Centrepoint Ferry, one of the two main gateways to Koh Chang, the other being the better & busier ‘Ferry Koh Chang’ pier a few kilometres away. But for many arriving on the island, it is the Centrepoint pier that provides their welcome and introduction to the delights of Koh Chang and sets the tone for their holiday.
As you’ll see in the photos white pick up truck taxis will be on hand to take foot passengers to the west coast beaches. The caveat is that , if you plan on arriving early morning, there will be very few foot passengers on the boat and so you’ll be faced with the choice of having to wait 2-3 hours for enough passengers to arrive to fill one of the taxis or pay 600 – 700 Baht or so for the driver to take you privately to your hotel. You don’t have this issue at the other pier.
But enough of the negatives, there are many other things that Centrepoint has that the other pier doesn’t have. These include people selling pot noodles & boiled eggs, fighting cocks in cages, novelty Puffer fish lights, dilapidated restaurants, motorbike rental and a range of souvenir t-shirts.
I wasn’t planning on spending more than a few minutes at the pier as I had gone their to pick up guests. But their ferry broke down five minutes from the mainland and had to return so everyone could transfer to another boat, which meant I had a whole 90 minutes to enjoy all that the pier area had to offer.
Thanks Ian, I had the misfortune of traveling on Centerpoint a few months back. On the boat I was on, ceiling tiles were hanging, bathrooms looked terrible and what seemed like barrels of toxic waste were stored on board. Not a pleasant welcome for tourists arriving on Koh Chang. They really need to get their act together…