Culture Shock!

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Hi everyone,
I spent my last couple of days of my NZ tour in Christchurch, very British, there is even a street called Armagh Street! I went out to the pub in the evenings with some friends and invariably ended up in an Irish Pub! There was a 'session' in The Bog - highly recommend it! There were at least 25 musicians playing an assortment of instruments - Bhodrum, tin whistle, fiddle, accordian, bango and even a trumpet, needless to say there was some irish dancing to accompany them!
I left on Wednesday 10th to fly to Bangkok to meet up with Pauline. What a culture shock, the people are crazy drivers, especially on motor bikes and mopeds, carrying things whilst driving like, a computer hard drive, an oil painting, a big collie dog, a family of 5 including a baby - no mothercare car seats here!
Pauline arrived on Thursday morning and we stayed in a really luxurious hotel The Plaza Athenee, a far cry from some of the Hostels I stayed in! We did the whole culture tour, the Grand Palace, (I forgot my camera) the different Buddah temples, standing, sitting and reclining! The buildings are so ornate and the detail is mind blowing, we saw some Artists renewing some of the wall scenes. One evening we ventured down to Pot Pang Street, that's a whole other culture shock!
On Friday 13th (there's a clue) we got the train to Suranthani to make our way to Krabi. We had bought our tickets from a travel agent in Bangkok which was to include a connecting bus for the final leg of our journey. The train was basic but we enjoyed the journey, it was good to see the countryside, it was disturbing to see shanty towns right next to mansions, fact of life, I suppose.
When we got off the train at a station, which turned out to be about 12 km from the town, this big burly bloke asked where we were going, I said it was ok, we already had a ticket to Krabi, he started shouting "come with me" he didnt speak much English but was insistent that we go with him and we had to hurry! He said that we had to go with him to get the bus, there was no bus in sight. We asked the official behind the counter at the station and he 'seemed' to agree! Out we went and within seconds we wer 'pushed' onto the back of a truck, it was a struggle to get the tailgate closed along with about 6 other western travellers and all their backpacks!!
OMG, I thought my ride on the tuk tuks in Bangkok was scary, this guy drove at about 80mph weaving in and out of lanes on a motorway! When we got to the town, we stopped outside a shop and another guy wearing serious miami vice sunglasses started shouting at us straight away saying "hurry, hurry buy tickets now, bus coming now, 380 bhat!" We tried to explain that we already had our tickets and showed them to him, first he said the company was closed down, then we had missed that particular bus and we would get a refund. The bus pulled in and the driver just swiped my rucksack and put it in the luggage compartment, meanwhile two other english girls, Pauline and I decided that this was too dodgy and that we would find the official bus depot. I tried to get my bag from the bus but the driver wasnt having any of it, we ended up having a tug of war with the bag! I won! As we started to walk off, the driver said, this was the last bus to Krabi - 3 hours away and it was about 5.30pm by this time, he would take 140 bhat! The end of this saga was when we finally got on the bus there was only 1 seat left and the guy finally accepted our tickets!! Got to Oa Nang outside Krabi at 9.00pm 14 hours later!!
The resort we stayed at needed a bit of updating, the staff were really friendly and helpful, I wouldnt have wanted to stay in the bungalow on my own though, with not much outside lighting, although I suppose we didnt help ourselves by talking about ghosts!
We have spent a couple of chill out days by the pool and the beach, had a serious massage on the beach. We took a speed boat for a tour of the Islands, all really picture postcard beautiful, especially Bamboo Island, everything that you would imagine a paradise island to be, pure white sands and crystal blue sea. I have taken lots of pictures, however this computer does not seem to want to play ball!! Will try for the next blog!
From a very hot Thailand, bye for now, I hope the cold weather is coming to an end for everyone!!
Love Sue & Pauline xx

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