Thailand with Lloyd

After a muddle at the airport I finally managed to see Lloyd! :-) Not only excited to see him but to get a beautiful bracelet off him for my birthday and a couple of emergency chocolate packages courtesy of Mum and Em.
We spent the next 3 days exploring Bangkok. I had been really good before he arrived and not done any sight seeing so it was new to both of us.
Our hotel was not far from Koasan Road and all the delights of the area. Lots of bartering for tat we'll never use at home and then relaxing with strawberry daquiries. I also introduced him to the delights of Thai massage and he was hooked having 2 in 3 days. It could have something to do with us accidentally going in the local brothel. (not that he noticed it was a brothel "Sarah why are those women sat behind that glass?" as I'm trying to beat a hasty exit!)
We spent time at the Grand Palace and travelling round on the water bus, by tuk tuk and sky train. We even managed to bump into Hannah and George who we had arranged to meet on our last night. We had a great night with them (can't believe I have seen them in 5 countries now!)
After Bangkok we caught the overnight bus/ferry to Koh Samui glad to not be flying since a plane crashed there the day we left. We arrived to a warm welcome from our hostel owner. The hostel turned out to be a stunning hotel with pool on the edge of the rainforest about 10 mins walk from the beach. We hired a small bike off them and spent a couple of days travelling the island.
Our first stop was to go elephant riding. We had a mad Thai guide who insisted on telling us Ronaldo was a lady-boy and stroking lloyds leg! The ride was great taking us to a river in the forest and then getting us both to ride on the elephants neck (great if you've got a little more balance than me!) luckily Lloyd was riding when the elephant saw a dog and decided to run! He hung on I definitely wouldve been on my arse on the floor!
We then hiked up to a beautiful waterfall both falling over on the way and me thinking I had broken my wrist. Thankfully nothing permanent (I always bounce) and we were off exploring again. It took a little time to get used to the bike and Lloyd managed to accidentally pull a wheelie whilst going up hill and still not dump us off! The island is quite small so covered most of the "attractions" including the very filthy looking Grandmother and Grandfather rocks and the mummified monk sat in his glass case wearing a pair of sunglasses! We spent a fair amount of time on the beach and snorkelling in some lovely bays.
All too soon we were on the ferry over to Koh Phagnan this time covering up (Lloyd got very burnt on the Samui ferry). We hadn't got any accomodation booked and now were trying to stick to budget so we looked around until we found some huts at the top end of the beach for just £6 a night. They do say you get what you pay for and budget would be an ideal description. Koh Phagnan certainly lived up to it's party reputation even though we weren't there for the full moon party with beach parties going on nearby until 6am. I must be getting old because I was annoyed with the music and wanting to sleep. When it wasn't torrentially raining we chilled on the beach and pretty much did nothing. I managed to pretty much destroy our bungalow on the 2nd night. The plumbing was a little dodgy (as is the norm in Asia) and the toilet wouldn't flush so I attempted to use the little shower hose next to it. As soon as I touched it the head came off and started squirting
water everywhere soaking me and everything else. Getting worried about me Lloyd eventually came in about 10 mins later to find me completely soaked and going between laughing and crying! They ended up moving us into a bigger and better bungalow because thy couldn't get it fixed.
We did get more than a little drunk on our last night with an assortment of cocktails and buckets of rum and coke. As an official old lady now I can honestly say the buckets are dangerous leading me to partake in fire breathing and deciding to take a walk into the sea! My mouth tasted of petrol for 2 days!
It was then over to Koh Tao where I was horrified to find no accomodation available. After a lot of walking and asking we managed to get a very expensive room with no running water and very dodgy electricity supplies. To shower we had to use a little bowl and water out of an old-style black dustbin. Certainly fun after diving. We managed to get a couple of dives in on our 2nd day. Lloyd had to do a requal dive so I went for an oil massage it was very good but she got a little close for comfort a couple of times! I was nervous about my first non instructed dive but it turned out to be great fun.
Funds wouldn't allow us to dive every day so we rented a motorbike and spent the next day on Sairee beach chilling and snorkelling. We did a couple more dives on our last full day and were incredibly pissed off to find they had seen a whale shark the day before. On our last dive we spotted a sea snake my worst fear in the water! It was about 2m long and the stuff of my nightmares! Of course it didn't come anywhere near us but that didn't stop me panicking and hyperventilating for a time. For the first time I was definitely happy to be back on the boat!
It was then time to head back to Bangkok where we managed to meet up with Sarah and Tim and spend a fair bit of time with them. After a fortnight together it was nice to send the boys off and gossip with Sarah over cocktails and a few games of pool (the latter being watched constantly by a strange freak of a guy in a purple wig constantly making comments.)
Our hotel was once again stunning and they upgraded us to an amazing room for free :-)
After lots of souvenir shopping and me shoving everything I didn't need in Lloyds pack for him to take home it was all too soon to head to the airport and say goodbye again.
Unfortunately and unsurprisingly to anyone that knows me this ofcourse didn't go smoothly with me not being allowed on my plane! Having changed my tour around I hadn't changed my Vietnam visa date and they wouldn't allow me to fly until the date on my visa (I had mistakenly believed that it could be changed on arrival). No other airlines would take me either so Lloyd headed home whilst I stayed in Bangkok.

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