9 Weeks in SE Asia, NZ$2500 p.p, Ten more months of travel... priceless!

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Hey everyone, we have now finished the South East Asian leg of our travels. Onwards to India tonight!

Our last stop in central Thailand was at the Sukhothai ruins, which were mostly the remains of the Siamese empires temples before they moved further south to avoid the Burmese. We were a bit stiff after the elephant riding so did this site via a Tuk Tuk charter, which was pretty nice when the heat started to increase.

After snapping a bunch of photos (attached) we headed out of town to Ko Tao island in southern Thailand via a 10 hour train, followed by an overnight train, and finally a ferry to the island - 24 hours travel on the go! We took the option of heading to the less inhabited east side of the Island to a bay with only about 4 guesthouses operating, reached by a 4x4 only dirt track.

The beach provided a welcome break and we both managed to get a nice case of sunburn on our first afternoon there :-( The accomodation was pretty spartan (photo attached) but did have a nice balconcy with sea views. What we didn't discover until our final morning there was that our woven fiber shack was also inhabited by a lizard the size of a small iguana. Sandra spotted it that morning clinging to the inside interior wall near the ceiling as we were thinking of heading off to breakfast. The ensuing shouting and hand waving drove it towards the bed which triggered the fastest departure on record...

Our last full day in Asia back in KL was spent doing some last minute shopping and then arranging a package to post all our stuff home. If you are ever trying to do the same thing from the KL central post office, make sure you have a bit of time available. On our first visit we found the post office and the right stating counter which we were told would stock a range of packaging boxes. So, we returned, with armloads of stuff to the same counter to be told they didn't have any boxes and that we should try the stationary shop at the other end of the office. The stationary shop didn't have any boxes and said we should visit the counter we started at for boxes..... Next step was the tourist market (still with packages in hand) to look for used boxes, and again we didn't have any luck. Finally we spotted a stack of cardboard down a back alley behind a florist, complete with a very nice old Chinese man, who helped us select the best second hand box for our bits and pieces.... Third trip to the post office did the trick, and hopefully in 1-3 months time our stuff will arrive safely in NZ.

We have had a blast in Asia and are very happy with how inexpensive it is to travel here. It has also been a great warm up for India which we have heard from all and sundry is a pretty challenging destination. Never fear - we still have the majority of our diarrhea medications in hand!

Thats it from us for a bit - next post will be from India!

S&S

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