Hello Hive! Traveling is often considered the ultimate fun activity. Another thing that brings us the most joy are our pets. Have you ever thought you could connect the two? As someone that travels a lot and looks after a lot of dogs, it was inevitable to go on a trip with our furry friends one day. Last year Nat found this hotel in Koh Chang that allows pets in. The island is so big that you can drive there, so we decided to take Whiskey and Stormi with us on their very first trip to the sea.
The Drive
It is a long trip from Bangkok to the Pier of Ao Thammachat. It took us close to 5 hours to get there and another hour and a half to get to our hotel. Whiskey - our older Pomeranian(9years old) is pretty calm and stays quietly on the back seat when we drive. Stormi on the other hand (7 months at the time) is a completely different story. As any other pup all she wanted (and still does) is to play. That meant whoever wasn’t driving had to take her and entertain her. It was me who had the responsibility for the first half of the trip. By the time it was Nat's time - Stormi was tired enough to sleep through.. (Lucky Nat)
The dogs behaved pretty well all the way. We stopped twice and took them out for a while to do their business around the grass areas near gas stations.
We had so much luggage with us for only 3 days. The dogs had pretty much their own suitcase - dog beds, leashes, life vests for swimming, food, treats, toys and more.
We picked a bank holiday for our trip but did the smart thing of taking the Monday off as well and leaving on a Saturday instead of Friday. That decision turned out to be pretty amazing. The previous day the waiting time for a ferry at the pier was 5-6 hours. We had to wait less than an hour and we boarded on. If Bangkok traffic taught me anything, it is not to go at peak hours or days to places everyone is headed to. Big cities are usually empty on Bank holidays.
Our hotel was at the very end of the island - the opposite end of where the pier is. It took an extra hour or so to reach. It isn’t super far but the roads are very tiny and curved. (Kind of like in the mountain)
Nearing the island. It isn't far away from the pier at all. It takes about 30 mins with the Ferry to get there at a relatively slow speed.
Resolution Resort
The place we stayed at was a family resort owned by a Japanese guy and his Thai wife. They were super nice and always made sure everything was okay. Recommended nice places to visit nearby and were great hosts in general. Resolution Resort is one of the two hotels on the island that would allow pets. It is really far away but we liked that because it was pretty secluded. The beach line near the hotel is tiny and very rocky, so it isn’t exactly where you’d want to swim. You could however kayak around and that’s pretty nice. A very nice and long beach is nearby and we could get there in 5-10 minutes by car or kayak to it in 20ish minutes (couldn't do that with the dogs though).
This here on the left was our room. The one on the right was empty while we were here so we were quite secluded from anyone else and had the garden pretty much to ourselves.
The pool was mostly empty all three days we were here. There were some guests with a bigger dog when we arrived - friends of the owner. They used the pool once but other than that I never saw anyone get near it. We took some advantage of that although the water was freakishly cold.
The place looked pretty nice. The garden right outside our guest house was quite pretty and our dogs loved running around. Through the garden you get to the pool and past that is the restaurant. The restaurant was hanging above the water and was nicely decorated. It was still the rainy season so the weather was gloomy.
The room wasn’t too fancy but if fit it's purpose. The whole construction and the furniture were mostly made from wood.
We did enjoy the comfy porch area outside the room quite a lot. Only thing not fun about it were the mosquitos - they were here all the time even midday in the heat. I was literally bathing in repelent. 😃
Whiskey and Stormi's first beach encounter
We didn't know at all how our dogs would react to the sea and water. Our expectations were completely opposite of what actually happened. We always thought that Stormi would love the water and run around and swim after us. She is super active and never really stops running, jumping and annoying Whiskey. On the other hand we though Whiskey may not enjoy it at all and try to avoid the sea.
We first put the doggies near the shallow waters at the little beach line near the hotel.
Whiskey seemed quite happy but indiferent to the water. She was happy to spend some quality time with her humans for the most part.
Stormi on the other hand..
I have never even to this day seen her as scared as she was on the beach. As i was carrying her while walking through the sand she started jumping everytime she heard the sound of the water splashing on the shore. It was completely new sound for her and I guess it sounded scary in her little head. Once we found a spot we were happy with and unpacked our stuff, I tried introducing her to the water. She was shivering and didn't really want any part of it. I tried entering first to show her it's fine but that wouldn't make her change her mind. I finally took her with me and just held her while we were in the water. She was relaxed but I don't think she enjoyed it much so we took her out and that was the end of the water 'fun' for her. I didn't want to stress her out too much.
Whiskey on the other hand was walking off on exploration missions the moment we take our eyes off of her. She wasn't scared at all of the water or anything around.
We didn't stay too long. We had to head back give the doggies a shower and get ready for dinner. Our first day was pretty long and we were all tired and needed some good rest. The next day we took our doggies to the view point.
That's the main view point on the island. There are a few you can stop by but here they had a big parking space and a wide area to pose for pictures. Our plan for the day was to go to the vets and check Stormi because she had an incident and then go to the pool in the afternoon and use the new floaty boat for the doggies.
Stormi's Incidend
Stormi is restless and she never stops moving. She would always try and jump out of your hands if you don't hold her tight, or try and escape and undo her leash. We bought Whiskey and Stormi life vests to help them with the swimming but as Stormi was still a puppie - her's was a bit too big for her. We adjusted it by sawing it and making it fit tightly. As I was holding her though she somehow managed to push the vest out (No idea.. it is hooked in 2 places and holding her head as well as her whole body.) and fell. As she fell she hit her leg and we didn't know if it was serious or not. She would still run around like a madman but onle on three feet. Sometimes she'll forget her leg was hurt, step on it and yelp. We had to take her to the local vet straight away on the next day. (they were already closed when that happend and quite far)
As we went to see the vet.. she wasn't helpful at all. Told us we should go to another vet in Bangkok when we get back, because even if she does a scan, she's no specialist on bones and wouldn't know if something is broken or not.(To be honest she was just too lazy to do anything is what I thought) She gave us some painkillers and that was it.
From here on we left the dogs in the room and didn't take them with us no more. Didn't want to risk Stormi getting even more hurt. It was going to be hard to take them with us to some of the places we went to anyways.
When we got back to Bangkok we went to the vets before we even got home. After a scan it turned out she actually broke her paw (partially). It took almost 3 long months for her to heal.
Whiskey on the other hand didn't want to let Stormi take all the attention. She managed to mush herself under some bushes and into an ant nest. These jungle ants crawled all over her and were biting her a lot. It was real hard to get rid of them even after we gave her a shower. She's super fluffy and the insects were getting stuck in her fur.
Khlong Phlu Waterfall and the nearby river
Traveling during the rainy season has it's advantages. The main one is that all of the rivers and waterfalls are full and strong. It is the best time to go hunt after these amazing natural wonders. Khlong Phlu Waterfall was no exception.
To get to the waterfall itself takes 10-15 minutes. The trail isn't rough if you aren't wearing flip flops but doable even then.😀 You cannot swim under the waterfall itself, however there are a few places you can stop and have some water fun on the way. The water is full and crystal clear. This group of Thai teens were enjoying this little spot here. We came 30 minutes before they were closing though so unfortunately had no time for that.
This waterfall was the strongest I've seen in Thailand so far. It was pretty big and the water was just sprawling down. The viewing area for it was somewhat far away. The only waterfall so far that we couldn't get close to either. It is a beautiful sight nonetheless and a great spot for pictures.
The last place I want to show you is a river that you can enjoy like this only for a few months a year in the rainy season. That's when the river is as full as it is here and the stream is quite slow. On a little bridge in the middle of it, they've put some wooden tables and mats. The locals have made two small street type restaurants here, doing barbeque.
We had some tasty papaya salad, grilled chicken and sticky rice
This is one of the most relaxing places I've had lunch at. It is super nice in the afternoon, because it's somewhat in the shades and next to the river it isn't as hot. You can always get in for a little swim in the crystal clear waters and cool yourself down. There were quite a few locals enjoying the spot as well as our hotel hosts (they were the ones that told us about this little gem).
We didn't manage to see everything on the island. Not in a long way, but having the dogs with us and Stormi breaking her leg made it a lot more challenging to do much around. It was a fun experience but we may not take the dogs with us anywhere soon.. I can't imagine what it is to have kids with you when you travel. Nowadays when I'm carrying gimbles and a bunch of cameras everywhere, it would be even harder to take the little fur friends anywhere. I do believe they'd enjoy staying home more anyways.. 😃
I hope you enjoyed the photos from today. We didn't have any fancy cameras on this trip - only a very old GoPro and our phones. That's why the quality of some of the pictures is questionable.. Have any of you ever traveled with their pets before?