Ko Chang is an Island on the coast of Ranong.
Ko Chang is 5 kilometers out in the sea from Ranong. Not to be confused with Ko Chang near the Cambodian border. It is an almost desert island. It only has a few primitive guest houses and is home to some local fishermen. The later years Ko Chang has started to develop, more and more guest houses and resorts are being built.
But like all the other islands in the area the electricity. have to be generated by diesel generators. The generators are not running all the time, and never after 10 pm.
To visit the island you have to take a long tail boat, from Ranong. You will find one at the same pier where the boats going to Burma on Visa run are.
It was on Ko Chang I met the ocean people. The ocean people are not sea gypsies. I found a translator, as the ocean people, do not speak a Thai dialect I understand. It showed out to be people who were living in and of nature.
They did not have houses but stayed in their boats and paddle around Ko Chang and the other islands in the area. Almost the only things they need on a regular basis from civilization is rice and cooking oil the rest they get from nature.
The ocean people are collecting Sea cucumbers, they trade or sell in Ranong on the mainland, to get the necessities of life. When asked that if they had the choice between to live in a house, or in the boats as they do now, they prefer the boat. Nice sometimes to meet people who are happy with very little and ti live in nature.
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