Bangkok and it was really nice to get away from the noise and pollution of Bangkok. We really didn't do much more than hang out at the beach, get massages (the best that I have had in Thailand so far) and eat really good food. Pretty much my idea of a perfect weekend. We stayed in a really nice place too, it was really cheap and really nice...we even had an outdoor shower connected to our room, which was really cool. I've never had a shower in the rain before, it was pretty great.

The swimming was really great in Koh Chang as well. The waves were massive, so we spent hours just jumping and playing in the water. There was an undertow, but we were careful and didn't go in too deep. On the last night that we were there, we found out that apparently three people had drowned right on the same beach where we were swimming. The story that I heard is that there was a child swimming, who went out too far, and got pulled under. His sister saw this and went in to help him, and also got pulled under (because the worst thing that you can do is go in after a drowning person because they will just pull you down too). Then a Thai person went in after both of them and also got pulled under. It was just weird to hear this story because we were right there all day, playing in the same water, and didn't even know that this had happened. They were small children who had gone out into the water too far, but it was still a little scary to hear that the waves were that strong. We didn't go swimming the next day.
On a completely different note, as I have said before, there are dogs everywhere in Thailand. It has to do with the fact that it is a Buddhist country, where they do not even kill bugs because they believe in life for all, so the stray dogs just keep on breeding everywhere. Anyway, we saw the fattest dog that I have ever seen in my life on the beach in Koh Chang. It was especially funny because the dogs are all skinny here, because they are all stray, but this one had obviously found some hidden jackpot, because it was disgustingly fat. I took a picture, but it doesn't even do it justice. We watched this dog all day, and it was almost too fat to move. When it did move, it would walk about ten steps, and then be too tired so it would nap for an hour before attempting to move again, it was quite entertaining.

Our bus decided to break down on the way back, which really sucked, so we left the island at noon and only ended up getting home at around 10:30...it took WAY longer than it should have, but that's how things go in Thailand.
Hope you're all doing well. Thanks for the pictures Allison, I love seeing you pictures from home, others should send them too if they have!