Islands in the stream? More like Island in the rain

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Flic

Firstly, apologies for the lack of recent blogging activity! We've both been so busy with the RealGap stuff so haven't really had a chance to update this, so I'll do a very quick over-view of the last month!

We met everyone from RealGap in Bangkok on the 13th Feb and all went out for a "few" drinks in a couple of bars -- definitely the way to break the ice with a group of complete strangers! We didn't spend long in Bangkok though, and it was soon time to head off to Singburi where we'd spend the next 2-3 weeks. Our accommodation was somewhat basic, although, other than the bugs, there is nothing to worrent complaining about.

Our first week was 'culture week' and we spent an awful lot of time wandering around temples, markets and shrines. The temples were pretty impressive, although the novelty of them wore off pretty quickly!

Week 2 started with an overnight stay in a Buddhist temple... Sounds all very exciting, but it was the MOST uncomfortable night of my life! In the evening we did some chanting and meditating with the monks which was really interesting, but things were only going to get worse! Because it's a temple, the guys and girls had to sleep in separate places, so the guys were in the actual temple where we'd been meditating and the girls were herded off to a little building nextdoor, and we were literally asleep on the concrete floor = I've never wanted a bed so much! We were up early in the morning to go with the monks to collect their food donations and then had to wait for them to finish eating before we were allowed to scrounge from their leftovers! The rest of the week was spent looking at even more temples!

The third week was our trekking...and I was very dubious! It turned out that my fears were slightly unfounded though. The first day we spent 4 hours trekking to our campsite and it was actually really enjoyable. For the most part, it wasn't particularly hard, although the heat did make it a bit more challenging. It was only when we got to the last half hour or so that it got really hard! We had to climb up 2 massive hills, in the mid-day heat, and it pretty much killed me! Jim was fine, but I was lagging behind with a couple of other people who also felt like they might die at any moment! Finally though, we made it to the top and to the campsite. Again, it was a week of VERY little sleep!

This week we're on Koh Samet - a little island quite close to Bangkok. Yesterday the weather was lovely, but today it's been raining a lot so there isn't much for us to do which is a bit rubbish! The island itself is really lovely though =) Jim's gone to Koh Phangyang for a few days with the other half of the group so they can go to the Full Moon Party.

Sorry it's such a brief overview! Hopefully, we'll manage to keep this updated a bit better from now on!

x

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Comments

[Bea]

Bugs? Bugs!! BUGS???!!! *shudder* Eeewwwwww. Ok, this is the first time I have NOT wished I was with you.

[Aunty Furry]

I am waiting for news of the orphanages..... Bed bugs are back in the UK in a BIG WAY !!! Something to look forward to !