Trat and Koh Kood

The journey from Chiang Mai to Trat took 24 hours from door to door, but it was actually a nice ride. In hindsight it could have been faster if I would have taken a bus to Bangkok first, and from there to Trat, making better use of the highways than my slow route though the countryside. Highways are boring though, and I enjoyed the frequent stops in small towns where people would get off, eventually leaving me as the only passenger to Rayong. There I had to wait two hours for the bus to Trat, which had just one empty seat, so I was lucky again.
Trat is a small but charming town, and springboard to the Koh Chang archipelago near the border with Cambodia. I had phoned ahead to the Ban Jaidee guesthouse in Trat, being aware that I would not be able to catch a boat to the islands upon arrival. The guesthouse turned out be to a real gem. A beautiful and spacious traditional Thai house, with some larger and some smaller rooms, and a lovely host who proved very helpful in finding accommodation on the islands. I didn't realize it at first, but it's Chinese New Year this week, and many places were fully booked for several days ahead. She got me a place on Koh Kood (Ko Kut in Thai), one of the larger and most southern, but also least developed islands of the archipelago, Koh Chang itself being the biggest and busiest. I had originally planned to go to either Koh Mak or Koh Wai, but these small islands did not have any budget accommodation available.
The boat to Koh Kood took more than an hour, and from the pier a pickup truck brought me and a French couple to the Cozy House for Backpackers, after first dropping off a group of Russians at a resort.
My cozy house is really a cozy place, situated on a river just a short walk from a gorgeous paradise beach, with coconut palms hanging over white sand and a crystal clear green and blue lagoon lapping at your feet. I don't think I will go anywhere else until Monday, when it's time to return to Bangkok to meet up with Ling Ling again for our flight home.