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Hello all!
It's been a week or so since our last blog and to be honest you might think it's because we have been so busy adventuring that we couldn't find internet access...well just not true :) Since our last blog we mostly been lying on the beach....snorkeling....sunbathing...eating & drinking...exploring on our moped and having our first (near) taste of a 'half' moon party!
We ended up staying put on Ko Phanyan island for 10 days after falling in love with tropical paradise. We meant to have moved on to the mainland much sooner but bronzed bodies and lazy days held us captive. During our last days on the island we decided to travel to the North East of the island which apparently had the most beautiful beaches backed by lush mountains. We were warned that the roads leading there were challenging and only 'experienced' motorcyclists should attempt to reach the beach by road. Well...Chris has been riding a moped for all of 4 weeks now so we figured that we could give it a go. It started off OK but within 10 minutes the smooth tarmaced surfaces gave way to severe pot holes and sheer drop off's the side of limestone cliffs! I was pretty scared perched on the back of a 125cc moped with Chris making his 'expert' manovuers to A, keep us moving with enough momentum to make it up the steep hill climbs and B, preventing us from disappearing off the edge of the road. I felt lucky that i was suffering with hayfever so badly that my runny eyes esentially rendered me blind for the entire journey. The only time i was made to open my eyes was when we attempted a hill so steep that our moped almost ground to a stop, Chris informed me delicatley that i needed to get off the bike to lessen the load and walk the remainder of the hill ! To add insult to injury, a petite Thai couple flew past us on there moped, travelling at least 10mph! I'm sure they were smirking at my sweating face as they cruised past with ease!
Luckily when we finally arrived the beach was beautiful. Pristine white sand and blue waters made the journey almost worth it. We quickly realised that the beach was dedicated to upmarket resorts and we couldn't even pay for a sunlounger as they were for hotel guests only. We layed on the sand for a while, got a little sunburnt and then shared a yummy but overpriced Chicken Baguette in one of the 5 star hotel cafes. Then drove back :(
I've been tagged teamed in by Bex..
Ok, we relised that maybe we should get back into adventuring mode and after much debating on where to go and what to do next we decided on going to Khao Sok national park and then heading south through Malaysia.
Khoa sok is apprantly the worlds oldest rainforest, but recently had a large transformation in the shape of a massive dam which has flooded several hundred kilometres. So in the middle of this rainforest in now a huge lake, which even though is man made, is truly stunning as huge limestone cliff still surge out of the water.
After a day of travelling on boats, buses and taxis we arrived at our hotel. We had paid slighty more for one with air con but dont regret it for one moment as the heat and humidity here is immense. We arranged for a "lake tour" we which we thought involved a boat ride around the lake, stopping for some local lunch and a small trek through the forest. Not so simple.... after the death bus brought us to the lake, we hopped on board a local looking long boat with the other niave tourists and had a very pleasant ride to some floating lake huts where we could swim, kayak and relax. I had a dip in the lake but Bex belived it to full of snakes, piranhas and crocodiles, I met none. After lunch the guide told us we would be heading for our trek and we should expect to get wet, especially in the cave......sorry? cave? wet? I think were more concerned that we only had flip flops or our very new hardly used, except a walk around Grimston, expensive hiking boots and now they where going to get drenched.
The hike itself was good, walking through quite dense rainforest, wading through streams and seeing amazing birds such as the Great Hornbill, which sounded like a hangglider it was so large, passing over our heads. After about an hour of dodging spiderwebs and peeling leeches off me and Bex we got the cave, was chucked a head torch to put on and told to keep it above the water! How deep were we going exactly?! We followed our guide/driver/boatman and entered the cave. The daylight soon disappered and all we had was our head torches. the water was only about 2 foot deep at the minute. Deep in the cave we came across thousands of bats and the odd catfish. A russian man on our tour said to Bex "you see all those bright shiny things all around in your torch light?' "ooo yes" replied Bex "they're beautiful".
"They are spider eyes!" the russian answered!
Great I was pretending to be Indiana Jones and now all Bex wanted to do was hold my hand and reassure her they don't bite. the cave got tougher and smaller and we had to climb down water falls, squeeze through rocks and swim at points the water was that deep! Absoultley crazy but brilliant, even bex said it was amazing. We squeezed out a very tiny hole and squinted in the daylight as we began to trek back. Great day.
On our second day we braved the forest ourselves and with the aid of the worlds worst map headed on a well trodden route to some water falls hoping to see at least a monkey or two. The day turned quite surreal as we bumped into another English couple, the guy seeming familiar. We trekked with the couple for the rest of the day, had a drink and chatted loads without talking about the elephant in the room ( no, not a real elephant sarah) the guy was an actor in Hollyoaks! Duncan for those who care. We did talk about it eventually which Bex loved! Random day though.
Now got a day of travelling, but its our last day in Thailand. Have fell in love with the place, sad to leave but excited to start exploring another country.
Chris and Becci
- comments
Sarah Hey guys, the beaches sound gorgeous my idea of paradise, Chris I was starting to wonder about elephant in your room ! ha ha, bex ur so brave with spiders urghh the thought of all those little eyes looking at me I'd of screamed the cave down ha ha, take care guys x
Abi Duncan from Hollyoaks - amazeballs! The cave trek sounds terrifying - sounds like you're having a fab time though. Miss you both loads x
Jenny Hi both, just found your latest blogs sorry we thought you had forgotten us. Wow what a fab time you are having the beaches look idyllic. Take care love you. Mum & Dad