After staying in Bangkok for just a few days, I then traveled to Koh Chang. Koh Chang is an island just off the northeast coast of Thailand. Though it was slightly out of the way (our next destination was Siem Reap), it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
To get there, I purchased a ticket at the Mo Chit bus terminal in Bangkok. Because I was late getting there (around noon), I ended up paying slightly more than the bus fare to take a 15 person van directly to the ferry, which got us there in time to take the second to last ferry to the island at 19:00. One thing that I found amusing in Thailand is that they made everybody get out of the van while they were filling it with gas due to the risk of explosion. I don't know if they are just hyper-paranoid about explosion risk, or if there is actually something different about their cars/gasoline/gas pumps that makes them more dangerous. (UPDATE: I googled it, and according to the first result, it is a gas station policy. Therefore getting out while you pump gas in Thailand = hyper-paranoia.) From the ferry port on the island, it was about a 30-45 minute songthaew ride to Lonely Beach.
And Lonely Beach was--as you might guess by its name--pretty lonely.