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Published: October 30th 2008
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Right, where do we start? We have been up to so much since our last entry where we only had a few days left in Chiang Mai. Our last few days were mostly spent arranging our trip down south and visiting our favourite place to eat in Chiang Mai - a little thai curry house called Aroon Rai which served the best curry ever.........or so we thought......
We got the sleeper train back south to Bangkok again which was excellent and this time we were able to sleep far better so it was a nice trip, although it did take another 15 hours. As we had booked our next train to the south for the same day we arrived in Bangkok we had about 8 hours to kill so dumped our luggage for the day and headed back into the city where we "discovered", or rather stumbled acorss Chinatown and the flower market on the river which was excellentm a real locals market. Then we bumped into Jo, yet another friendly Bangkok native who wanted to advise us how to spend the day, this time we went with it and ended up having him charter us a tuk tuk for
about 3 hours for 40bht (65p!) who then took us around and showed us some sights, as well as delivering us at two tailors and a jewellery factory so that he would qualify for free petrol as it was a national holiday that weekend! After a busy day in Bangkok and a huge storm that we weathered in a bar where we met a v.cool guy covered in tattoos from San Francisco who owned his own shop and knew the Miami and LA Ink crew we headed for the station to get the train.
However, as it was public holiday the trains were busy and we had only been able to get not sleeper, not second but third class, which meant a 17 hour trip on essentially a wooden bench! Alice got no sleep at all, and I resorted to lying under the seat on the floor to get a couple of hours......although we are not complaining as the journey only cost us GBP4.50!! Incidentally, the same price as the 'Subway' that we bought to take on the train for dinner!!!
We finally reached Trang which seemed to be the town that time forgot. It was friendly but
was like stepping back in time with the buildings, cars and places to stay! We opted for a place from the guide book which claimed to be a "5 Star Backpackers" hostel and was in fact not nice at all! It was fine though as it was just a stopping point before heading out to the islands in the Andaman Sea which is what we came south for.
The next day we headed out and took a bus to the pier and hopped on the longtail for our hour and a half journey to the island of Koh Hai, not before out boatman fell off the roof of our boat at th pier and brought the steps crashing down on top of him! Althought not appearing to be able to swim he got his priorities ordered and desperately saved his cigarettes first! Then we were off.....
We headed to Koh Mook first where we dropped off the fallen boatsmen and his washing before a rough (ish) journey across to Koh Hai which was instant paradise! We hopped off the boat into the crystal clear bathwater warm sea and waded to shore with our bags on our backs where
we dumped them in our perfect beachside straw / bamboo bungalow before heading straight to the beach! Then it happened! We were in paradise, it couldnt get any better, the sun was shining, the water was blue, the beach was white, the coconuts were green and ripe and I went for a swim (Ally). It was low tide so I waded out a good 100m before I was waste deep dived in, put my hand down.......straight onto a black spikey (needle like!) sea urchen the size of a football which made my hand extremely similar in looks to a pin cushion! Great! I went straight to the nearest accomodation and got help form the locals who squeezed lime into it and picked out the ones they could before ordering me that "pee pee" was the best option! So........desperate times called for desperate measures and greusome as it is (and as a journalist I feel compelled to tell all) the next hour was spent bathing my hand in my own "pee pee"! Now, 5 days later and after more treatment of one kind or another it still hurts but is on the mend! Only me!!
The rest of our stay
on the island was idyllic, perfect weather, white sand beaches, crystal warm waters and no more urchens! Our accommodation was basic but great, we had a toilet (ish), a cold shower whenever we liked, electric only after 6pm and only a handful of giant beetles and a lizard who had krept into the room while we were out which were chased out with a broom, and the island was deserted as it is the tail end of low season currently!
Unfortunately Alice had gotten a bit of heat stroke so was just relaxing and catching up, I left her behind to go snorkelling and chartered a longtail on my own! They took me across the water to a neighbouring island called Koh Mook where we (me and the guide) swam 80 meters (60 of which in pitch black with only a weak torch) through the Emerald (Morakot) Cave at high tide to reach the secret lagoon behind which was simply stunning! The water had now turned to a beautiful Emerald colour and I had the place to myself, absolute perfection, it was like being in the middle of a volcano where some of the rarest plant and bird species
in the world live due to it being completely untouched by humans! We spent some time here and then back into the darkness where there was only a few inches of breathing space between the water and roof of the cave at times and to the next island of Koh Wan for some snorkelling. The water here was amazingly clear and I was surrounded by tropical fish of all sizes and shapes, neon yellow, electric blue, sparkelling purple and everything in between, strpies, spots, half-and-halfs....amazing! Again, this island was not inhabited so was perfect for it and I had visibility of at least 20meters underwater. Koh Cheuk was next and more of the same!!
We ended our time on Koh Hai by treating ourselves to the freshest of fresh fish and crabs on the bbq that had been swimming only an hour before! The restaurant (Mayalay) was on the beach and we turned up in bare feet having walked a hundred meters from where we were staying and sat with the waves lapping a few feet away! The morning we left the island, our last treat was when the locals climbed the hug palms outside our bungalow and threw
down fresh coconut.....and a huge lizard of about 2ft long! They then cut the top off the coconuts, put a straw in and passed it over for us to drink! Then once it was empty, it was cut in half and we ate the flesh! We left the lizard tied up as it was for the bbq that evening, which Alice was 'very' dissapointed that we missed!!
We then headed for Koh Lanta, the next island for our stay! We waded out to the longtail through the waters where we pulled alongside a small 'ferry' (just a slightly bigger boat really) and boarded to be on our way to Lanta, only to break down five minutes into our journey! The anchor was downed, and we sat floating for 30 mins while they repaired the engine and we were back on our way, again, we got off and boarded another longtail which took us to shore in Lanta where we are now........and its RAINING......HARD! Our accomodation is really nice here too, and for about GBP3.00 each we have a brand new bungalow on stilts with all the luxury of a sink and flushing toilet!! Here are some of our pictures
from over the last week or so to keep you updated!
Hope you enjoy and look forward to hearing from you! Ally and Alice x
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