Day 71 6th February

We wake up to the sound of 100000 animals, insects and birds that are all fighting to be heard in a morning courus that's playing at full volume.... It's a nice way to be woken up, but we don't get up, and instead just relax and listen until 9 - 9.30.....

We make our way down to the bamboo restaurant area that sits on the fringes of the sand and take a seat.... It really is a little piece of paradise..... What a beautiful environment these guys work in...

We spend the first few hours of the day just chatting with Michelle and before we know it lunchtime is upon us....

We order some lunch and plan our transport to Ko Phi Phi.... The next stop on our travels.... We can get a ticket from the hotel for a boat in the local harbour that'll take us to the island costing 450Bt each..... This works for us so after dinner I leave Shiree on the beach and walk along the beach into the distance in search of an ATM.... At one end of the beach is a river that separates us from the harbour of the local town of Ao Nang which is also situated on the far side of the river.... It's a long trip round by car, all to cross a river that's 50ft wide....but on our side there's nothing.... It's rivers sand lined on either side and the waters calm and blue... Tempting a swim across, But it's also busy.... Boats are coming and going every few minutes, and many are the traditional Thai long tail boats that have the huge turbo diesel car engine and frantically spinning, half exposed propellers... The idea, according to Michelle is that you attract the attention of a passing boat, flag one down and pay them to take you to the other side.... She had done this earlier in the day and that's what I'm going to do...

I've been reliably informed to keep walking until a find an English guy with a large white boat that's up on the sand, from here you then look for a boat to take you over....

I find the boat easily.... It's a large boat that's beached half in the water and half out tied to some mangrove trees, and Bruce the English owner is Brillow padding himself in the water trying to remove hundreds of white paint marks from his skin from where he's been painting the hull of the boat... I stop for a quick chat that last a couple of hours.... The boat is marooned on the beach and is minus it's propeller which has recently been destroyed after getting tangled up with some submerged chain...

Bruce is an interesting guy who has lived in Thailand for the last 20 years.... He trades oil futures at night and sells space on his boat for deep sea fishing by day.... He has a film company coming over who have rented his boat out for the day at a cost of 30,000Bt, so is desperately tying to source a replacement propeller.... Ironically, as we stand amongst the wash of the breaking waves next to his boat chatting a Thai long tail boat drifts by with its owner frantically shouting in Thai to people on the beach.... The engine is running, but his propeller has fallen off....

Bruce points out a few beaches in the distance and recommends a bar where there's live music playing tonight... He plays the guitar with this band, but not tonight.... He informs me that the lead guitar player is very good, and recently made it into 7th place in a "Thais got talent" TV show.... Apparently the town of Ao Nang is a lively place at night and we'll worth a visit.... I decide to decline his offer of a lift the the other side in his tender in favour of returning to the bungalow and heading into Ao Nang for the evening with Shiree....

I drag her off the beach and we get ready for the night..... I'd left four 1 litre bottles of clean water from the bar out in the sun since breakfast, and as dusk starts to appear as I enter the shower it suppressing how much heat the waters retained.... The water from the bottles is not warm, it's hot... And makes a very welcome change from yesterday's torture exercise....

We leave the hotel as it's getting dark, and by the time we've walked the half mile stretch on beach to the crossing point it's pitch black.... I wave the torch on the phone above my head at passing boats, and one soon stops to collect us.... They charge an exuberant sum of money to drop you at the other side, but we have no choice... So 30 seconds after getting on the boat, we're getting off again the other side, and now we have to locate a Tuk Tuk..... This, as it turns out is easy... There's a load of them lined up as a ferry has just arrived, and we manage to share a ride into Ao Nang.....

We arrive into a lively town that's basically made up of a busy beach front road that's made up if many bars and restaurants..... It's in total contrast to where we have been staying and it's nice to be back in the thick of the action again, if only for an evening.....

We grab some dinner in a lovely Swedish restaurant and wonder off in the direction of the full non bar.... As recommended by Bruce..... The bars already playing by the time we get there, and in contrast to the bars name, the music is very good... It's a four piece band that has a certain Spanish feel to it, although it's performers are all Thai and it's brilliant..... They really are fantastic, and put on a very good show.... We've never seen anything like it.... It almost looks like a different style of playing a guitar is done so fast...

We notice Bruce arrive, but decide not to go over, he's here with friends....

We stay till midnightish before deciding we'd better make tracks home.... We probably won't be able to get a boat back across the river now, so have to reply on a Tuk Tuk..... The Tuk Tuks here are bike with a side car that can carry. 6 people, and has a roof to cover them all. Plus the rider..... Thankfully the first one that stops for us knows where we want to go , which is handy as it's a remote little place..... We wiz through then night in our side car Tuk Tuk..... It's quite odd looking at a bike that's powering your transport from the side as your travelling.... We travel for around 30 mins.... We are out in the pitch black about half a mile from out bungalow when we hear a loud bang and the whole Tuk Tuk drifts and sways around in the road.... The side car tyres has just popped...... And there's no spare.... We opt to walk the rest of the way to try save the guys wheel as we're on the last road.... as he turns in the road and his headlight slowly disappears into the distance we appreciate for the first time tonight how dark it is... As luck would have it a headlight approaches from behind us in the road giving us a glimpse of the road head... It's quickly passes us, but then slows to a stop.... It's a young guy on a motorbike on his way home.... He tells us both to get on and we disappear off down the road.... We have no idea how far down this road we need to go before we'll pass our bungalow entrance and soon get to the point where the guys at his home, so we thank him and start to walk down the road again, only now his guard dog is awake and is not happy with us walking in the pitch black, so proceeds to follow us down the road barking all the way... We find a way through to the beach via another bungalow complex and eventually loos the dig, we find some familiar sights on the beach and locate our accommodation. Glad to of finally made it home we climb into bed with the fan on full....

What a little adventure today's turned out to be....

http://www.fullmoonbar.in.th/full-moon-main-page.html