I am planing to visit Koh Chang and would love to see a map of the hikes on the island, any chance you can scan it and post it here? cheers.

I’m hoping on visiting Ko Chang in November as it looked like the weather was the best in that area over the south. Hope it wont have been over run by then!

Thanks for your points. Let me address them all in order of your snippets:

1. As I said, I never went in 2005, 2006, or 2007. So really, I was reiterating what was told to me. As I said, they were arguing where I should go b/c that was what ko chang was described to me as. Obviously, if I didn’t go there until 2008, how would I know?

2. To me 30 resorts on such a small island is overdeveloped. Matter of personal opinion.

3. I was counting that waterfall trail in the middle of the island as “official” as it appeared on all the maps I got.

4. I did not know Zion bungalows were there. I stand corrected.

5. I haven’t been to Ko Wai but I heard good things. As for the other two, obviously you’ve never paid a guy to take you to thai islands overnight and pick you up in the morning! Also, there’s a hint of sarcasm in the original sentence.

If Ko Chang is too touristy for you, you can head to the other islands of Ko Kood, Ko Maak, Ko Khlum, or Ko Rang.”

You do realise that Koh Klum and Koh Rang have never had any ferry or boat service going to them? And that they have no accommodation on the islands?

Koh Rang has a National Park ranger station on it and, that’s it. Some snorkelling trips stop on the north or southeast of the island for lunch of one of the small white sand beaches.

Yet, you forgot to mention Koh Wai which has four small places to stay and is connected by regular boat service to Koh Chang and Koh Mak. If you’d been to Koh Mak, from Koh Chang, you would have stopped on koh Wai on the way to drop off / pick up passengers

“There were few tourists on it, no resorts, no organized tours, a dirt road, and only a handful of guesthouses. ”

Sorry, but that’s nonsense. There were lots of tours, more speedboats than there are today, the road was paved and there were a couple of dozen large beachfront resorts plus all the guesthouses, mid range and backpacker bungalows etc. There were even 7-elevens in 2005 and ATMs.

“One island that has become really overdeveloped is Ko Maak. I had heard this was a bit of paradise but was saddened to see that the island is ringed with expensive resorts and expensive prices.”

You didn’t actually go there did you? There are less than 30 resorts on Koh Mak. Half of which are clustered on one beach. Most are small, mid range bungalow resorts. Can still get an AC room on the beach for 1000 baht or a fan hut for 300. Sure there are a handful of nicer resorts too. But you can easily find a kilometre of beach with no people on it in high season. Or explore the entire east of the island which, aside from a handful of small resorts and a couple of hamlets, is just rubber plantations, jungle, mangroves and beach.

“There are a few official hiking trails where you can go hiking on your own.”

Unlike other National Park’s in Thailand, there are no official hiking trails. Unless you count the paths to the waterfalls at Klong Plu and Than Mayom. You wont find any obviosu, signposted, easy to follow trails here.

“Or there is the infamous Treehouse Guesthouse located on the southern right tip of the island at Hat Yao. It’s the only place there . . .”

No it isn’t the only place to stay – that’s what your outdated guidebook told you when you decided to write this blog post. But, if you had actually been to Treehouse on Long Beach ( Hat Yao) on Koh Chang in late 2008, you must have seen Zion Bungalows at the southern end of the beach, 400 metres from Treehouse. They have slightly more upmarket rooms for rent and are currently expanding. They have been there for over 18 months.