Well im back in Bangkok now for the last time. Since last writing to you i have been down South to Khao Sok National Park, then got a boat to Koh Samui, then a boat to Koh Tao, then a boat, train and taxi back to Bangkok.
Khao Sok National Park was one of the friendliest places i have been to in Thailand, and the food was amazing where we were staying. Not sure if ive told you this before, but me and my friend Kate are well known now for eating anything that doesnt move...everytime we get to a restauranbt people say things like ;going to eat everything on the menu again today girls?'...we cant help it, we are growing girls and need our energy!
Anyway, so the accomodation wasnt actually in the National Park, it was a small walk down the road to get there. Our huts were like a hotel room with a bathroom, and raised off the ground, two to a room. There were lots of bugs, lizards and other strange creatures-a few of s found it hard to sleep due to a fear of being attacked by something, or the Gheckos were making too much noise. One of the insects sounded like a fire alarm! The settings were really beautiful though-it was right on the river and we made the most of it by swimming in it and going tubing down it. For anyone who doesnt know-tubing is basically floating down a river on a bit rubber ring. At first i was hardly moving, but once we got going it was quite fun. One girl is scared of fish, and when theywere putting us into the rubber rings theyt were feeding the fish at the same time so they bit your bum...the girl who is scred of fish went absoltuely nuts and was swearing at the Thai guides...over reacted a bit we felt!
The mountains and trees you could see along the river were amzing, and the water was so clear, so the next day we decided to head into the National aprk to look for the waterfall. We took quite a while to walk there, and it was so hot, so by the time we got there we were glad to jump in! It wasnt really a waterfall to be honest, but we didnt care by that point! I jumped into the river off a big rock (like they do in films...i felt liberated! haha!) and saw tons of fish. After we'd spent quite a while in there we headed back for some food-good job we didbecause it started tipping it down as soon as we got back! It was very humid that day so it was nice to have some fresh air finally.
That night a few of us went to check out the local bar-the service was so slow but because it was such a random set up we werent really that bothered. Basocally the manager/barman sleeps in a sleeping bag behind the bar which is all made out of wood. Its basically a wooden hut with some drink in it, then out the front was a camp fire, some candles hanging from the trees, and someone playing reggae music! Once we had a couple of drinks there we headed bAck to bed. A few of our group were watching some Thai soap on TV in the restauarnt...they didnt know the words obviously so they made it all up. In real life on of the actresses is called Pancake (yes really!) and she was horrible in this soap, so we now insult people by calling them 'evil pancake' if they annoy us. If you look at the Koh Samui pics you will see my friend Gemma holding up a amagazine with an evil look on her face...Pancake is on the front cover...
Anyway, so we left Khao Sok and headed out on a boat to Koh Samui. It was really beautiful there, but we only had one night there so hardly any time to see it. We found out that the Full Moon Party was on the might we were there-and such an opportunity could not be missed. We gathered up some beefy men (well sort of!) from our tour and we all set off to Koh Phangang (i think thats how you spell it!) The party was amazing-we painted ourselves in flourescent paint (i know...i love the stuff!) then went down to the beach for the party. It was quite possible the best party in the world ever..ive seen it advertsied like that but it really is! We drank out of buckets which were ridiculously cheap, and ifell over in the se and lost my flip flops! All in all a very good party!
The morning after we had some breakfast (and luckily a late start!) and made our way to the pier to get a boat to Koh Tao....this iswhere the fun really started...
wel all sat down inside the feryas you do...then it started to get a bit choppy so a few people went outside for some air....byt he end ofthe 2 hour journey there were about 30 people (inlcuding staff!) all throwing up over the back of the boat! It was apparently one of the roughest journeys theyve ever had...and it had to happen the dayu after the full moon party! I had a quick look around and could see that most people hanging off the back were covered in flouro paint and had full moon wrist bands on. From now on this boat was called the 'puke boat'.
Once in Koh Tao the majority of us spent the rest of the day just having a nap and getting showered-then we had dinner together and admired the sceneryfrom the restaurant. It was right on the beach and had one of those swings that hung from the tree and swang out over the sea-quite cute really. The resort was quite big here-it all looked new and quite westernised, but it was still like paradise. Kate and I went for a walk down the beach in the evening, and there were fairy lights, little boats, bars on the beachetc, it was really nice.
The next day we all went out snorkalling in the sea-we were taken to an amzing island called Nangyuan island, which was more like paradise that our resort-none of us wanted to leave! We all got a bit sunburnt here but it was worth it! There were also some teeny tiny jellyfish in the sesa that kept stinging us, and one girl was screaming for hewlp becuase she couldnt swim! (apparent;ly she jumped out the boat earlier all ready to snorkel then screamed for help because hse couldnt swim...then she goes and does it again!!).
The restaurant on the island was on a little sand island of its own, so we had to wade throuhg water that was waist deep to get there-apparently its always like that, its the charm of the place! We spent all day on the boat snorkelling in various places-we saw lots of various fish and had lunch on the boat, then headed back for dinner.
After dinner that night we were taken to watch a Ladyboy show-it was like a cabaret where they just mime, but it was free so cant complain! Some of the ladyboys were vbery convincing...so much sothat i genuinely dont thin i would have noticed! others were just men dragged up.
Once the show finished we made our way to the swing by the beach, set out a picnic blanket and sat around talking. This was to be our last night together other than the sleeper train the next night.
The next day when we left Koh Tao, we pretty much just tavelled the whole day, as the journey back to the train station was quite long. One girl decided to stay and extra couple of dsays in Koh Tao, so we had to say our goodbyes there. We got on the back of our pick up trucks (thats what they use for taxis!) and drove off to the pier. Needless to say we were all a bit nervous about getting on the boat, but today we didnt have hangovers and the sea was calm-luckily we had a good journey back to the mainland!
Once we were in the train station we had a bit of dinner then got on the train. It was the Kings bday on Saturday, so there have been a lot of celebrations around here, parades, TV programmes etc.Also, peole arent supposed to drink alcohol- one restauarnat gotaround that for us though-they gave us beer in mugs so no-one would notice! Apparently its not that bad if your not Thai.
So once we got off the sleeper trian in Bangkok the tour had officially ended-most of us were still in Bangkok that day anyway, so we all met up by the pool in one of the hotels for the day. Later that night we went for a meal by the bridge again (our tour leader always takes us to that restauarnt! Its veryu good but surely there are other places?!)
We gave a little speech to our tour leader and gave him a tip, and he said how much he had enjoyed having us...blah blah...then he got all emotional and said we should keep in touch etc. Luckily he lives in Bangkok, so over the next couple of days he said if we wanted anything arranged he would orgabnise it for us with a discount, and would even come with us as a free tour guide-very nice of him.
My hotel for the next couple of nights is on Khao San Road-quite possible themost popular and busy street in Banghkok. In case you dont know it, its basically like one huge long market that sells everything from clothes, to massages, drinks, food. You have to barter a lot to get good prices for things..a quality i have been practicing!
Its very starnge that my travels are coming to an end now-cant believe how much ive done in the 3 months but im glad to be going home to some little luxuries. Its starnge what you miss when your away from all the comforts of home...mine have mainly been chocolate biscuits, tea, a warm shower (very rararely get a warm powerful shower anywhere!) and home made food!
I have a few war wounds from my time here-got bitten a lot the other night, so im hoping they disappear before icome home so i can show people my tan without having bites everywhere! Also i have a scrape on my knee from when i fell over in the sea :-(
Am looking forward to seeing you all when i get home-am off out to a restauarnat tongiht which is 77 floors high. Its the tallest building in Bangkok, so a few of us are going up to take pics, have dinner and say goodbye to ach other (we are gradually all leaving!).
I will probably put another album of pics up when i get home of the past couple of days in Bangkok...so until next time....