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I know I haven't been on here for a few days but Internet use has been costing me more then a bed to sleep in. But just so you all know you can sign up to on teh blog subscription list and you Will get an e-mail every time I update the blog, will save you from having to check every couple of days. Or if you want send me an e-mail and I can put you on the subscirption list.
So I had originally planned on staying at the Hat Rin beach for one night, but it was so much fun I ended up staying there for 3 night, and still being awake to watch three sun rises. Everyday is like a Saturday, it's always the same, you wake up around noon eat lie on the beach all afternoon, go eat some dinner, relax a little, then at around 11:00ish you head down to the beach to party all night. So like I said instead of staying just one night like I planned, Stephan (a German guy I met on the taxi from the boat) and I ended up staying for three.
So while I was at Hat
Rin lots of people were talking about a beach called Hat Khuat or nick named bottle beach. This beach was suppose to be much quieter then the one we were at. I am not sure if you have seen the movie The Beach, it came out a few years back. Anyways it's about two guys and a girl searching for the long lost beautiful beach that they heard rumours about. The movie was actually filmed at a beach in Thailand but on the west coast. So after three days at Hat Rin Stephan, Sandra(a girl I met from Switzerland), and I head out to find Bottle Beach. It totally felt like we were living the movie. We took a pick up truck from where we were to thong sala(the biggest city on the island), then found another pick up truck to take us to a town called Ao Chalock, this part of the trip was when the paved road turned to a hilly bumpy dirty road. Then from Ao Chalock we hired a long boat to take us to Bottle beach. So yeah the journey wasn't quite as exciting as the movie but was still lots of fun.
Bottle
beach was exactly what we were told it would be, small, extremely quite, and absolutely beautiful. We found a nice bungalow right on the beach from about 5.50 Cdn a day. Well we actually shared our bungalow with a 2 foot long gecko living on the roof who screamed out it's loud call about every ten mins.
We spent the rest of the day doing what we all do best, lying in the sun relaxing. All three of the small restaurants on this island have very few tables with chairs, they are set up with low level tables and nice couchens, so you are always sitting on the ground. I never thought I would ever say this buy my ass was actually sore from sitting on it so much in the last few days. The next morning we met another German guy named Mike and decided to hike about five km through the bush to another busy beach called Hat Thong Nai Pan Noi. After talking to a few locals we got directions and were told it was about an 45 min to an hour hike. So about two and a half hours later we finally made it to the other beach. We ended up getting lost a few times taking a few wrong turns but the hike was really fascinating. Stephan was saying we were hiking through the Jungle but I would call it a regualr forest. Along thew way we found two are three beautiful spots off the beaten path with views of some of the other bays which are yet to be inhabited. We came across a random hut half way up one of the mountains where a Thai man lives off the land. Near the end of the trek we came across a few local Thai women, who gladly sold us water and gave us some tasty fresh fruit. This pineapple was honestly the best tasting pineapple I have ever had. The hike was pretty draining considering it was probably 35 degree Celsiuses, and most of the path was actually climbing up a 30-40 degrees incline till you hit the top then flat for 100 m then 30-40 degrees down hill. We finally made it to Hat Thong Pan Noi and did what we do best, sat on our ass and laid in the sun. At around 5:00 we decided to hire a long boat to take us back to bottle, instead of attempting the so called 45 min hike.
After spending two days on Bottle beach we took the boat, then taxi truck back to Had Rin for one last night of partying together. It's kind of odd at first when you think how back packing goes. YOu meet someone randomly in a taxi or on a boat, end up hanging out with them 24 hours a day for a week straight, then you go your separate ways and realistically probably never going to see them again. I was originally going to leave the island after bottle beach, but I figure I would spend one more day with everyone else on the island before we all go our separate ways in the morning.
Travelling so far has definitely had it's rough points, there are times when I have felt so home sick all I wanted to do was hop on a plane and get back to what you are use to. Ria put it the best though, She told me that whenever she was down and homesick she would just think that whether it's 2 min, 2 hours, or 2 days from now, something amazing will happen that will make you feel so alive. It's so true, I have now been traveling for almost two weeks and everyday I am enjoying more and more then the last. Tomorrow I say good bye to "the crew" I have been hanging with this week and am on to my next adventure. I figure I will take the ferry over to an island called Koh Tao, and take my open water diving certificate there. I have done mostly the touristy stuff so far on my trip, so the blogs have been kind of boring, but I promise they will get more exciting as the weeks go on and I do more out of the ordinary things.
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Joep Diening
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Happy Continued Travels
Lieve Jos, Good to see that you are really enjoying yourself as you continue to travel and meet interesting people. Enjoy the scuba diving course. Just make sure that it is a recognised/sanctioned NAUI or PADI course as that certification will be valid in Canada. We are going to Christina and Troy's wedding in London tomorrow. We let you know how it went. Keep those pictures coming. They are quite nice to see. I also think that you have broken the code on how to travel- we really enjoy your blogs so keep them coming! Heel veel liefs, Mom and Dad