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Published: June 14th 2012
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Day 18 and 19
It started early. Tonight about 7.30pm, we leave for Suratthani which is a 12 hour overnight train ride south from Bangkok. We will then take a one and half hour bus ride to the Donsak Pier and a ferry trip of two and half hours to Koh Pa Ngan which will mean yet another trip of about 45 minutes at the island until we get to our secluded, beautiful beach and bungalow accommodation. Yes!!!!
Today has been a chance to get to know the other members of the group and so to do that we headed off on two boat trips used by the public, down the river to the Temple of Dawn. It is a combined temple with the Hindu and Buddhist it seems as it has a long cultural history. Much of the history is Cambodian. Hmm! About all I can remember. The temples are so ornate and intricate and this one has a stupa which is a burial place for ashes, which was enormously high as you will see from the photo. Another photo shows the bells that surround the parapets and they tinkle away in the wind and sound a lot
like chimes.
We also saw a millipede here that was brown and at least 20cm long, and some of the group held it, but I just couldn’t….the idea of all those little feet tickling my hand just did not do it for me.
One of the members of our group comes from Manchester and in actual fact she drives past Middleton every day, being where my English ancestors come from. She is an occupational therapist. Amazing eh! Her name is Jo. Another is a medical doctor in Sydney and the two that are an item are carpenter and administrator with the mines, also one is from California and she is in between further training to become a journalist.
After the visit to the Temple of Dawn I had a pedicure at the hotel beauty salon and got my toe nails painted to match my togs. Oh yes! The rest of the day happened in a blur as I read my book for much of the time waiting for the time to come so we could leave.
The train journey south now, was rather rocky with many abrupt stops and starts and as usual it was running
late so when we got to our stop the bus we were to catch had already left and we were bundled into a van and our goal was to catch it up which we duly did. For us it was all a smooth transition from the train to the island, but I wonder if I had been doing it on my own whether or not it would have gone as smoothly. I noted many others looking around quite bewildered as to what to do next.
The part of the island we are on is quite secluded and private. To get there we had to travel to the other side of the island that is approximately 40km from top to toe and I therefore, predicted it was most probably 130km in perimeter. The roads were diabolical in part with large grooves and ruts and an extremely uneven surface caused by lack of maintenance and a lot of rain and to add to that they were quite windy and hilly. Our little piece of paradise requires you to travel through dense forest either side until you get back to the beach.
The beach has lovely powdery to slightly grainy sand
on it and no sign of large shells or crabs, although I did see some rather large holes that would undoubtedly have been homes to large crabs. The water was quite shallow and mostly very warm with only the odd cooler spot to be found if you swam around looking for it. I did some swimming exercise and challenged myself to swim out to a large launch used by the divers. John swam with me as I asked him to and really I was just being cautious. I was told that there would be no sharks around and if by chance there were they would only be less than a metre in length. Having said that I am sure that if I saw one it would scare the beejeezus out of me regardless.
I lay on the sand for an hour or so as the sun was out and it was glorious. True to form though, the sun is nowhere near as hot as it is in NZ and no sign of any sunburn. All good as it means I can lay in the sun longer tomorrow.
Hmm I am not feeling as connected to this group as
the last, but more than likely my fault as I have not really made the effort. They were a group before we came together and somehow I have not tried to change that. Consequently, I feel a little left out. Yes! I need to make more effort or not complain.
We went out for tea and the bugs were too much and directly after tea I excused myself and am now writing the blog and will stop now and go to sleep.
Today has been a repeat of yesterday on the beach except that I did see some rather gross white long thick wormy things in the sea that were coiled into a blob. The sea was much clearer today. After that I tried not to have to put my feet down in the water if I couldn’t see where they were going to be placed on the seabed. After a short walk down the street full of bars and restaurants with the odd clothing and food shop, I headed back to the bungalows and spent the remainder of the day on the beach swimming and reading and talking with my fellow travellers. We leave at 7pm in
the morning so you will get this tomorrow. I also want to take a photo of the night scene here for you to drool over. Mind you, the best place to be is in front of the photo as the bugs here drive you crazy.
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robbie
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Off to Fieldays tomorrow with marie and Neil.Looking for farm stuff for Stu but with Marie we will be able to look at the more interesting stuff. Still having frosts each morning.... -3 yesterday!!!! Night R