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Published: September 7th 2007
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Day 154
Still hobbling a little from slightly sore feet but thankfully ache free we packed up and went for a last breakfast with our Gibbon Experience group before we all went off in different directions. We have been so lucky to share this trip with some great people and the fact that even after living in close contact for the last three days we all wanted to spend more time together was testament to how well we'd all got on.
After breakfast we walked down the small slope to the river, which is the border of Laos and Thailand, with Keely, Kristel and Ozzie. Important passport stuff and a boat across the river later we were boarding a bus to Chiang Mai, our first stop in Thailand where we were planning to spend a few days.
A few hours on a very comfy bus later we arrived in Chiang Mai and were led by Ozzie to a hostel with a pool, very nice. We settled in, had a quick dip and then went out to explore the excellent Sunday walk-in market just down the road. Feeling hunger settling in we all went out for dinner at a
BBQ bar where you cook your meat and help yourself to salads etc. Great food with the added bonus of ensuring that Mark was full - no mean feat! Whilst eating we supped on a couple of buckets. These are basically a cocktail in a beach bucket, good fun and suitably intoxicating!
It was after a couple of these that we made our drunken decision. The following day Ozzie Keely and Kristel were heading down to an island in the south of Thailand, Koh Pha Ngan for the legendary full moon party. Although we were planning a visit there ourselves later in the month, time wise it would work out that we wouldn’t catch a full moon party. We have had such a great time with these guys that we decided to change our plans, rock up to the airport with them the next day and see if we could get some flights. Decision made we celebrated by buying some excellent hats made by a local hill tribe and wore them for the rest of the night - we looked stunning!
We moved on to a rooftop bar for some more drinks and had a great night. It
was on the walk home that Mark's night took a bit of a turn when a rather aggressive dog decided to try and take a chunk out of his leg. Thankfully he only managed to graze the surface but with the worry of rabies, despite the fact that we had jabs for this back in the UK, we decided to go to the local hospital to get him checked out. So Mark found himself at 3am, slightly the worse for wear, sat with his trousers around his ankles being laughed at by Chrissie, Keely and the nurse. Luckily the shots we had back at home were sufficient and he needed no treatment but we were glad to have put our minds at rest.
Day 155
After around an hour of sleep we had to get up and make our way to the airport. We crammed into a couple of tuktuks and made our way out of town. We manged to get some flights sorted and settled in to wait for our first flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. As we went through to the departure lounge we found a few things that we could not have in our
Bitten by the dog ...
I think the nurse just wanted to see me in my undies! hand luggage, penknife and suncream etc. They were great about it and said that we could go and find our bags bound for the hold and put the things in. This however sounds a lot easier than it is in reality. Mark and Ozzie were sent back to check-in (leaving the girls wondering whether this was a good team!). They asked again at the desk who directed them toward the conveyer belt where the bags go through, making noises that to Mark and Ozzie sounded like “get on the conveyer belt and go find your bags.” Both Mark and Ozzie jumped on and rode the belt until they reached the gate through which it goes outside where they got accosted and asked to not go through by the member of staff helping us. Peering through the gate they spotted Chrissie's bag and managed to stow the things safely for the journey. Having always wanted to ride the conveyer belt at the airport Mark can report that it is really not as comfy as you may think!
Small drama over we boarded the plane and arrived safely at Bangkok airport an hour or so later for a 4 hour wait before our next flight. It was whilst we were waiting for the luggage that Keely pinched Ozzies passport and in his tired and hungover state he called out 'Hey police she stole my...tourist'. Ummm, odd word for a passport there! When he got it back he hit her over the head with it and this started a hilarious game that we like to call 'tourist slapping' (not hitting tourists, just hitting each other with our 'tourists' or passports). This game was to become a fixture of our time spent in airports over the next few days and brought smiles to the faces of many airport security staff!
Another flight later we arrived at Surat Thani airport where we picked up a bus and a boat to get us to Koh Pha Ngan. The sunset was stunning as we floated across the water to our destination and once it got dark we all settled in on the deck for a bit of a snooze, aiming to catch up on a little of what we'd missed the night before. We arrived on the island, got a tuk-tuk to the excellent place that Kristal had booked, had a couple of plates of the best chips in the world and then hit the sack in our bungalows overlooking the sea. We had eventually arrived at around 11pm having left our hostel in Chiang Mai at 5.30am after an hour's sleep - a long day and welcome sleep!
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