Not bad for a border town

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- FOOD: Pizza - so un-Thai, but so good.

- AREA: Ok for a border town with all the amenities I needed.

- ACCOMMODATION: Pop Guest House - sweet bamboo walled rooms and a HOT shower at last!

- PEOPLE: Sad goodbyes to the animals and Tania; 12 people squashed into taxi truck; chatty girl interrupting 'Girl, Interrupted'!


Wed 28th: Tigs looked very confused as we were packing our bags and we had to say sad goodbyes to him. I hope the next people treat him well.
The score with the taxi is that you just stand on the side of the road on the hour and hope one comes along. Which it did. Good job we were one of the first pick ups as by the time it reached the ferry port, there were 12 of us crammed into this small truck with all our backpacks too! Two girls had to hang onto the outside, getting soaked in the rain.

The ferry was small and cold and then I had to say goodbye to Tania for now and took a taxi to Trat. I stayed in Pop Guest House in a sweet bamboo room for only 1 pound 50. They had a cafe attached so I lunched on an egg salad while watching 'Girl, Interrupted' - such a good film that I hadn't seen in ages but unfortunately this girl came along and started chatting away at me and disturbed the end.
She was one of these types who travel alone but not really as she obviously clings to every person she meets. Nice enough but I had to escape so went to check out the town.

It's ok for a border town although there's not much to it. But it had everything I needed to stock up on before going to countries that might not be so well stocked. The shower at the hostel was hot - so nice to have a hot shower after all this time and then I finished off the day with a very un-Thai pizza and prepared to go into Cambodia.

Thailand has fascinated me with it's alphabet (and crazy keyboards as a result); it's fantastic, spicy food (especially street food and the fact that EVERYTHING is served with chili!); it's HUGE shopping centres; it's ladyboys; it's beautiful beaches and pagodas and the method in it's madness.
I'm surprised at how little English is spoken considering how many tourists are here (especially those 18 year old Brits). It was strange to see so many people begging again after a while and horrible to see how many people were ignoring them. Everyone seems to own a cat and dog here - they are everywhere! The massages are great along with the fried insects and the whiskey drink!
Even though the police are corrupt, the roads wide and polluted, the hassle great, the hostel rooms like prison cells, the people slightly on the rude side (and they say "yes" to any question - contradicting themselves most of the time when the question is turned round) I love it here and want to return again for MUCH longer, especially to see the North.

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