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In brief, as it's taken for granted you :
a) Will be clutching a Lonely
Planet / Rough Guide or similar when you arrive in Thailand and will
have spent plenty of time sitting in airport lounges memorising certain
sections in order to avoid looking like a tourist and wandering around with
your head buried in your guidebook.
b) Possess enough worldly wisdom, as an
independent, worldly wise traveller, to be able
to buy a ticket
for the transportation of your choice. If not then a couple of words
of Thai and a bit of sign language will get you sorted. Walk into any
travel agent and say "Koh Chang" to the nearest available member of staff,
gesticulate at the wall calendar to indicate your desired departure date and
then point at a picture of a minibus, bus or plane. Hand over the
requested amount of baht & don't forget your
"Kop khun ka/krap" on the way out.
By Plane
Trat Airport opened in April 2003
although very few people either knew or cared.
There are daily flights from Bangkok for those with money to burn or who are
horrified by the alternative prospect of a 5 hour bus ride. The Trat office of
Bangkok Airways can be reached on 039 525 299-30. But you'll find it
far easier to book tickets at any travel agent's . . . don't expect much change from
6,000 Baht
for a return trip during high season. From the airport take the Bangkok Airways minibus
service to any resort on the island, cost is 320 baht/person. ( Remember
that if you're flying out of Trat Airport there's a 200 baht/person departure tax.)
By Car
Why are you reading this if you've
got a car? They do have road signs in Thailand. Anyway . . . follow the Bangna-Trat road or
motorway out of Bangkok until you see Highway 344. Stay on the 344,
looking out for police checkpoints as they like to stop drivers for no
reason on this stretch of road. Join Highway 3 again near Klaeng
and then, about 23km outside Trat, turn left at the T-junction with 3156,
signposted to Laem Ngop.
20 mins later you'll be at the first of the ferry piers - 'Koh Chang Ferry'.
this is the better of the two car ferry companies, with a shorter crossing
time and sailings every 30-45 minutes from 0600 - 1900 daily. To reach the
cheapest ferry, Centerpoint, turn off the 3156 after about 9km and follow an
empty road until it rejoins the 3156, turn right and Centerpoint is
couple of hundred meters away.
By Bus
You may have thought that getting
4 Israelis with backpacks the size of ATM machines, 3 full figured Swedish
chicks, a muscle bound German and a bewildered Japanese guy loaded down with
camera gear into the back of a minivan was a physical impossibility.
It isn't as you'll discover if you make the trip from Khao San Road to Koh
Chang using this form of transport.
Taking the full
size bus from Morchit or Ekkami
bus terminals in Bangkok
might not be as convenient but it mean you'll still have some circulation in
you legs when you get arrive at the ferry pier. Figure on 600 -
750 baht for he minibus experience, under 200 baht for the bus going to Trat. Convenience
and time are the main selling points of the minibus experience. The
regular bus takes an hour or two longer and it terminates in Trat - from where you have
to take a little blue pickup (50 baht) to Laem Ngop pier.
(Don't worry about not being able
to pronounce 'Laem Ngop' correctly as everyone in and around the bus station
knows where you'll be heading.) Time wise
you're looking at about 4 and a half hours for the direct minibus and 6 hours for the big
bus if you go via Trat.
There are two bus companies operating bus services twice a day from Ekkamai direct
to either Koh Chang Ferry Pier or Centre Point pier. This makes life much easier as you don’t have to
come to Koh Chang via Trat – unless you particularly want to. Get the 7.45
am or 9.45 am bus direct to Laem Ngop Centrepoint from Ekkamai. Price is
232 baht per person. Or take the bus to Ao Thammachart (Koh Chang
Ferry pier), departing at the same time for 250 baht.
If you're flying
into Bangkok and want to immediately head to Koh Chang you can now take a
bus direct from Suvanabhumi Airport to Trat. There are half a dozen
buses throughout the day. Timetable here.
There are regular private
minibuses and public buses making the trip from Pattaya to KC. *Tip for
independent travellers:-
Don't feel left out - rent a Thai g/f (or b/f) before boarding the bus.
If not you'll be the only person on there not playing 'touchy feely' with
the neighbouring seat for the entire trip. To feel one of the crowd
aim for a 20 year age difference between you & the partner of your choice.
The daily minibus services operate from
Pattaya, leaving at 8am, via Ban Pae (ferry port for Koh Samet) to the ferry
departure point at Laem Ngop and cost 400 - 450B from Pattaya or 350B from Ban Pae.
The return service leaves Laem Ngop at 1pm daily.
For Koh Samet travel
and accommodation info see Brad's page Tan Tan Cafe, Ban Phe.
Public buses leave for Pattaya from Sukhumvit road in Trat at 05.00, 09.30,
12.00 and 15.00 daily. The trip costs 180B and takes 5 hours.
By Taxi
It is possible to hop in a taxi at
Bangkok Airport
and go to one of the mainland ferry
piers for Koh Chang. It'll require some negotiations with the taxi
driver and the cost will depend on both your haggling skills and how
desperate the driver is to spend the next 10 -12 hours on a round trip.
With a bit of luck you'll be quoted around 3,000 baht, if you look wealthy
or desperate expect the price to be nearer 4,000 or more. The best I have
heard is 2,500 baht - which is a very good deal. It's worth bearing
in mind that most Bangkok taxi drivers wont have ever driven to Trat before
so you'll have to have an idea of which direction you should be going in.
The taxis won't go onto the island, they'll drop you off at the pier and
then head back to Bangkok. So you'll still have to buy ferry tickets
and then hop on a crowded songtaew to your resort.
By private
minivan
Maybe you want to see a bit of Thai
countryside after a long flight. Maybe you don't enjoy jumping on and
off public transport with suitcases and children. Maybe the cost of
flying a family or a group is prohibitive. Whatever the reason, more
people are now booking private transfers from Bangkok to Koh Chang.
The cost for a van that will comfortable accommodate 6-8 people and their
luggage is around 6,000 baht for a one way transfer. For the past
three years I have partnered
with a reliable, well-known Koh Chang based tour agency to provide a private transfer
service through this site.
More details here.
Passenger Boats
There was a wooden boat service from Laem Ngop, the less than
riveting village where travellers caught an over-crowded passenger boat (a converted wooden trawler)
to Koh Chang. These have now stopped running. Everyone uses the
larger, safer vehicle ferries.
In high season, there are
also a couple of speedboats heading to Koh Mak that will stop on the east
coast of Koh Chang to drop off or pick up customers. However, they arrive at
Dan Mai pier, several kilometres sough of the main ferry piers and an area
with no public transport. So it's not advisable to use this option
unless you have someone with a vehicle to meet you.
These
services from Laem
Ngop (mainland) - Dan Mai (on the east coast of Koh Chang) continue on to Koh Wai
and then Koh
Mak. Departs Laem Ngop at 1000 and 1600. Returns from Koh Mak at
0800 and 1300. Laem Ngop - Koh Mak leg is 450 baht. Koh Chang - Koh Mak is 600 baht,
including transport from your hotel to Dan Mai. It arrives at the Koh
Mak Resort pier on Koh Mak.
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Using public transport - some things
to be aware of . . .
I rarely use public transport but
here are some observations from a trip I made to the mainland a
while ago. If you catch the songtaew (pick-up truck taxi) from
the mainland ferry pier to Trat bus station be aware that the
songtaew will stop outside the offices of one of the bus
companies in the centre of Trat. A guy will ask if you're
going to Bangkok or the border and if you reply 'Yes', you'll be
ushered off and pointed towards the ticket office. The bus
company is perfectly legitimate, but there are other better bus
companies operating. So, what you will find is that
you buy your ticket and are then taken to Trat bus station where
you catch the bus. However, you might find that when you
get to the bus station that there are earlier departures but
there's nothing you can do about it as you now have a ticket for
a different bus.
Just stay on the songtaew and
only get off when you reach an obvious bus station just out of
town. The ticket office is at one end of the bus station,
the times of the next buses clearly displayed. The most
modern buses belong to Cherdchai Tour. Buy tickets
for minivans to the border at the small table set up next to
where the minivans are parked. (You can also get a minivan
to Chantaburi or Rayong, these will usually leave when they are
full and are quicker than regular buses.)
If you arrive at the bus station
and are heading to Koh Chang, you can choose to wait until there
are enough people to fill a songtaew to the ferry pier, or pay
200 baht (total) to rent the pick-up privately if you don't want
to hang around. A ticket costs 50 baht NOT 20 or 30 baht
as your outdated Lonely Planet guide states. It's the same price
for Thais & foreigners.
On the way from Trat to the ferry
piers look out for the songtaew making a stop at the office of a
tour agent near the pier for Koh Mak, again a guy will come to
the pick-up and ask if you want to go to Koh Chang (which you
probably will do) if you get off here you'll be on the slow
wooden passenger boat which doesn't leave very frequently and is
often overcrowded in high season. Far better to stay on
the songtaew and get off at Centrepoint Ferry pier then cross to
Koh Chang on
the car ferry.
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