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Published: November 21st 2010
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Sawadee Ka...
Where to start??!! Its hard to believe that i've already been away for nearly 3 weeks... Internet is quite expensive in relation to things and so i've been very slack in writing this blog - correction... STARTING this blog.. hahaha - So - apologies for a potential information overload, but this is a re-cap of my time so far...
So .. left the UK on Nov 2nd - 9pm, arrived in Bangkok Nov 3rd - 7pm!! Quick overnight stay at a nearby hotel then its up to catch the 6am bus down to Koh Chang on the East Coast, now this trip SHOULD take 6-7 hours, we made it in 4 and a half!! our driver was doing pretty much 180kmh most of the way... which apart from the minor threat of a heart attack was good, less transit time can only be a good thing as long as you make it to the other side :-) So we arrived on Koh Chang, Lucy, Louise and I - and proceeded to think about accomodations.. the first drop off was for Helle... a lady from Copenhagen who soon became Mummy-Helle.. and her place looked so good we stopped
there too... Nature Beach Resort - Koh Chang... PARADISE!!!! the weather and the beach and the food were all amazing.. a spontaneous beach party started a couple of days later and turned into a massive night with DJ's, fire dancers and a bucket or 2 too many!! :-)
Deciding we had to see more of the island than just 1 spot Louise and i hired out a moped - 200baht for 24 hours... bargain!! and we lasted approx 1.5 hours !!! The roads are HELLISH scary and steep and for a novice rider the stress and the cramp in my hands from having to brake so much going down super steep hills proved too much... but we found a few pretty spots and decided to grab Lucy - who was having a lay-in and move over to Kai-Bae beach where we stayed at PORNS BUNGALOWS... lol .. place was very cool, quiet, relaxed and had a great hippy-like vibe. We managed to get a seaview bungalow for the 3 of us and when we went to see it, it was amazing, hammock on the balcony, large room and a HOT SHOWER - woohoo. The sea literally came up to
and under our hut and it was so relaxing to hang out in the hammock instead of fighting over the bathroom..
Whilst on Chang we also done an elephant trek through the rainforest.. seeing all kinds of creepy crawlies and getting to bathe and feed our elephants.. Mine and Louise's was called sanchai. The place we went is part of a foundation set up as a conservation programme designed to get elephants away from developing areas where they can be poorly treated or used to help people beg for money etc..
And sorry Mum & Dad... but i got ANOTHER tattoo !! :-) It is a traditional Thai sanskrit prayer for guidance, well being and happiness, and as i still hadn't bought Louise a birthday present - she got a tattoo too... a thai lotus.
And that brings our time on Koh Chang to an end... and we were off to catch our bus back to Bangkok... hoping for another rally racing driver - but not getting lucky... the full 7 hours later we arrived.. tired and a bit fed-up and ready to find our accomodation.. well i think i genuinely have nothing nice to say about
Bangkok - its smelly, dirty, noisy and if i were to have just 1 more tuk-tuk driver try to get us to go with him for a tour then i prob would have been arrested for ABH!! We literally could not wait to get out of the city - so up at 7.30 to catch the train out to Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand prob about 500 yrs or so ago, forgive my historical inaccuracy - i'm guessing!! Now this place is pretty cool, we managed to barter with the local tourist police to get an approved tuk-tuk driver and no-surprise it was about half the cost we'd been quoted at the station.. so in we jumped into our hot pink, sports kitted tuk-tuk with Tony our nefarious driver.. who took us to some of the most popluar temples and ruins.
Now i am not a religious person and am not easily moved by overt shows of faith etc... but my first time in front of the massive reclining Buddha and i could have wept!! i can't explain it and probably wouldn't want to - but there is something very special about some of the places we visited
that day and i doubt i will ever forget that place....
The next day was our trip to the River Kwai and Kanchanaburi - for many reasons this was a LOOOONG day - but so worth it, the train leaves at 6.30am - or i should say it SHOULD leave at 6.30 am - but you quickly learn here that nothing is set in stone in Thailand.. we sat at the station for over an hour!! when we eventually got moving our tiny little Thai train guard also turned out to be our tour guide - he was lovely!! and so friendly and as we were the only westerners on the train he made sure to come over to us before each stop to make sure we knew what was there and how much time we had, the tour included a temple stop, The River Kwai, train trip along the Death Railway - crossing the River Kwai, a stop in Nam Tok to visit the Sai-Yok Noi waterfall (Which is breathtaking!), Kanchanaburi War Cemetary and the Chinese Pagoda.. full day was about 15 hours and cost a measly 120 baht... Amazing!!
This bought us up to our time
to say goodbye to Louise, whilst Lucy and i headed on down to Koh Tao to relax and do some diving... this place is great and the sunsets are absolutely stunning, the weather is a little wet on some days - but when you're going diving anyway you just don't care!! ... i have just passed my PADI Open Water Diver qualification, Thanks to Brit Instructor Iain and Kiwi Instructor Mike, and am now certified to dive to 18m.. and i'm looking into doing my advanced diver course.. to 30 m.. but not immediately.. Lucy and i have kinda tried to limit ourselves to 1 week per island or stopover so we can see all the highlights we want to.. and we'll just have to come back and fill in the gaps later... great excuse hey??
Well sorry for the ramble, will try to keep more on top of the blog... on Koh Tao for a couple more days - then heading over to the Andaman Side - probably Koh Phi Phi... more to follow soon x x x
Love Lucy
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Jo h
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OMG
Hey Babe, I'm lost for words it all sounds awesome and a million miles away from our crappy weather,& run of the mill daily routine,ie:-work!!! The pics are great and i spotted the bear(cant remember his name and i bought it).Tattoo looks cool but you always new to pick great tattoos couldnt work out what part of your body its on though..Its great your having a great time and long may it continue but missing you..Take care Jo xxxx