Tropical Loveland

What better way to allay my rich western tourist angst and guilt after the trials and tribulations of Cambodia than with a quick pit stop for 7 days on the glorious tropical island? We are currently on the island of Koh Chang which is nestled in the Thai Gulf right near the border of thailand and cambodia.

Koh Chang has been slow to discover tourism and its only been the last few years that development has crept its way onto the white sandy beaches here. Thankfully so far it has mostly been of the low level kind and we have found ourselves parked in a little wooden bungalow on the beach complete with a friendly and opportunistic cat who has moved in for the week and spends most of her time asleep on our bed when not snacking on the tinned tuna we rush to the shops to buy here everytime she looks slightly peckish.

Although Koh Chang is relatively unknown to most people around the world, someone must have given the Swedes an early tip off. I am convinced that half the population of Sweden is here on the island at the moment, everywhere we walk and stop to eat there is the sound of Swedish and Thai being spoken - except of course when the Swedes and the Thais talk to each other, then they speak English. It is all, as Hannas German students would say, rather Multi Kulti.