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Published: September 16th 2008
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Hope you enjoyed my previous essay, had a bit of blog catching up to do!! now i am on top of it :-)
Today we woke up and as usual headed to breakfast at our hotel all bleery eyed and susing out the dishes on offer.
We often discuss our plans for the day over breakfast, with the weather in mind we decided to enquire about hiring a jeep today. We enquired at the office right near our hotel, where we are using the internet, 1baht a minute! quite slow and cant upload photos but cheap as so worthwhile for booking accommodation and keeping you guys up to date with my blog.
This morning was overcast, perfect as no sun on the beach and didnt want to sun ourselves due to severe sunburnt white bits! oops....the jeep was 1000 baht to hire. We discuessed the hiring of a car and quickly read up on hiring in my thailand lonely planet....we're such chickens!!! It said something about the use of indictors and that the main rule is the bigger vehicles get priority, fine ok.
We sorted the jeep and filled out some paper work, they needed a passport
as a sort of deposit, dan kindly gave them mine. Oh well not the worst place to be stuck in!! whilst dan completed the paper work, I checked out the jeep, we had 2 options a rather sad looking silver jeep or samui susuki, a black beast. Perfect. I was handed the key and waited for Dan. Dan said i could drive, dan says i cant drive but then i say dan cant drive under pressure. I felt better if i drove. Ok so approached with caution, the thai said can u drive?? yup i replied, checked it was manual blah blah. gave the gear stick a wiggle and arranged my mirrors. quite nervous at this point as people sort of gathered as i had to manage to reverse this baby out of a tight spot, turn it and drive...hmm. Ok so started the ignition, the damn thing was in gear! Doh!! the bloke came running back, luckily i stomped on the brake, mm's away from booting the car infront, dan shat himself! haha! Sorry about the language but he did. ok so thai reached over and wiggled the stick OUT OF GEAR, was such a cranky thing to drive
that it felt out of gear in gear. hm, so i digres (cant spell i know). GOt my confidence back and put the thing into reverse, i discovered no power stearing. I was lucky enough to get a little M reg fiesta (billy) for my birthday and it had power stearing...i had never driven without it. Great. So did a 5 point turn and we got on the road. Dan was bricking it. Mopheds weaving in and out, dogs and pedestrians in the street due to lack of sidewalks. Hmmm the adventure began. I got the hang of it and noticed the petrol gage nearing empty....urged dan to direct my to a petrol station, we got some 91 (diesel?) so yes 1st time for everything, no power stearing and a diesel 4x4! yay! dan had said i could drive for the whole day as i had got the nack of the thing.
We tried to drive around the coastal road, the island is only 62 kms wide but we didnt head to the west coast as there wasnt much there. Our 1st stop the Cliff bar and grill, very idillic (spelling is prob wrong, sorry!) was my ideal place,
dark wooden tables and large dark wooden doors. we sat outside overlooking a gorgeous view towards Lamai beach (the 2nd best beach i would say) it overlooked the sea, we investigated the cliff side and took a stroll - i overcame my fear of steep steps and managed to reach the edge (i am not steady on my feet, always fall over! as most of u will know!!). Was too good to miss out on, i read a quote that in 20 years time you will miss out on all the things you DIDN'T do, with that thought in mind i made to to the edge.
Right so back in the car for more exploring of the island....ok the key wouldn't turn. great i thought, dan waved over a non-english speaking thai for help, no idea so he went inside the bar to grab a friend, no ideas either.....we were stuck for a while and ended up with 4 thai locals trying to faddem out how to turn this key.......finally someone had the answer, the steering wheel was locked had to do some trick with the key to unlock it. sucess! shook the guys hand and we were on
our way. dan said they were probably cursing in thai 'bloody foreign women driver cant turn her key,' haha. well it took 4 of them and dan to get it to turn!!!
Next stop we came accross a butterfly garden, climbed the steps of this place and got some spectacular views of the sea and saw some amazing butterflys, so big - almost like bats. also had a bee house which was interesting, read all about the queen and how she mates with the dromes and then they die and she lays eggs and the cycles continues.
Got a 2 for 1 voucher with our ticket to the butterfly garden...it was for cocktails at the very luxurious resort opposite. We walked through the resort to the restaurant sat on Laem Na Thian beach. My 3rd Thai dish, thai green curry - it came in a funny pot, tasted good :-) Virgin Pina Coladas all round though due to driving :-)
Ok, we stopped off at a view point near Lamai Beach near a restaurant called Dr. Frog, again stunning views.
After heading back through Chaweng Beach Road we found a more happening part, we may head
there 2nite for a light bite and some beers.
Brought you all up to speed now, sorry for the essay style blog! Maybe i will learn to keep it shorter as we go along!! The internet is kind of addictive at the moment, its great hearing from family and friends from back home.
Write soon, JB
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bob
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in gear!
like i always tell lin, check its outa gear before starting (many a garage door dented!) didn't billy have a steering lock? of course not its a ford!