April 7th 2002

Went to KB for porridge and bananas, had a chat to Dao about the Elephant Conservation Camp. They arrange Elephant Jungle Treks to raise money to keep their elephants. She will book us on a Jungle Trekking afternoon.

We swim for a while then try to walk across the sea to the island opposite, we've talked about doing this, Jonathan was sure it is possible. We set off into the sea and keep walking. The rocks here are very sharp and some of the coral can sting you, but the sea is clear so you can see where you are putting your feet, a definite advantage. We pass the rocky stage gingerly and find a sandy area, occasionally there are slimy holes, they feel horrid if your foot  slips into one of them. I keep wondering what lives in them and will they attack a stray foot? We have passed the high tide point and still going, the rock patches are getting worse, we really have to watch every step. Both of us have cut our soles and I have a couple of stings from coral. About a fifth of the way to go, we can't get any farther in, it is all sharp rocks now, there is nowhere to put our feet. It's too shallow to swim so reluctantly we turn back. We are so fed up that we didn't achieve this, I really wanted to tell Jonathan - yes it can be done!

I fetched the vid cam when we got back and walked back into the sea to take a panorama of Koh Chang. Had a hose down in t'corner, salvaged our feet, and got ready to go to Porn - they are having another Full Moon Party tonight. We ate barbequed mussels, prawns, corn and potatoes, and curry for Andrew too. The party is much the same as the last one. So atmospheric, I try to film the bonfire, fireworks and fire jugglers, this time one of them is eating fire too. Another brilliant evening, the music was great, most of the stuff they play we have at home. The cocktails are perfect, there are none left on the menu to try but the Martini's which we are not keen on.

We walked back along the beach reluctant to let the evening end. The sea looks wonderful and is sparkling in the moonlight, the tide is in. We decide to go for a swim, as we step into the warm water we were fascinated to discover that we were sparkling too. Millions of  luminous plankton sparkling like tiny diamonds, covered us. We watched our bodies lighting up, I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life, we are totally enchanted. We stayed in the water for a long time, we may never see this again, so glad of our impetuous decision. A romantic and magical end to a wonderful evening.