Ko Chang

Ko Chang — the name means elephant island, taken from the shape of a headland rather than from any herd, since elephants are not native here — was settled late and lightly. Its mountains left little flat ground, and the people who came were fishermen from the mainland coast and from Hainan and southern China, joined by smallholders who planted coconut, rubber and fruit on the lower slopes. Villages formed where boats could shelter: Salak Phet in the great southern bay, Salak Kok in the mangroves, Bang Bao on its shallow inlet, each built partly on stilts over the water.

Its one turn in national history came on 17 January 1941, during the border conflict between Thailand and French Indochina, when a French naval squadron attacked Thai warships anchored off the island's southern coast. Two Thai torpedo boats were sunk and the coast-defence ship Thonburi was crippled; the engagement is commemorated at the Ko Chang Yutthanawi Memorial at Laem Ngop on the mainland opposite, and marked there each January.

The island's interior was protected as part of Mu Ko Chang National Park in 1982. Tourism arrived slowly through the 1980s and 1990s, in the form of bungalows at Hat Sai Khao and along the west coast, then much faster from the early 2000s, when the government promoted Ko Chang as a second Phuket, the pier and ferry services were improved and resorts, roads and electricity followed. The island has kept a lower-rise character than the larger southern resorts — building is limited by the park boundary and the steep ground — while the east coast has changed comparatively little.

Ko Chang's life is coastal and Buddhist, with a strong Chinese-Thai thread. Fishing families here have long roots on the mainland coast and in Hainan, and their shrines to the sea goddess and to Chinese deities stand beside the temples in the villages. Boats are blessed with coloured cloth at the bow, and the fishing calendar, not the tourist one, sets the rhythm at Salak Phet and Bang Bao.

Most of the people working in resorts, restaurants and bars have come from elsewhere: Isan and the northern provinces, and Cambodia and Myanmar. That mixture shows in the food sold along the west coast road and in the music heard at staff parties at the end of the season. The island empties noticeably in the rains, when many workers go home to help with the harvest.

Visitors are expected to observe the usual Thai courtesies — modest dress away from the sand, shoes off indoors and at temples, the wai in greeting, restraint in argument. The national park adds its own rules about reefs, wildlife and litter, and turtles, hornbills and the island's monkeys are protected. Local conservation projects, including the community kayaking scheme in the Salak Kok mangroves, have become part of the way the island presents itself, and several dive operators run reef clean-ups.

Ko Chang district covers the island and the smaller islands around it, and counts something over five thousand registered residents, though the working population swells well beyond that in the dry season with staff from the mainland and from neighbouring countries. Almost everyone lives on the coastal ring; the forested centre, which rises to 744 metres at Khao Salak Phet, is uninhabited.

Tourism is now the main employer by a distance, in resorts, restaurants, dive shops, songthaews and construction. Fishing continues from Bang Bao, from Salak Kok and from Ban Salak Phet, the island's oldest and largest village, supplying the island's kitchens and the mainland markets, and smallholdings of rubber, coconut and fruit work the lower slopes. Government services, the national park staff and the ferry operators make up much of the rest.

The year divides sharply. From November to April the ferries are full, the west coast is busy into the night and everyone works; from May to October the rain comes in long spells, many small businesses close, boats to the outer islands stop or reduce, and the island feels close to empty. Recurring issues are the strain on water and waste systems at the height of the season, building pressure against the park boundary, erosion of some beaches, and the dependence of nearly every household on a single trade.

Seafood defines the island: blue swimmer and mud crab, squid, prawns, and fish such as grouper and snapper, cooked plainly — grilled over charcoal, steamed with lime, garlic and chilli, or fried with garlic and pepper — and eaten with nam chim seafood, the sharp chilli, garlic and lime dipping sauce. Bang Bao and Salak Phet, where the boats land, are where this is at its best, and crab is the speciality most associated with the southern bay.

The eastern mainland's dishes come across with the ferries. Trat and Chanthaburi supply flat rice noodles, the sour chamuang leaf used to braise pork in mu chamuang, fish sauce and shrimp paste, and above all fruit: durian, mangosteen, rambutan and longan from the orchards, in season from about April to June. Coconut, grown on the island and on Ko Mak, appears in curries, sweets and drinks.

Everyday eating is the food of the workers who staff the resorts. Isan grills sell gai yang chicken, som tam papaya salad and sticky rice along the west coast road; simple Thai kitchens do rice and curry, stir-fries and noodle soups; and Chinese-Thai rice porridge is a common breakfast in the villages. Beach bars sell fruit shakes, coconuts and beer over ice, and the island's coffee shops serve the sweet iced coffee drunk everywhere in Thailand.