Tag: #kohchang

Entertainment, lots of food, booze,meeting people and enjoying. The party is sponsored by the birthday girl (in this case a girl). She goes around with a stapler and a few money bills hanging like a necklace. We staple our bills as a gift as she passes by.

So here you see the famous 2 legged monkey, as good a thief and mischief maker as the rest. He probably got in a tussle with a dog or maybe hit by a car. Koh Chang monkeys are now quite a nuisance. Keep your food away from them. They can be agressive. And watch your smartphone.

So the amnesty for covid stranded is approaching. No more amnesty. Not sure if the 150,000 stranded “foreigners” include those from Lao and Cambodia. But as for visas, the government seems to be rejecting all applications initially if applicants go to the immigration office and try to get visas or extensions by themselves. I was successful getting a 60 day “extension” for medical recovery reasons and not a 90 day tourist visa. This is from what i saw on my 4 hour visit in the immigration windows area.

What i hear from those in Koh Chang people is paying a “special fee” (most going to immigration people and only some to the agent) of between 24,000 and 30,000 Baht (32 Baht=US$1) gets a tourist or retirement visa which fees are listed as 1,900 and 3,000 Baht respectively. Money seems to be talking.

Instead of paying all the “special fees” i will probably go to Europe on a flight costing less. My last authorized day is November 25. That gives me more time to see how the visa acceptance situation goes after the rush to get things done by this Sunday, the amnesty deadline. The article below explains some details.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easy/1989023/tourists-face-arrest-jail-for-overstaying

Sitting here now watching the ocean below my bungalow in Koh Chang, Thailand, near the Cambodian border, it was not just a few minutes ago a monkey crawled between the layers of roofing about 5 feet away from me and curiously stared down to see if there was something for him of interest.

When you go to the zoo and you see all the cute monkeys, they are cute. But remember they are behind bars. Here in Koh Chang monkeys are known for their true reputation in the wild. They are looking for food and they are looking for fun. But you have to remember that the food they are looking for is your food. If you feed the monkeys they will continue to look for your food and become more aggressive as you try to hide your food from the monkeys. If you are sharing with them they will increasingly think what is yours is also theirs. And that is why, wherever there are monkeys in open areas, there are generally signs near monkey visiting areas saying not to feed the monkeys. They can get aggressive when they increasingly assume what is yours belongs to them as well.

I am now the only customer in this bungalow and the owner is away in another city visiting family so I am kind of a semi caretaker of the place as well. My room is right over the water and it’s difficult getting in on the evening high tide because the water and the waves are about chest level. But we rebuilt London bridge across to the other bungalow building where the bar is so I can get in and out during high tide.

But the last few days the monkeys see fewer people around and they decide to come and investigate. They will take anything that’s easy for them to grab onto, to move and throw around or steal. When I saw that little visiting monkeys staring down at me I dared not go downstairs to get another cup of coffee and leave my iPad on the table. It would probably end up using the monkey jungle Internet. In this video you can see how the younger ones tried to distract me while the older one plotted to come up to my table from underneath and steal the bag with trash and a 5 day old piece of bread.

Quite a few of my friends visiting Sri Lanka told me about all the different places with monkeys around. One fellow here who frequents the bar next-door says some monkeys carry rabies. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I certainly don’t want to find out. I’ve been through rabies treatment before. It’s not unpleasant as it was back in the 50s. It’s just a series of shots (either the German or French series).  But everyone here warns monkeys will bite when they feel they need to or want to (I don’t know much about monkeys). After hearing the stories of what mayhem the monkeys can cause, especially if you leave your room open, I have become a great fan of shooing them away. 

Anyway, just be careful around monkeys. The ones in the wild are wild. They are looking after their own interests and are certainly not looking to become pets.  

So the other day at the east side of Koh Chang, near the Cambodian border, there was a park, a waterfall. Why not stop by to take a look?  Uggh. Dual pricing. For Thai (written only in Thai) it was 40 Baht (32 Baht=US$1)  but in English it was 200 baht for “Foreigners”. If this was my first time in Thailand i might have gone in to see a Thailand waterfall and probably wouldn’t have known about the dual pricing. Even if i did i might have gone in anyway. 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1979687/tat-vows-to-eliminate-dual-pricing-mulls-expat-id-card

However (comma) i started boycotting the dual pricing places over 25 years ago. On top of that i have seen many Thailand waterfalls. So I didn’t go in. Now the Thai government is going to try to find ways to have a single price and still maintain the places of interest in a way foreigners will still find “in good shape”. It will be a challenge but a welcome one for many people who who object to the dual pricing system. 

I personally don’t see the dual system as a form of “personal” discrimination as many foreigners feel. Foreigners tend to have more money to spend, if they are tourists, and are willing to spend it. And Thai people make much less money so my impression was more of “ability to pay” discrimination which I don’t really find objectionable. And i would not boycott places with dual pricing if I hadn’t seen “this wonderful thing I want to see”.  So, you can see my duality as well. Anyway the change is welcome. I just hope the government has the money to maintain the places. 

If you think a bungalow “on the beach” is nice, try Ban Na on White Sands beach on Koh Chang (elephant island). 

After booking I read I had to get off the song taeo (passenger pickup truck) from the dock at the first 7-11 (2 on the beach) and walk along the beach for 300 m (300 yards). Well, after almost walking 300 m the beach disappears in the ocean. “Is this a Mont Saint-Michel situation?”  Yes, it was. It was getting close to high tide and either known or unknown when the place was built a stroll through the water was necessary twice daily at high tides.  

My arrival is the topic of another blog. But when I was finally guided to the room I found what I expected, a rock hard Thai mattress, a fan, an open blue pvc piped bathroom with an electric flash water heater; everything I needed to survive a good life. For 600 baht (32 Baht=US$1) it was an expected price for an island. 

The waves are right below my elevated semi-treehouse room and are gradually fading when I sleep the more days I stay. Think of this place as “over the beach”. As the only customer I have my own private balcony with chair and table to enjoy my Toscanellos, coffee and electrolyte water (I make myself). 

I thought about moving to a more luxurious hotel yesterday but after finding the food down beach more expensive, being guided to a water heating thermos and my other choice place (newly constructed) with an elevator that seemed to just stop randomly, I decided to stay longer. How long?  Hey, this is COVID days, life is one day at a time. 

The bed is an issue but after my booked 2 nights, why not another night?  After all at nighttime local people gather next door for drinks (more “drunk” than “drinks”) at nighttime and everyone has fun. What more could a vagabond need!?