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Hi, it's Hols again! Sorry for the delay folks, Thailand is just too relaxing! Anyway to pick up from where we left you: our last night in Kerala...
THE REAL JOHN
At this point, I'd like to note that Els and I have acknowledged the growing interest in our friend 'John' (see North India album) and, as touched as we are, it's time you knew the truth. My friend Ross, legend that he is, has been setting us various missions throughout our travels, the first of which was to find an indian called John. Knowing that this truly was mission impossible (as funnily enough John isn't that common a name in India) we fabricated our very own John who incidentally was just some old guy that sang to us at the peak of Jaisalmer fort. You can therefore imagine our surprise when a 'Mister John' actually contacted us through the website; we wonder who that could have been - in fact it was Ellie's work minor Nathan, oh Happy 30th birthday by the way! And for those of you (Mum) that were gladdened by the prospect of a job with 'Ordley' travel, you have Ellie's Dad's imagination to thank for that one!
Anyway, this confession now arises because as we strolled through Fort Cochin on our last night in India, we were approached by some local lads about a party and, would you believe it? One of them was called John. Bless this guy, from our reaction he probably thought he was famous as we shrieked with delight and insisted upon a photo. So the guy you see pictured in this updated is 'the real John'. Just look at our faces, that is genuine elation!
So having completed the mission, we headed out for a nice meal and treated ourselves to a bottle of red wine, which was in fact Port but we polished it off all the same. When we finally left the restaurant (having been locked in) we resigned to the fact that there were no tuk-tuks and so we semi-staggered our way back to the hotel - taking a slight diversion along the way as it seems Els and Hols really do get lost from time to time! We arrived back a bit late (owing to the unplanned diversion and horizontal walk that delayed us) only to find that our hotel had misunderstood that we needed to go to the airport at 12am and so we were left to our own devices to find some transport. Backpacks strapped on, we headed back towards the town, conscious of the young guys on their mopeds who had been circling us for the last 10-15 minutes and growing more anxious as we discovered that the town lay still and calm at this time of night. Just as we began to panic, who should appear but John's friend that we had met earlier, only now accompanied by a young indian called Ralph (seriously, were we still in India at this point? Who knows!). Talk about SAVE THE DAY, we were soon off on our way again. So it all turned out well in the end, better still when our driver offered us the chance to drive his tuk-tuk! We'd developed somewhat of a passion for these enchanting vehicles (for those of you that know Els, they kind of remind us of Cyril, may he rest in peace); in fact we're thinking of buying one and driving back to the UK...
The following 36 hours were distressing to say the least. What a raw deal we were having! Most of this time was spent in vain trying to sleep in the airports whilst we waited for our interconnecting flights first from Cochin and then from Sri Lanka to Thailand. The 24 hours we had set aside to explore Colombo turned out to be a waste of time; the city was a complete let down! We tried to make the best of it and explore the one shop that was actually open (it was Sunday) and then headed to the beach where we were swiftly moved along by a moody policeman - the beach is not for public use of pleasure apparently. As for the fort...well we couldn't even find it so we headed back to the airport and spent the remaining 12 hours trying to sleep. Again.
When we were finally able to check-in at 5am, we proceeded through to the main airport (which we never should have left) and headed to the nearest bar to have a beer and a glass of wine. Yes, it was 6 in the morning but boy did we need it at this point! There we met a rather interesting (or not) fellow called Will, which under the circumstances, no other name would have suited him better. He is your typical upper-class prat and his only interest in travelling lay with getting a better tan than his ex-girfriend...we're talking more shallow than a puddle. We didn't even realise people like that existed!
Though we were totally exhausted at this point, by the time we were ready to land in Bangkok, the adrenaline was pumping through our veins and the excitement loomed ahead. Thailand at last! It seemed so long ago that we had left India. If ever you have contemplated travelling, Bangkok is a must. This city is alive, vibrant and buzzing with people plus i doubt that there is anything you cannot buy on Khao San Road. Music blaring from every corner, we headed to Central Khao San, which is acclaimed to be the most popular meeting point in the world (a rather impressive statistic, don't you think?) There we grabbed a bite to eat and a beverage and met some English guys who invited us to play their innovative game of LadyBoy-spotting - and Bangkok is hardly shy in this department! It's so hard to tell them apart we we have learned along with some other poor guys that were fooled by this growing phenomenon.
The next day we hit Khao San Road again and spent much of the day shopping and familiarising ourselves (though Els had been before). We knew we would be returning there at least twice before our trip was out and so as we headed off to Koh Phi Phi that evening, we were somewhat relieved that it wasn't really goodbye but only 'see you soon'...
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