Onwards and upwards

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Hello there my little lovelies!

Am writing this from Koh Chang in Thailand which is a national park and guess what? You wont belive it, but the suns been shining, huraah!! Its beautiful here. We have a beach hut right on the beach font. Or rather we did but swapped it for one without a bathroom and on the second row from the beach as it was 1.50 pounds a night each instead of five!!

Can't remeber where i last left this, had i just arrived in Bangkok? Yes i think so! Anyway, we found a guesthouse or rather the girls did which was nice on koh San Road and actually quite cheap! The first night we just had tea, i think. The second day we went shopping up Koh San Road which was good, lots to see and buy, we thought! But basically everything was the same as other areas of Thailand and also wasn't as cheap as what we thought. And worse still the stall people didn't really like haggling!! Gutted!

We got in a taxi that night and wanted to go to China town but as usual mis-communication and all we ended up at the night bizarre whcih actually turned out really well! It was huge! Blocks of stalls all selling loads of different stuff silks, nik naks, boutique clothes, thai boxing shorts, it was wicked! AFter about 6 hours of shopping we left and had our first experience of being chucked out of a taxi! We asked hm to take us back to Koh San road and he took us round the corner and said he woulnd't take us! We were so annoyed but was quite funny as well!

The next day we got up really early and got the 8.30am train to Ayuthaya (i think that's how you spell it!), which is where there's loads of ancient ruins of temples! We hired bikes and had to carry them onto the ferry that took you across the river! IT was really funny! THere was three monks and a gaggle of trendy looking school girls on this tiny boat and they were just sataring at us in bewilderment as we tried to manouver them!! The bikes weren't particularly good either and by the wobble on my front wheel I'm guessing it had been in a few previous accidents!

Anyway, it was soo hot at the temples we only managed to see about two! We then stopped for tea and got lost trying to find the national museum! It was quite good though as there was all the gold that had been buried with the king in his temple so that was quite exciting! On the way back we decided to cycle over a bridge with three lanes of fast traffic and only a tiny little lane for us that was meant for mopeds! The Thai people must have wondered what was going on as we got some really strange looks! We also cycyled into a culdesac type affair where all these old people sat down waived at us as we rode in and then waived as we left!! Wr were all knackered though by the time we got back and were quite spooked by a Thai man who had just stared at us for the whole two hour train journey home!

The next day which was Thursday i think, we tried to get a tuk tuk to the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. However, the tuk tuk driver took us to the wrong place! We didn't really catch on, well the others did but i never even guessed he'd conned us and when we asked people where the Emerald Buddha was they pointed towards one of the buildings that were closed so that didn't help! Was really annoying as even though we did see some stuff, when we passed the Grand Palace form a distance it looked amazing and we never got to see it in the end!

Whilst we'd been wandering around, we had noticed that there were loads of monks and people with yellow t-shirts, all walking in the same direction! I have to say at this point that Hannah wanted to folllow them but i wanted to see the Emerald Buddha so after lunch ( in a bar!!) we tried to find it again, and in doing this apparently missed a mass prayer of about 7000 monks and goodness knows how many people in yellow (the yellow is for the kings birthday which was on 5th December) oops, looks like Hannah was right!! The 1st was a complete disaster for us as you'll find out later and just typical of our crap attempts at trying to be good travellers! I personally think that we either left home too early or too late as we always seem to be either two steps ahead or behind or the exciting things!

After our disaster we tried to get a taxi home but at this point all the people that had been gathered decided to try and get home too! IT was impossible! Also, whilst we'd been in the bar, loads of decoations had gone up in the trees and stuff which made it even harder to find our way home! We ended up getting another tuk tuk but it was soo frustrating not been able to find our own way when we knew we were only about a 15 minue walk away!

That night we went out for the first time! And, predictalbly ended up in a bar with gay men and drag queens! IT was really good though and we stayed in there till sunrise drinking! We met loads of really nice people and it was good to finally do some of this mingling that everyone reckons travellings about!!

The next day was a complete right off but Lauren and Lydia managed to get up and go to China town where they were the only whites in the village! Nothing more to report about that but we were all very proud of them for getting a local bus and saving money!

The next day we posted christmas presents and then argued or rather discussed what to do next! We all want to go to Cambodia but i think it will be quite hard in every sense as they are just getting over the war so there's a lot of poverty and open wounds. However, we're not sure what the roads will be like and so we opted eventually(!!) to go to Koh Chang first and then to Cambodia afterwards as we'll know exactly how long we can spend there without rushing to here! Another disaster, we tried to find the Ministry of Sound club and gave the taxi driver directions from the guide book but it wasn't there! We went to go to another club but it was only open for another hour and a half and it was full of white men and Thai women all trying to pull each other so we didn't even bother going in and went straight home!

So, on the 4th we got a 6 hour bus to Trat (pronouced Trad) and spent a night in a lovely little guest house that felt like it was in the middle of the country! Didn't get any sleep though as there was a massive floodlight shining from the back yard into our room! The next day we gpt the ferry on the slowest boat possible to Koh Chang!

When we got here on the 5th, we didn't really do anything just sunbathed (yey!!) and then on the 6th we went elephant trekking which was really wicked! There was a baby elephant there and he held my finger with his trunk! Me and Hannah had a 2 hour trek and the other two just one hour! We went through the river and then up and around the jungle. It was really good but i couldn't tell if it was cruel or not! I suppose its no different really from horses at a riding school and the elephants used to work logging trees so i'm not sure what would have happened to them if it they weren't there. I enjoyed it but for that reason I'm not sure if i'd do it again. Last night we went out and talked to some new people which was good and today we haven't done anything really but that's nice!

We're going to Cambodia soon and that will entail a 12 hour mini bus journey so we're all dreading it! We did 11 hours to krabi but that was meant to be about 6 or 7 so I'm crossing my fingers that this doesn't turn out to be more! Crossing to Cambodia can be a bit of an unknown entity as the queues for immigration can stretch up to 3 hours but at least we wont be on the minibus for longer if that's the only part that's extended!

I'm still liking Thailand, even more now that the sun's shining! Lydia is doing really well in picking up the language and passing it onto us! SHe has learnt numbers and everything!! If we're bored there's always plenty of scope for playing spot the lady boy which Hannah is shocking at! Its a good job she's not an elidgible young man........And i bought some juggling balls ages ago which keeps me quiet!

Thanks for all your messages etc, i love hearing about what you're all getting up to at home! I gather those of you up north have had some snow, make sure you wrap up warm!! Erm think that's about it! I've got loads of photos but the place to put them onto disc was shut tonight so i probably wont be able to post any more now until after Cambodia but I'll try! I am really excited about this next bit but i imagine they'll be some tears along the way! I'll let you know!

Anyway, take care everyone and I'll write again sooon!!


Lots of love

Jaxx

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Photos

Face in Roots
The tree has grown around a fallen face, was very special

And some more temple bits!
Sorry i can't remember the names! These are all from the second temple we saw!

From outside a Tuk Tuk
Very inventive!!