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Pete & Pam go Travelling
We moved from Chaweng beach to Bang Rak beach four days ago. It is so much nicer up this end of the island. Not touristy at all. We are about 1km away from the nearest temple where the Big Budda sits. Went up to see that day before yesterday. There is a most amazing view over the sea & you can see the neighbouring island of Koh Pangan too. We ate in a local "mamma's kitchen" style eatery for lunch & had fried rice with chicken, pork, crab, shrimp & veggies. It was so delicious. She only had one wok so each dish was brought out individually.
Yesterday we had the most amazing day ever!! We decided to be have an adventurous day & hired a couple of scooters. Yes, thats right we decided to brave the ridiculously bad drivers over here. It cost us 560 Bahts for a days hire with a full tank of fuel. That equates to around 8 pounds!! so cheap.
We got out our map & I (Pam) took the lead. It took a little getting used to. Oh, did I mention that if you see someone wearing a helmet over here its almost as weird as if you see someone not wearing a helmet back in England!! So when we asked for helmets we were looked at very strangly!
We drove round the top part of the island along the coast for a little a while & then went a bit inland. We decided to stop at a place called Island Safari. Here we bought tickets to go on an elephant trekking safari into the jungle a bit. It was only half an hour, but so much fun! At first you feel like you are so high up, but then you kind of get into the swing of the elephant walking. We had a bit of tempermental elephant though. It kept wanting to stop & change direction & it was flapping its ears an aweful lot. Then it made a really loud trumpeting noise which sent Pete & I right out of our seats with fright. But once back down in them with a calmer elephant we enjoyed it a lot. Our guides name was Whem & our elephants name was seventy-one?
So it was then back on our scooters with the wind in our hair - Yes Pete has a lot of hair now - facial & on his head!! I can't quite describe the feeling of riding a scooter with no helmet or protective clothing. You know its dangerous but I suppose thats what makes it so thrilling!! I would definately do that again!!
We have made a few friends on the island now. There is bar called "The Cooler", run by an Aussie who lives over here now. We've been in there the last three nights. Actually the first night we ran in there to get out of the monsoon rain that had hit without any warning. We got chatting to a couple of guys there. It is such a nice feeling to be welcomed by strangers! That is what this experience is all about though, meeting people & swapping stories & then moving on to the next place.
The weather is absolutely beautiful here today. Sun shining, a light breeze, beautiful clear water! I tell you, I could happily spend my days here just being a lazy bum on the beach!
Last night we had dinner at a local joint called Chailay Seafood. We ordered a dish of steamed egg with prawns & veggies in it. It come in this weird looking dish with coal underneath & you have to leave it for a couple of minutes to cook so the egg bit is done. It was scrambled egg cooked in a stock tasting liquid with vegetables, prawns & a lot of garlic. We also shared a crab fried rice, chicken cooked in garlic (about 6 whole bulbs!!) & a plate of roasted cashew nuts. It cost us 6 pounds total & that included beers too. It was the best meal ever!!
Tomorrow we are catching a ferry on to the main land again & then flying back to Bangkok before we fly off to Taiwan next. So will post another entry as soon as poss.
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