While we were searching the way to cross the tropical island of Koh Chang from one side to another, we come across this huge abandoned wreck. We do not miss the opportunity to take a ride inside the ship!
Thai Island of Koh Chang
The abandoned hotel-ship Galaxy is located in the extreme south tip of Koh Chang. Just when the road ends, you will find this resort where you will be obliged to pay 100 baht to enter. After all, the definition of special resort says it all. Exclusive for some, inclusive for others, the owners charge a fee of € 2.50 to anyone who does not live there.
Of course Stalker is not the one who will pay for entering abandoned place! So we find another way.
Go around the posting through a small road that starts from the village of Haad Klong Koi, which ends up in front of a gate after a series of hostels. Go sideways trying not to fall into the ditch and then follow a small road that will first lead you to a battery of abandoned motorboats, then to the actual ship.
You will pass through floating wooden houses, including chalets and fishing boats that seem abandoned, but in reality they are not. Do not worry, nobody will ask you if you bought the ticket. You only have to pay attention when you enter the ship as access is prohibited and the fine amounts to 3000 baht (almost 80€). Entry is possible from the less open side of the hotel, passing through some wooden barricades that previously completely covered the window of a room.
Free wifi all around the property will be a present for you while exploration.
Abandoned hotel-ship Galaxy
“The Galaxy”, which is the name of the ship-hotel, has long been a luxury hotel in the bay of Ao Bang Bao, on the island of Koh Chang, Thailand.
The hotel around the ship is still working, and the average price for a room per night is now 50 euros. According to blog of travelers, the price for a room in the ship in 2012 when the hotel was opened, amounted to 699 baht, the equivalent of 20 euros.
The Galaxy was a real ship that was transformed into a hotel due to a leak. It belongs to an even larger resort that closed a few years earlier in circumstances still unknown.
According to other sources, the ship was deliberately sunk on the west coast of Bang Bao beach.
We report the description of the hotel found in a leaflet concerning the Grand Lagoona.
A seven-story floating hotel, complete with all types of services equivalent to that of a 5-star hotel, adrift in the crystal clear waters of the lagoon near the prettyblue sea, provides an almost breathtaking backdrop.
The Galaxy, recognized as the most modern floating hotel in Thailand, included 105 superior rooms, 300 seats in the seminar room, 30 seats in the 6 meeting rooms and 200 seats in the dining room. From the upper floor you could enjoy a magnificent view of the surroundings, especially the sea during the sunset, and watch the stars at night.
How this hotel became abandoned?
A possible answer could come from the fact that over time the hotel began to collapse and the owner did not have enough money to restore it. In addition, the hotel was no longer very popular, all due to a lack of adequate infrastructure. In addition to the references you can read many negative things about the staff, too high prices for food, and non-existent quality, insects that run undisturbed around the beds.
Another version could be charged to the invasion of rats and locusts along with the smelly odor coming from pools of stagnant water and ponds all around.
A different source reports the closure of the hotel due to the accidental fall of a Russian guest from the last floor of the ship.
Urban exploration in the abandoned ship
We leave the jungle, passing to the side of the gate with the backpacks that weigh on our shoulders. The road goes in the middle of the bushes and then continue on a paved road. A minute passes and immediately on our left we notice some boats with sheets on them. We approach and here is our first abandoned place.
A total of six motorboats, some larger and some smaller, they lie in the grass. With a certain amount of imagination it is possible to take a little trip among the waters of the Gulf of Thailand. I speak of imagination because now the engine and the propeller remains nothing but a heap of rust.
Continuing along the road we meet the beautiful artificial lakes with violet lotuses in the green of the meadow.
On the one side there are wooden houses, some inhabited by rare tourists (during our exploration we met just four of them), although the property seems abandoned for decades.
In the middle of these ponds there are three other wooden boats and almost as if they wanted to show us the right direction with the bow, they lead us towards the “king” of the ships.
Not far from the direction we find the huge abandoned wreck. So huge that to take the picture entirely of the ship we have to get away about fifty meters.
Its grandeur does not scare us, we look for a safe entrance from where to enter to explore the wreck. We check from the opposite less visible side of the reception and without being noticed we immerse ourselves in the tall grass. The first obstacle consists in passing high-voltage cables, with a sign in sight that invites us not to venture into it.
Soon after we climb a railing that takes us on a kind of side platform to the ship. From here you can easily go around the ship and reach the stern.
Also on the east side of the ship we see the sign: “forbidden to entry, 3000 baht fee“. Right there close, as if they had done on purpose, a window left open with half-destroyed wooden barricades.
- Well, I’ll go in. You should wait here with the backpacks, I say to Nastia.
Five seconds later, here I am, with the darkness enveloping me slowly. The beds, the sheets and even the television, everything remains wrapped in a space-time capsule.
When I leave the room the corridor seems to have no end. The doors to my left and to my right, on the other hand, do not show me any way out. All are closed, and I decide to push up to open one. The situation is repeated as before. Bed, television, sheets and bathroom.
-I could even spend the night in this hotel, I think to myself.
I climb the stairs slowly, crouching as much as possible when I pass by the windows. The first floor is very similar to the ground floor. Corridor, rooms and elevator. I move faster and decide to go up some floors.
I can walk to the fifth floor without any problems, introfing the area reserved for staff.
Many interesting things and many objects have been abandoned. Calendars, remote controls, keys, documents, decorations, clothes and so on. In the next room instead it is full of cutlery and plates. This is repeated also in the sixth and seventh floors.
In the mezzanine I find a huge room with chairs, tables and a lounge bar. This makes me think of the dining room. A little near a door leads to the kitchen.
On the upper floors the corridors become more luxurious, with the light blue carpet covering the floor.
Paying attention to where you walk you can visit the ship’s pier and enjoy a beautiful view from above. No one in sight but prudence is never too much. I crouched and like a Marines approached the bow.
One, two, hundred steps and here I can see the beach, the sea, the bay and the islands in the distance.
Returning back to the first floor, where I make the good acquaintance with a spirit house close to the main entrance (still closed with many padlocks and bolts).
The ship’s hold is completely in the dark. Dark that envelops me and makes me sink into the deepest depths. I turn off the light and feel the beating heart of the ship. It rebuffs almost like a drum, passing from wall to wall, crossing steel and meat.
Step over to the bathrooms until you get to an empty room. I reverse to go back to where I entered. I climb over the window and dive into the concrete sea.
After this boat trip I will no longer need any ferry or guided tour to the nearby islands. I found the perfect “hotel”, with a place to sleep and a beach without any tourists.
