Little Ko Chang

Just south of Myanmar/Burma lies the small island of Ko Chang, with few bungalows and mostly German travellers it is barely visited by the average backpacker and manages to retain a peaceful environment. This was the original location (prior to tsunami) that we had planned to hideout with just a typewriter and a bungalow. It is truly amazing that the island even survived as fishing villages not 30-km south were absolutely devastated. The island is, however, in need of tourism as they have had very few travellers in the past couple of months and many lost their boats.

Around Ranong (the port city near Ko Chang) most of the travellers we encountered were there to volunteer. Almost all of them arranged to help through an international organization and had paid in advance. Some felt that it was a culturally enriching experience, as many of these volunteers tend to stay with families, but complained that they didn't feel they did much (mostly watched Thai workers). They are of course helping create a supportive presense that doesn't just hit the billfold, but the most questionable aspect of these arrangements is the amount of money volunteers have paid to participate (it's A LOT).