Ko Chang

Ko Chang sounds like a little breath bof paradise. Unfortunately, it gets irritating as soon as you arrive. There's one taxi company, and they wait for 1-1/2 hours or until fill before going anywhere, then they charge 80B each for what is a 20min ride. Rude. We stay a lonely beach - it's lonely because the beach is shit, but the accommodation is actually quite amazing and dirt cheap at off season rates. We hire a scooter to see the island - we even mange to get a flat from riding it on rough ground. Bays on the island are separated by steep hillsides, so the riding is great. We also went to swim at a local waterfall. The beaches aren't anything spectacular, and while there may have been coral reefs to snorkel on at some stage, there aren't now. Compared to Tioman, this place had over-prepared for tourists and seemingly ruined what could have been a good thing. Yes, the bikes were fun, and the food was probably the best we've had in Thailand in the last 3 weeks (thanks to a really amazing little local restaurant next to the 7-11 at lonely beech, but that was about as good as it gets. Being expected to open your wallet in such blatant ways (there are 3 atms per beach) is off putting. Most of all, we disliked the taxi system. We waited 1 1/2 hours, while 2 drivers went past before being given a lift. When we got off the ferry, the tourists were herded into one sangthew so they could be charged extra, and then delivered to a bus ticket office so the commission could be got. We all refused to move and demanded to be taken to the bus station, and intentionally got on to another company.

The day we left Ko Chang, we were up at 6am to go on the following schedule (not recommended as we got in at 9pm):

Sangthew to ferry -> ferry -> sangthew to Eastern bus station -> sky train -> subway -> bus to Southern station -> bus to floating markets.

After the markets, we headed to Ayutthaya. The following schedule is also hectic (10hrs)

Bus to market -> market boat ->bus to BKK thornburi station -> bus to hualomphong -> underground ->sky-train -> taxi to nth bus station (looks close on the map but it's much more difficult to find than that) -> bus to ayutthaya -> walk to Soi Tourist Overcharging.