Reading these reminiscences of a Phuket ages back (ok, ages for me, I started talking in sentences at that time, approximately), the feeling of impermanence struck me. If you start a long-term relationship with a place, you need to get used to seeing it develop. Or decay. It's the two sides of the same coin I guess. If you're just a one-time visitor, then you get the nice "still photos" of a moment in time and space. It's been over four years now that I first set foot in Thailand, and I've started to perceive changes – even from a distance of a 12-hour flight.... and it's caught me off guard, I cannot deal with it as yet.

Ko Chang's Treehouse is closing down in December....

Koh Chang is south-east of Bangkok. Most people just go to Pattaya along the eastern seaboard for a beach holiday. However, if you keep driving you reach better beaches. First Rayong and Koh Samet. And then towards the Cambodian border you will find Koh Chang. That is where we went for our holiday last week. Things didn’t really go to plan because there were storms and then the power went out. We almost checked out in the morning but we decided to wait until noon.

Gai Bae Beach on Koh Chang

From Samut Prakan, it took us about three and a half hours to reach the car ferry for Koh Chang. We then had to wait about 10 minutes for it to leave. The trip across the water then only took about 20 minutes. So, in all, it was about four hours door to door. Not too bad. However, as our journey took us further south-east, the weather deteriated. We were having scattered showers. Not the best of weather for a beach holiday! But, according to the teachers at my school, I already had “na dum” which meant I shouldn’t be trying to get more of a tan.

Every year, during the summer holidays, I usually go on long road trips around the country. The two biggest trips I have done were to Phuket in the south and Chiang Mai in the north. Since moving into my own home last year, I haven’t been away for longer than one night. This was partly due to the fact that it was like a holiday being in my first home. I was living at the school before and during the summer holidays I wanted to get away. But, this year I was comfortable in my own home and didn’t really want to do more than day or overnight trips. Actually, I think the main reason at first was that I was worried to leave the house all alone. I thought maybe there would be a fire or a thief might break in! So, it was a bit of a surprise to everyone that I agreed to go on this four day road trip.