South East Thailand 24/3/12 to the 16/4/12

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So we reach the start of our south east Asia tour. Arriving in Phuket and to our friends Chris and Paula at there villa in Chalong. Lovely place with a private pool to dip in as it's averaging 34C at the moment with very little wind. Chalong has quite a big ex pat population so it wasn't long before we felt one of the crowd in Happy days bar.

Chris took us up to soi dog foundation, a charity he's invovled with that helps street dogs. It appears there is a real divide about cruelty to animal here, dogs are often exported in terrible conditions to vietnam for food and the burmease do not like dogs and hurt them delibertately. recent case was the volunteers found a dog deliberately buried in concrete. Took the guys ages to chizel him out, poor things. Well the centre in Phuket dedicates its time to treating and rehoming dogs. If you are a dog lover then check out soi dog foundation Phuket where you can sponsor a dog and see what they do. Mark found an instant admirer. A dog that is normally too scared to be stroked and fussed came straight over and wanted his belly rubbed. Chris couldn't believe it. He is now our sponsored pet. But the name makes me chucke every time "Bumboy!!" Trust Mark! Hopefully Mark will be able to upload the video too.

During our time with Chris and Paula we took a road trip to Krabi, great little town. Ao Nang is the best area with good beaches and bars etc. Not expensive like Phuket and tuk tuk only 20bht anywhere in centre. Trip to Reilley beach was good. One of the top "tripadvisor beaches" or so they say. Sea is crystal clear and calm so Mark even took a dip on the basis of if anything is heading his way he can get out with notice. However bar a few yellow and white fish which were curious nothing came near.

Still not sure if Mark is enjoying this backpacking lark, to date his bag has broken and I stood on his favourite flipflops and they broke too, what else could possibly happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we decide to leave our friends for a week and head off to Phi Phi and Koh Lanta for some island adventure. Phi Phi was expenseve to stay so we opted for 2 nights there and 4 on Lanta. Well what can I say, Phi Phi could be called Benidorm, Kavos, Ibiza but certainly not real thailand. U dont get up til the afternoon and you go to bed when the sun comes up. Just imagine the Full Moon Party on Phangan on a slightly smaller scale every night and that what Phi Phi looked like. We did however find a gorgeous beach (Long beach) that u either trek to or get a long boat. Distinct lack of eateries but a welcome change to the craziness of the centre.

Happily left Phi Phi and arrived in paradise Andalay Bay Boutique. Recommend this to everyone. Pics are on here but beautiful setting and a stone throw from the beach. Food excellent especially the chicken satay :-) We decided to wander with a jeep one day. car had seen better days and was difficult to drive and unless you revved it you were getting nowhere up the hills. Can easily see island in a day and after treking the most overgrown path in the national park we returned happy that we really did pick the best spot to stay in. Little bar called Majestic on the beach and bar-ba-ques nightly did it for me. Happily return for a bit of relaxation time.

Then came the day we were due to leave, Mark starts feeling sick. Cant really describe it just hurting and wanting to sleep. Obviously he could not do this as we were booked on the ferry back to phuket. He does go down hill rapidly but decides getting back is the best option so we board the ferry. Then the fun really started! The Ferry had grounded out but they loaded us on anyway, banged at it for about and hour and then decided it was broken. They called in speed boats which arrived about an hour after that to take us back. Speed boat then run out of fuel in the middle of the ocean. Only in Thailand! Mark just getting worse and worse. We arrived back at around 7pm and put Mark straight to bed. I go out to the bar where the only topic of conversation was everyones diagnosis that Mark had caught dengue Fever. Great. We were supposed to be travelling by "suicide bus" to Hua Hin the next day but that was not going to happen. Hospital we went and diagnosis by the bar confirmed. Mark on a drip and asleep when insurance decide they are not paying for treatment as we didn't call them before we rushed him up there. They insist we move hospitals if we were to use our insurance. Doc advises he should stay in for a week. Cost 10.5k! Urrr no I don't think so. So the fun begins. Hospital are told we are not staying and start making money demands, telling us the other hospital is full etc. Our insurance agree to pay for the treatment so far but want a invoice sent directly to them. Hospital refuses and denies ever speaking to insurance. We are effectively then held hostage until we pay the bill in full. Horrible situation which ended up with our insurance stating we paid under duress so hopefully they will reimburse us. Got to love insurance!

We finally got discharged and what ever they pumped Mark with had done the trick and he said lets go back to our friends. For the next day he seemed better so we decided to re book our bus to Hua hin. VIP bus but for 10 hours. I thought Mark could just sleep. Wrong! He deteriorated through the night but insisted we just got going, how bad could it be! Well VIP did not live up to expectations! cramped seats which we shared with cockroaches and all of thailand trying to get to their next destination. We had been scammed. No one else paid for VIP and we were on a second class bus. 10 hours came and went and 17 hours arrived. We made it just! Mark was very sick and I thought we were heading back to the hospital but he just wanted to sleep.

Dad and Malcom met us from the bus station and took us to 'Beer O clock', a small guest house where we would be staying. First impression ok with big rooms and a clean bathroom. What else do u need for £9 a night. Mark slept and I chatted in the bar. Hua Hin seemed nice, clean and friendly.

Next day we walked along the beach, Mark over did it and got sent back to bed. He was not by this time in a good mood. Grouchy, fidgetty and hated everything! Maybe we are coming home I thought. Slowly but surely over the next 3 days he improved. Sickness was easing but the muscle ache was still there. Songkran arrived.

Water fight after water fight with Dad being the biggest kid of all buying us all water guns to join in with. Pick up trucks with water guns and barrels and kids with buckets lined the streets. Happy new year Thailand. Covered in paint and soaking wet we roamed the streets spraying everyone who passed. Much fun had by all. Malcoms face a true picture, did he enjoy the day?? I think he did, the captured pictures however may make u wonder!!

Dad and Malcom due to leave but Mark not well enough to travel again so we decide to stay on. Mistake! Not sure if the trip is entirely doomed or we just seem to walk into trouble. Owner of guest house is an old Aussie called Doug. As a lot of old men out here seem to do, he is married to a 23 year old thai girl. I wont even begin to tell u my thoughts on this, just to say Im not sure I have worked out who uses who the most! Well this Mrs had a temper, we had already experienced a row but we came home to find she has gone at him with a knife and cut his head open. Mad banshee comes to mind. They both get karted off to the police station only to be sent back saying its only a domestic. She is thai after all. She then runs upstairs crying. She comes back down with her hands running with blood. She had repeatedly cut herself and was now shouting at Doug that he had done it. Bed time!!!!!!!

We awoke the next day to find the place covered in blood, things missing and other stuff packed up. The place was like a ghost ship and not open. Time to leave we thought, but where too? Bali was my first thought but flights were not as advertised. Chaing Mai was decided. Within 12 hours we left for Bangkok and flew to Chaing Mai. Peace at last. Its currently 37C and im sitting round the pool................Bliss ;-)

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