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Hello everyone,
We hope all is well at home, we are missing you all lots!
After our time in Cambodia we went back to Bangkok. As you may remember our first impressions of Bangkok was that it was mad and we didn't really like it. However this was now our fourth time in Bangkok (or Josh's sixth time counting his previous trip) and now being completely at ease with mad cities after spending time in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh to name a few - Bangkok really started to grow on us! This time we stayed just off the Khao San Road (which is the main backpacker area), and we really made the most of everything Bangkok. We stayed for three days, ate the street food, used the Sky Train (Bangkoks monorail) - Josh even got a haircut (although he was less than impressed with the results). We spent much of our time exploring the HUGE shopping centres, which consisted of 7 or 8 floors of all kinds of shops including a section dedicated to Lamborghinis and Bentleys and a Magnum restaurant (as in the ice cream). Josh later discovered (in his constant pursuit of useless knowledge)(not that useless as it has been used in here) that the one shopping centre was five times the size of the Bull Ring, with another one exactly the same size next to it!
We then made our way down to the South of Thailand - which we now refer to as the journey from hell. We made our way from our hotel in Bangkok to the train station via tuk tuk. We then waited for a few hours as the train was surprisingly late (hoping that the sarcasm comes across here). The sleeper carriages where you get proper beds were fully booked, so we had seats which were in between a door that people constantly used throughout the night and some Italian people who would not stop talking. Needless to say there was no sleeping involved. When the train arrived in Surat Thani we had planned to get the bus to the west coast but we were told that they were having monsoons there so we quickly changed our plans and headed to the islands on the east coast. This involved getting a taxi to a bus, getting a bus to the ferry port, waiting for a couple of hours as the ferry we were supposed to get on broke, getting the ferry to Koh Samui and then getting a taxi to Chaweng beach. 18 hours after leaving Koh San Road and no sleep later we finally settled into our new hotel!
On our first full day on Koh Samui we decided to do some exercise. We swam, did some crazy abs workout that Josh had downloaded and went for a run (well attempted to run in Christina's case). That evening we went to a lady boy cabaret show which was interesting. Christina strategically sat in the aisle seat, which prevented Josh getting molested like a few of the other men sitting in the aisle did! We went out after which consisted of lots of dodgy dancing, Christina dropping a pool cue through some decking without noticing, then thinking it had disappeared and Josh getting told off for doing pull ups on the beam holding the bar up! We woke up the next day and couldn't move. So we spent our next few days on Koh Samui lazing by the pool, chilling on the beach and swimming in the sea - which was the same temperature as a bath.
We then decided to move on to the next island Koh Phangan. Finding a hotel proved rather difficult as everywhere was fully booked due to the Full Moon Party. After much despair, a sob story from Christina and a generous hotel owner, we ended up in a gorgeous hotel which should have been way out of our budget! The hotel was only six months old and the owner told us at great length about his story and how difficult it was running the hotel - although a few minutes later he was taking a nap. We spent the next few days chilling by the infinity pool, eating and drinking (it's a hard life) before moving on to Koh Tao.
On the boat across we decided to sit downstairs which proved to be a mistake as it soon filled with exhaust fumes, we quickly moved to the deck where everyone was sunbathing or sitting with their legs hanging over the sides. We managed to find a small space and enjoyed the sun and fresh air. This was until Josh turned around and revealed the weirdest suntan ever; he had been leaning on a piece of wood that was full of old screw holes, so was left with red dots all over his back. After we arrived and finally found a hotel, we spent the afternoon and evening on the beach to watch sunset.
The next day we hired a scooter to explore the island. We started by going up a mountain dirt track which eventually got so steep that the scooter (and Christina) just wouldn't go any further. We went down and found another track leading to a small beach where we hired some snorkelling gear and swam out to look at the coral reef and exotic fish. Later that day we attempted another mountain track, this time the scooter just about made it up but the track became so bad that we had to go on by foot. We found an amazing view point which had a swing overlooking the whole island below. While Christina played on the swing, Josh attempted an ascent of the jungle covered summit. He came back an hour later covered head to toe in scratches and thorns, and didn't even know if he had got to the top or not!
The following day Christina went scuba diving - the full moon party had been the day before so she had two instructors to herself. On the first dive we went to some shallow water and practised various skills such as clearing the mask of water and taking out the mouthpiece which she somehow bluffed her way through. Having satisfactorily shown the skills, we then swam out under the water looking at various fish and coral as we went. On the second dive we went much deeper using a boats anchor line to reach the bottom. She really loved the experience. While Christina was scuba diving Josh went snorkelling and topped up his tan on the boat. That evening, we went to a really busy Thai restaurant where Josh ordered loads of food; this was perhaps the biggest mistake of travelling so far and the start of a nightmare few days…During the night we both fell ill with bad food poisoning, this wouldn't have been the end of the world any other time but we had a ferry and an interconnecting train to catch the following day and couldn't cancel it as it would have meant overstaying our visa. By 10 in the morning, when we were meant to be checking out, Josh couldn't even stand up he was so weak so there was no way we were getting to the ferry. Thankfully, although feeling really ill, Christina managed to change the ferry for the next day and also booked us into another hotel just down the road. After carrying Josh and the bags to the new hotel, we both took a load of medicine and crashed out on the bed.
The next day, still feeling rough we got the boat to the mainland and caught a 13 hour night train down to the Malaysian border. When we arrived at Sungai Kolok station, we noticed that there was a big police presence and lots of barbwire etc. we had heard it had high security so just started walking towards where we thought the border was. It was an uneasy 15 minute walk and we were glad to get to the border office. We later found out that the part of southern Thailand we had been in was a no-go area for tourists as there are regular terrorist attacks, the latest one was only a few of weeks ago. As a fitting end to our last few days in Thailand, we were also fined 500 Baht by the border patrol for overstaying our visa. Let's hope we have better luck in Malaysia!!
xxx
- comments
Elizabeth Pendleton Hi Both. Worry about you both the best of times but even more when I hear about food poisoning and potential terrotist attacks; so pleased Malaysia is next on the agenda. Hope you are both feeling much better; such a shame you both got fined as well when it wasn't your fault. Well done for your scuba diving activities, I hear it's meant to be an amazing experiance but I have never built up the courage to do it. Love and miss you loads, hope Malaysia puts smiles on your faces. Liz
Keith Pendleton sorry to read about the food poisoning and then having to travel, I imagine that that wasn't much fun. However the Scuba diving and other fun bits sound great. Hope Malaysia is just as much fun. Missing you loads but love the updates. love Dad xx
nan jackie xx lovely to hear all about your travels wish I was young again bob has been in hospital but out now dizzy spells not through drink either makes a change keep the blog going love you take care love nan jackie and bob xx