Thailand Part 1

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Many apologies for the delay of this entry. I have had a very busy few days.

Well firsts thing first, I have arrived safely in Thailand... but only just. I was about five minutes from missing my plane because I went to the wrong gate. In my defence, they were both going to Bangkok.

At the moment, I am trying hard to keep cool in the very warm town of Ao Nang in the Krabi Province of Southern Thailand. The area was made famous by the film 'The Beach', which was filmed on an island just off the coast from where I am. But more of that as it comes.

I arrived at about 4 in the afternoon in Bangkok, and arrived at my hotel at about 6.30, after travelling down their equivalent of the M25, which is nearly as bad. I tried to go to sleep when I arrived because i felt so tired, but of course my body clock was telling me it was about 12. So after about an hour I left my room and had a bite to eat in the hotel. I then went for a walk down the popular tourist destiantion 'Khao San Road', a sprawl of pubs, bars, stalls and flashing lights. After being pestered y so many locals to buy something or for them to take me somewhere, I decided to pack it in and try again at getting some sleep. I think I managed to fall asleep at about 1 in the morning. The following day I had to make my way to another hotel to meet up with tour group. I checked in at about 11, but we wern't meeting until 5.30. So i decided to go for another walk and go exploring. It was a very hot day, and a very uncomfortable heat. I ended up sitting in the shade in a small park for about an hour.

I must apologise again at this point for the lack of photos of Bangkok (only two), but it is a very difficult place to stop and take pictures, both because it is so busy and you are always bumping into people, and also it is quite dangerous because of crime to stand around holding a nice digital camera.

I met a guy of the same age as me from near Stanstead just walking around in the park, and he explained that he wanted to go to the zoo, but he wasnt very good with directions, and basically I ended up tagging along with him for the day. The problem was that the zoo was a decent 30 minutes walk, and in the heat I didnt find it easy. But it was a nice day, and im glad i met someone that I could converse with and filled me in with the ups and downs, dos and donts of Bangkok.

I then met the group in the evening, but after I wasnt feeling very well so they all went out for dinner, but i went to bed. It was nothing serious, just exhaustion from the walking and the heat that day. The following day was fairly relaxing... well I should say leisurely, as it is quite hard to relax in Bangkok. A group of us went to a nice cafe/bar and had lunch for a few hours, and it was ice to get to know a few people (most of them already knew each other from a previos trip). In the evening, we took an overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, which is an experience! Half way down the train was a 'Party Carriage', which just played music and served drinks for most of the night. So most of us were in there for the night. We arrived in Surat Thani at 5.30am and caught a two hour bus ride to our next stop, the Khao Sok National Park.

I will write another entry this evening and try and upload the photos so far. But right now I am about to go for a climb up 1247 steps to a mountain top temle over looking the Ao Nang Bay.

Hope everyone is well.

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