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It was a slow day getting to the border of Cambodia and Thailand. As we entered Thailand, the change in the roads were immediate and we could travel kilometres without hitting any giant potholes or piles of rubble. We met Oli's parents in Trat, and stayed here overnight. We had a a lot to catch up on, and after many Changs it was time for bed. With small Chang-overs, we caught the speedboat early next morning to Koh Kood, the superstar island of Thailand. The speedboat dropped us off at our hotel pier and we were greeted with a welcome drink and an enormous two storey bungalow with a sea view just for me and Oli! It was rather different to the standard of accommodation we were used to! Very luxurious! The next few days we spent lazing around by the pool and the beach that looked over to the river on one side and the sea on the other, divided by a sandbar lined with palm trees. We kayaked across to this sandbar for a sunset drink a few times which was really good fun. I even saw a few jellyfish. Another day we kayaked down the river, with mangroves on either side to a rubber farm. From here you can walk to one of the waterfalls. We all climbed the rocks to get over to the green pool with the water cascading over the top of some more huge rocks. We all had a go at swimming in the freshwater and Oli's dad swum towards the waterfall and tried out one of the rope swings!
The next day we hired mopeds and rode across the island to visit the sights and see some more stunning beaches. We were faced with a 4 challenges:
1)The mud on the roads due to the biggest thunder and lightning storm we've witnessed on our travels which hit the island early that morning. Oli's flip flops kept breaking on the dirt tracks so he rode bare foot with me walking behind. (I refused to get back on!)
2) Keeping up with Oli's parents on the mopeds!
3) Navigating with the simplest map where every rode was straight line despite it actually being constant bends and hills.
4) Squeaky breaks that didn't work particularly well (we only found out as we were going down the first hill... Note to self- check breaks before choosing a moped)
We overcame the challenges and visited two sea gypsy villages at either ends of the island. We ate freshly caught fish, Diane had Mantas shrimp and Nigel had giant prawns despite not liking seafood!
It had been a great few days. We ate lots of thai food and had an especially good meal at a place at the side of someones home which only has 3 tables and plays Simply Red on repeat. We were very sad to leave this amazing and tropical paradise but we were especially sad to be leaving Diane and Nigel. This got particularly emotional when they wished us a Merry Christmas, reminding us that we would not be at home. So they waved us goodbye from the pier and we sailed off on the speedboat and caught the bus to Bangkok.
- comments
Rob N Did you keep 'holding on' ?