mon day 80

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Deciding that 2 days and 2 nights on Ko Lipe was enough Elizabeth and I had booked our return journeys for today. The island is beautiful and was definitely worth a visit, but sitting on a beach getting a tan has a short life span for me. Sharing a longboat to the pontoon we were then on 2 separate boats ( different boats run by different companies) but being pretty sure that we would meet again on the mainland, we said a temporary goodbye. Sure enough, after a 2hr boat ride we shared a minibus to Trang together. Elizabeth from here would get the train to Chumpon - to meet up with a friend while I got another minibus to Surat Thani ( both north but the later not being as far.) Arriving about 6pm it had been a long days travelling, so I contacted the hotel owners for a free shuttle service to the hotel. A father turned up in a huge pick up with his son and daughter driving and firstly offered to take me to get some dinner. While doing this the son had some business to get sorted at the local government office, so killing 2 birds with one stone worked out well! Driven to a street restaurant and having a lovely chicken meal with rice for 30 baht ( 60p), picking up some desert and a few snacks from 7/11 ( they are everywhere in Thailand - and a godsend!)I was then driven to the hotel. Chatting with the son on the way - who was pretty fluent in English 10minutes later and we had arrived. For £8 a night they were absolutely selling themselves short - the place was lovely, clean, modern and with loads of little touches here and there. After a blissful hot shower and a proper relax on a comfortable bed it felt like I was being pampered after the last few nights accommodation.

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