Sporadic Thailand posts, not in any particular order

I havn't been writing in my journal, but I want to get some of my experiences down, so I'll write them in journal entries as I think of them. So they aren't in chronological order like they normally are. So:

Bang Bao, Ko Chang, Thailand 2/5

Megan and I are sitting in an internet cafe in Bang Bao, a fishing village on the southern end of Ko Chang. Ko Chang is a small island in the Bay of Thailand on the eastern side. It's a lesser developed island than Phuket, which means there are less tourist traps. It's really nice. We wanted to come here for a good amount of R&R, a blessed relief after visiting Bankok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket, all really big tourist areas and really expensive.

We're staying in a little bungalow on a lagoon farther up the western coast. The lagoon empties out onto one of those beautiful beaches that you think to only see in pictures. You don't actually believe they exist. Or if they do, you don't know where. I read in one of the Lonely Planet guidebooks that though Thailand is small, it manages to snag most of the world's beautiful picturesque beaches. Our bungalow is kind of cute. It's one small bedroom with a fan and an attached, open-air bathroom. The real high point is that the porch is directly over the water of the lagoon, and you can see the cerulean blue ocean while sitting in the hammock that's strung between two of the deck posts. Megan and I have really just enjoyed sitting on the porch and reading.

Today I went out onto the beach and did a little suntanning, against my better judgement. The sunburns that I got on Phuket (I don't think I've been that badly burned since I was in Acapulco in Mexico my Jr. year of HS) have finally faded into a tan, but unfortunately have started to peel. Kind of disgusting, I know. I don't know if the tanning did any good though. I think I'm just a darker shade of pale.

I always thought I would never really like living on the ocean. All of the oceans I've been to seem dark and cold, and smell like fish. I have a really sensitive nose. But sitting on the beach here on Ko Chang makes me wish I could have a little villa overlooking this sea, with the mountainous jungle at your back. Think Swiss Family Robinson. The ocean is so beautiful, the sun is bright, the ocean is calming, and I could sit on the beach for hours with a good book and never feel like leaving. So long as there weren't 8 zillion tourists wandering around destroying my view.

We just got done eating at a little seafood restaurant out on the water in Bang Bao. Megan and I both ordered crab, but neither of us has much experience eating it. It was a rather...messy...experience. Luckily I had the bright idea to bring along wet wipes, which I was really thankful for. Unfortunately, it seems like no matter where we are on Ko Chang, the sun is always setting behind a piece of land. I think we just need to go out on the furthest island to watch the sun set. However, we watched the sun set when we were on Phuket, but it really wasn't as spectacular as I was hoping. Anyways, we watched the sun set over the mountainous island while we had our fingers buried in a small crab. Bang Bao is nestled in a small harbor, so there were no waves, creating a quiet, lazy atmosphere, and quiet music wafted across the bay to where we could hear it. There is something about this island that just seems so peaceful.

If I ever come back to Thailand, this will be the first place I go. I'm hoping that tourism doesn't take hold here for a few more years, so the national park that is protected on this island stays exactly the same.