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Published: December 12th 2005
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Excuse me if my typing is wonky, we've been on a boat all morning.
So anyway, where was I?
Last time I blogged we were in Bangkok, and we've just spent 5 really great nights on Ko Lanta. I couldn't blog or email anyone from there though, because all the computers were made from bamboo and coconut husks and the mouse was usually a small turtle. It was a less than effective set up.
So, back to Bangkok.
We were pretty wiped out our first few days, we were both running on rapidly depleting reserves of energy, so we needed to just eat, drink and wander for awhile to recover a bit. Also, we weren't sleeping very well. No change there for me, but Stuart was awake most of the night too, so by the time breakfast came, it was usually all we could do to keep our faces out of our Tropical Fruit Platters.
One night I woke up to the sound of a bloke performing Karaoke (I assume), only it sounded like he was trying to sing with the microphone INSIDE his mouth. He stopped abruptly about half an hour later, so I guess
someone shoved the thing the rest of the way down his throat.
Apart from that though, our guesthouse was tops, and in a good position.
We'll do the touristy stuff when we go back, but we did take a trip up and down the Chao Praya river, so we got to see a bit from there.
On to Ko Lanta.
In the Domestic Terminal at Bangkok Airport, there's a place called the Smoking Pub. Jutting out from the sign at front is the nose of a plane with a fag hanging out of it. Yeeeaahhh, we thought that was pretty funny at the time.
The flight looked as if it was going to go pretty smoothly, until the pilot did a handbrake skid on the tarmac. Stuart reckons he was trying to avoid a pot hole. Ha aha ha , yeah, that seemed pretty funny then too. You should have seen the panic on the old lady across the aisle from us. Actually, it's a bit of a theme with Thai transport; as our taxi was backing our of a lane that morning, we almost ran smack into some bloke riding one of those bikes
with a big goods tray on the front. He had to swerve into oncoming traffic, and then when he looked back at our cab driver, they just burst out laughing at each other. Perfect.
It was all pretty normal after that, except from the weird gelatinous dessert they gave us with our lunuch. Stuart ate his, i saved mine to use as putty in case of emergencies.
Jeez, I'm really swaying from that boat!!
Anyway, the trip wasn't very eventful after that, just long. We flew into Krabi, got a taxi to to Krabi town and then jumped in a minivan taking a bunch of Thais home to Ko Lanta for the night.
Finally arrived at our hotel - GOOD DAYS LANTA RESORT, (how could we not have a good time there?), at about 7 at night, and relaxed in our beachside bungalow.
Basically, we had a really fantastic time there. It rained a fair bit, which they all seemed very concerned would ruin our stay, but we didn't care at all. I kind of prefer the beach in the rain anyway, it's more atmospheric. ..Man.
We did a fair bit of swimming, and
Stuart taught me his Super Marine Dive, which essentially involves holding your nose and ducking under the water. Very impressive.
We had a great day riding stubborn elephants and wandering through the jungle to check out a waterfall.
Stuart had an in depth conversation with our guide about football. Well I'm guessing it was about football, it was all in broken English. The guide also taught us not to eat mushrooms from Buffalo or Elephant poo, because 'they make your head not happy'. A valuable lesson. I think.
Ko Lanta has loads of fishermen, and apparently they've been badly affected by the Tsunami. A lot of their boats were trashed etc. , and while we were there they had a sort of memorial day were Long Tail boats seemed to come from everywhere and started a trip around the island. There were hundreds of them in the end, all displaying different coloured flags, and then motoring out in formation (sort of). It was pretty impressive.
Otherwise we swam, walked up and down 'our' beach, ate etc. All the good stuff. We had some fantastic meals, and I reckon we found of the best Thai restaurant anywhere.
It was just next to our lot of bungalows on the beach, and it was called 'Sanctuary'. I had a really impressive Gang Som (Fish curry, flavoured with Tamarind) there, and a great, and hot Gang Panang (Red Chicken Curry). Jim had Seafood Phat Thai, and a couple of other noodle dishes. Oh, also, they made a shake out of Banana and Cashews. Stuart had it first, and then i had one. Gold!!
Back at Good Days, one night Stuart had Barracuda (we'd seen a bloke bringing them off his boat that morning), and I had Sea Bass. Bloody delicious.
Ohhh, so much good food. Elsewhere, Stuart had a Red Crab Curry, and I had lots of Spicy Prawn Salads. And sooo much fruits, and sooo many fruit shakes!!
The only slightly wrong meal I had was a Larb Plah - I normally love Larb, but when you mince fish it takes on a weird texture. Not googly, but not good either. But that's my fault, not the cooks, I just made a bad choice.
All this talk of food is probably only interesting to about 3 people, so I apologise, but it's all sooo good!!
The most used sentence on the trip so far has been, 'Are you hungry?"
Oh yeah, Stuart had something iffy as well. The first morning we slept in quite late, and i thought we'd missed breakfast, so Stuart raced off to catch the dregs. When i made it up to the restaurant he had a pretty disturbed look on his face, and in front of him was an empty container of yoghurt flavoured with Sweet Corn, and Kidney Beans!! I ask you??!!
So yeah, we didn't want to leave Ko Lanta, but we got a cheap flight back to Bangkok leaving from Phuket, so here we are on Karon Beach. There are a lot of fat old European men walking around with nice young Thai ladies, which is pathetic, and depressing, and embarrassing, but we'll find something to amuse us for a day.
Stuart's having a nap at the moment, so he's pretty well catered for.
Okay, this has been pretty long, so i better tie it up. You're probably bored out of your skull by now.
Thanks for the message Jules, we've filled up one of our Picture Cards, so I just need to
get someone to put the pictures on a disc and then see if i can figure out how to put them on here.
We bought a SIM card, and a Top up card, for the mobile, but I'll be buggered if I can get it to make a phone call. I'll get the phone out of Stuart's bag and send you the number tomorrow though, then you can try and text us Dad.
Hope everyone's well.
xxxxxx
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