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Sawadee Kap! (hey, it’s the though that counts, not the spelling, pronounciation..)
We are in Ranong in a dirt cheap hotel (2 pounds 42 pence to be precise), having caved in and had to go and give $20 to the Burmese military junta. Terrible, but we had to renew our VISA and here it's a 30min boat trip to the border.
Took the night train down from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. We were expecting the Orient express which it really wasn’t (although someone fell off the train! Actually, we provided our first aid kit to someone who was looking after the poor girl so we're not all bad). It was Ok in that you can buy nice food and they make up a comfy bed but we were near the end of the carriage and there were a few cockroaches about. Well, I say a few…They were only small ones but I was on the bottom bunk and they were crawling over my face as I was trying to get to sleep. Very inconsiderate. Once you are asleep it’s no problem, you probably eat a few in your sleep but they eat them for fun over here! Has altered my opinion of cockroaches no end to see them available as snacks, it’s ‘I am the top the food chain, chum’. I recommend the top bunk in the middle of the carriage in case you fancy it. Betty had no insect related incidents.
We stayed for a couple of nights in Bangkok on Khao San. One big drinking night with Simo from Finland and Joanna from Malmo, one day in hiding watching DVDs and one day sight seeing. The Grand Palace is great but damn hot. Bangkok is pretty warm actually. I don’t think I really stopped sweating.
Then we took a night bus down to Ranong via Surat Thani which was 19 hours. I don't recommend doing the journey we did. We set off at 7pm on Sunday and had a 3 hour lay over in the cafe at the end of the world from 5.30am waiting for another 5 hour bus journey.
We stayed a night in Ranong in an overpriced hotel with incomprehensible Thai television (although they do have Premiership hightlights) and then went to Ko Payam for 3 days staying in a beach hut which was v nice. It’s a small, quiet island off Ranong coast with only motorbike tracks. A couple of days of relaxation. We did decide to do one bar crawl which involved much more crawling than pub. We walked an hour into the village from our beach bungalow operation to find a famous expat bar which no longer exists. Found a thai Karaoke bar restaurant where we were the only customers and had some food before setting off for home, now in the pitch black. We stopped off at the appropriately named Middle Bar on the way which also had Karaoke. The temptation was now getting stronger. Steeling ourselves with another Leo beer we were handed the song list which consisted of 1 page of English songs. Tried to sing Just the Way you are (limited list) but that came up with the Cheeky Girls, Take your Shoes Off. Many bemused looks from our Thai friends and a steadfast refusal to sing from us, although I would recommend it for the Karaoke shy amongst you, the words are very limited – ‘Take your shoes off! Feel the freedom!’. Hmmm. The next song was a storming success, ‘One Way or Another’ by …Girl Habit I believe. Great. We left very quickly after taking our bows and headed home when we saw the bright lights of Mr Thao’s bar and stopped for a nightcap or two. All very nice on Ko Payam but we had to extend our visa in Thailand for the next leg of the journey so had to cut it shorter than we would have liked.
After much deliberation we have decided to stump up the cash and go to the Similan islands for a live aboard dive trip. We have to get down there on Monday for a refresher. The cheapest is with Seadragon dive centre in Khao Lak. Will let you know how it goes.
Just off to watch the football!
Take care and thanks for all the messages. Will be getting back to you shortly!
Love Betty and Paul.
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