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Published: April 18th 2011
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Better late than never!! Haven't had the time to sit down and do this since we got back, so for anyone still interested here's the final instalment.
…....So we totally changed our plans and cut short our stay on Phu Quoc, we flew back to Saigon where we had pre-booked a hotel room for three nights but we were both so eager to hit a Thai beach again that we decided to fly out as soon as possible. We had to pay extra to change flights but managed to get ourselves on the Air Asia to Bangkok later that day, so with just a few hours left in Saigon we took a taxi from the Airport to the city, popped in to see Chan at Bich Duyen to tell him we'd changed our plans and wouldn't be needing our room, then went for lunch and did a bit of shopping. On the way back to the airport 4 hours later we caught a taxi from outside the Ben Thanh Market, there were loads of taxi's around as always, but we made sure that we got one with a meter, otherwise you spend far too long haggling over a price.
Rooftop view of Bangkok
61 floors up, thankfully no rain!! As we headed out of town towards the Airport Barry noticed that the meter was ticking away far too fast for his liking; we'd caught a taxi in to town 4 hours earlier and had already done the airport run in both directions the week before so we both knew exactly what it should cost. Barry started to question the driver but remarkably he could no longer understand English....strange when that happens!! We tried telling him that we knew exactly what was going on, that he had the meter set at a higher tariff and that we only had 160,000 dong on us (this wasn't a lie by the way, we'd saved just enough for the taxi ride with a bit extra left over). He was getting really agitated by this point, especially when Barry mentioned the fact that we'd sort the price out with the airport police when we got there!!! Just before the Airport compound he pulled over and said (in perfect English).....”you get out here” which was a bit of a cheek, then he pointed at the meter....390,000 dong, vile little man!! we gave him what we had and told him if he wanted any more he'd
have to drive into the airport so we could go to an ATM....again he lost his understanding of English and started getting irate, Barry had also lost his cool and started getting irate back.....not the best of situations to be in, the doors were locked so we couldn't get out of the taxi and he just kept screaming at us for the money. Eventually he realised that a) we actually didn't have any more money and b) he'd picked on the wrong people.......must admit though I was bricking it!!!
We landed back in Bangkok and went straight over to Roofview Place, we'd managed to book two nights online (hurray for the Internet).We spent the next morning checking out Thai Islands online and getting prices for Hotels and transport to various places. After a good few hours of searching we'd made our minds up and had gone for a bit of luxury rather than backpacker....this Birthday of mine really is a good one!!
We needed some bits and bobs to take with us to the beach and also for our last night out in Bangkok so spent the day over at MBK and the surrounding Malls. On our way
back to Roofview we cut down Kaoh San and bumped into a couple that we knew from Goa, David and Linda were in Bangkok on a visa run....hope they got it sorted cause from what they were telling us the visa situation over in India is getting ridiculous!!
Last night in Bangkok and yes you've guessed it...another special Birthday night out!! This time Vertigo; a rooftop bar on the 61st floor of The Banyan Tree Hotel.....what a great night!! Cocktails to die for, great atmosphere, excellent service and a birds eye view of the city......we could get used to this. They do have a dress code which is why we'd needed to go shopping earlier, they don't allow flip flops, shorts for men and no backpacks. We couldn't help but laugh out loud at a party of Europeans being turned away for breaking all three rules which are clearly displayed on the 1st floor!! What we loved about Vertigo was it's laid back atmosphere, apart from the dress code there was no snobbery, everyone was just out to have a good time and take in the views.
…...So, off to Koh Samet. Minivan, Ferry and 7 hours later we stepped off onto another lovely beach surrounded by clear sea and sunshine. We've been to Koh Samet before but only stayed for one night on our way to Koh Chang, we'd stayed in a backpackers place on a different part of the island and had liked it apart from the rip off taxi drivers...seems to be a theme here!! This time we spoilt ourselves and booked 3 nights in The Samed Cabana Resort on Ao Wong Duean beach.
There's not a lot to do on Koh Samet and this suited us fine, we spent the days on the beach sunbaking, reading, swimming and watching the Russian tourists cavorting in the waves snapping cheesy photo's of each other. At sunset time we'd head over to Blue Sky where the restaurant owners had built a seating area jutting out over the rocks at the edge of the sea, an excellent vantage point for watching the sunset. Each night we'd purchase a half bottle of Rum, two bottles of Red Bull and a can of Coke and would polish the lot off over ice whilst watching the sun dip behind the distant headland.....wish we were there right now!!! After a quick shower we'd head back out onto the beach to choose our eating place for the evening. There was a good choice of restaurants on the beach and they all offered BBQ'd meat, fish and seafood with a variety of seating options, everything from wooden picnic tables to the more comfortable bean bag option, again we'd wash this down with a couple of drinks while watching the fire dancers strutting their stuff in the surf. This was more or less our ritual for the whole of our stay on Samet and we loved it.
Our time was up and we reluctantly headed back to Bangkok one last time to catch our Etihad flight to London, back to reality, back to the cold miserable weather but worst of all back to living 200 miles apart.....roll on our next holiday :-)
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pauline Outram
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Whay a lot of sunshine.
Glad you are both back in good health. Bet you are now planning the next one. Has been really good to see where you have been and hear about you escapades. Thanks for sharing