A few days after

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Yo people
Ok so its been a while since my last entry but Ive been waiting for something more interesting to happen. We left Bangkok on the 3rd (my birthday) because the city is not entirely to my taste. its good for a few days but then it begins to get slightly tedious, being constantly harassed by taxi drivers.
So we left for Ko Tao, an island in S Thailand. Before we got on the bus to gt there a guy told us that our company was notorious for having things stolen - hence I barely slept on the journey, scrutinizing the baggage hold during the night, waiting to leap up at any thieving bastards. At 2 in the morning we got dropped off at a bus station and nobody bothered to ask why. eventually another bus came and took us to a ferry terminal where we waited for a further 4 hours.
Ko Tao is famous for its diving. its so cheap (when comparing the courses 150 quid here 400 uk). on the boat to Ko Tao, haggling for dive packages became so easy as all the companies want to undercut each other. it truly was the easiest haggling i've ever done. We ended up going with a company because they're rep was from Birmingham and therefore very easy to understand. The company was awesome. In our first few days diving we had 2 dive instructors, a boat, 2 boat staff and unlimited equipment all to our selves. hilst diving we saw some quality things diving - snakes, sharks barracuda (the best thing to see are slugs though - they seriously are quality. so immensely colourful they are unbelievable). got immensley suburnt whilst diving and so I couldnt lie down for a while. bloody sun - its not all its cracke up to be. The brom lady asked me if I wanted to go to a bar to meet her friends. I agreed and so we got on her scooter for the 50m drive to the bar (I weigh it down a treat). As you know Im not a huge drinker and when they offered a beer I declined. they gave me one anyway and a couple of shots. too much for 11 in the morning. When we left the the brommie told me she was going to pick up some drugs. "u wanna come", I declined not wanting to be a drugs mule. "do u want any?". Once again i declined. You hear some very bad tales from other travellers about drugs and you can even go to Bangkok prison to have a chat with inmates. I can't imagine however that conversation flows easily - "so what did you do today?".
We eventually left Ko Tao having had enoughh of diving (im seriously missing it now) and we left by night boat to a national park (rainforest etc.) When we booked it the rep said it had boats. they were taking the piss. it would have been a single for a Thai dwarf (it was cosy mind). It was as if we had embarked on a short lived game of sardines, where no one really won.
When we arrived at the jungle I tolf off a twat of a dutch guy for not taking his shoes off (as is the custom). as a result he was a knob to me the whole time we were there (not for long though - the park grew very mundane as it was quite expensive with not much to do).

And so I am now at a place called Ralegh which is truly extroadinary. The drive here was comes a close second to Yosemite as 'the best drive', with formidble limestone rock strucures striking up from each side of the road. Ralegh is apparently one of the most reveered climb sites in all the world and it is not hard to see why. Huge rocks outcrop form the sea with stalagmites (?) of such incredible size, with vines hanging down (complete with monkeys (one carrying a shopping bag of rubbish). T get here you are required to get on to a fairly small boat, but when we did it it was terrential downpour. That boat journey has strangely been one of favourite crossings yet. The sea looked more a desert than a body of water, the rain creating the image of a sand storm with rolling dunes (the waves) ever present. Whilst here the the sun has been both hot broken up by rain heavier than that mostly experienced in Britain.
The best thing about travelling is meeting people. it so easy to talk to them and you can start conversations with the one phrase "so where are you going?". I have met some brilliant people so far, each with diverse and interesting stories to tell. hav fun in England, Alex
x

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