Sleeper trains and Surf boards

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september 16, 2009

The days have flown by and even though its only been less than a week since we left we've seen so much its hard
to even start to write down. For the first two days we spent them in Bangkok where we were taken for rides by tuk-
tuk drivers, stayed in seedy hotels and met lovely british ladies, but the city was overwhelming,dirty and smelly (like
most major cities) so we took off north to Athuytya (I-U-TAYA) to see ruins from before the 17th century and a city built partly
on an island where three rivers confluence.It was amazing, it had the chillness of the beach but the city in it too.
It was a population of about 90,000. We stayed in a hostel that was like a tree house and had the best bar in town there.
The trek south started on the 15th when we jumped the 13 baht ( less than 25 cent) train to Bangkok and headed south
on a night train from there. Allison let me pick Aythuyta so she picked Chaiya (shaya) and we headed to see the oldest
budhist monk in Thailand --- of ocurse he's been dead for 17 years but thats besides the point. We Arrived early in the morning
as in pre- 6am and had no idea where to go luckily we met a monk at the station that asked if we were going somewhere
and as usual we had no plan so we jumped in a truck with him and a german and went to see the monastery. It was beautiful and
well worth the 7km drive there. The library for foreigners was set off in the back corner of the area and the temples were
nature driven and all outdoors where the monkeys ran in the trees and the hundreds of dogs sat waiting for the people. It was
a truly amazing experience to say the least. we eventually made it to surat thani on the east coast that day by the monkl giving
us a ride in the van he was heading to surat thani to teach in. The town was dirty and a mere port to the island so we chose to
head south further to Puhket where we wanted to go to the beach. This is where our tail got interesting as our german friend
we made ( Linus --sorry on the spelling) was heading to kata Beach to surf and we just followed. After nearly 24 hours of trans-
port we landed in kata beach and lucked out and found bungalows that were cheap. They are amazing and overlook the ocean and
you can hear the waves crashing ever time. The town itself is a beach town driven by tourists and eveyrhitng is open so late it's
ridiculous. It has the tailors open till all hours of the night and pool halls open till all hours of the morning. Its great.
The town is a bohemian feel to it and the surf is great. its supposed tobe one of the top places to surf in Thailand and I can see whhy.
The water is warm and despite red flags flying people are in the water and it looks amazing. The Adaman coast is amazing and
although Kata beach is not the limestone rocks rising out of the sea that you see in movies and on the post cards it is the coolest little spot.
The beach is slightly protected in a cove from when the monsoon hit I highly doubt it was protected enough to survive the massive storms of 2006.
From here I want to go to khao lak which is slightly north of here and where the recovering dive town is that was destroyed by the tsunami. The oceans
calling my name from down below and as such I am going to run for coffee then hit the beach for the day.
Crashed and burned, bruised and battered and a little water rolled we tried surfing on the adaman coast for 100 baht and it was great. The other people
not on surf boards were consistently in the way but it was an amazing chance and I loved it. It's exhausting though. Allison and I are loving the sun however it shows that we haven't been in it long as we are both alittle toasty, advice---- where sunscreen in gallons.
Finding things in Thailand proves a little more difficult as we are on the hunt either for a new digital camera for me or a usb charger for the one I have as it seems to not be charging on the wall plug ins that are sometime unreliable in the hotels and hostels. But our hotel this round in Kata beach is amazing and looks over the adaman coast and is truly beautiful, even comes complete with small gecko like friends. There is also an animal that we are searching for its name and it looks like a lemure but its not, long long tail, nocturnal, tree climber, dark grey, and not a prehensile tail. What is it?
shows that there is a major difference in exposure when three hours in the sun here gives us a lobster like glow and three hours at home gives you a
little heat.

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