On Monday we’d spent the day chilling on the beach and then went for a fab run up to the viewpoint, its so hot and we get really sweaty but we are both loving being able to run everywhere we are going. After freshening up we went into the centre for a bit of a night out. We ended up back in the boxing bar where Mister Alex had the fight the other night and Anthony and his friends were all in there too so spent most of the night with them again.
Anyway everytime we’ve gone to this bar I’ve sat there and said how much I wanted to get up there and have a fun fight but we’d thought it would be abit risky going in against someone we didn’t know because not many girls would do that kind of thing on a night out and the kind that would, would be girls that had done abit of some kind of boxing or martial arts. However after we’d had a few drinks and we’re on our way to being abit tipsy a girl appears in the ring and they’re asking for someone to go against her. She was a little bit bigger than me, blonde had done her make up nice and was with her boyfriend too so I thought she probably wanted to have abit of a laugh like me so with some egging on from the group we were with a found myself raising to the challenge!
The first warning sign was when I went over to meet her before the match and she told me she hadn’t had a drink where I’d had a little bit! We got into the ring and we were both laughing at how silly we looked with the gloves, socks and headgear on, the first round started and we met in the middle, touched gloves and then the next thing BOOM she hits me right in the face!!! And then again! And again!!! With a pain in my nose I decided I was having none of this so lashed back and to be fair to myself I apparently did pretty good although I felt bad when I got her in the face! The round seemed to go on forever but they’re only one and a half minutes, just as the bell rang for the end of the round I suddenly felt my legs go beneath me and she’d tripped me to the floor and on my back, shes obviously done abit of some form of martial arts! I think I got abit scared then my nose was killing and the fact she’d just swept the world from beneath me made me really not want to do another 2 rounds with her, I honestly thought she’d actually broken my nose (it’s ok though just a little bruise if you look hard and it’s abit sore) so I told Mister Al and the guys in my corner I couldn’t do it (actually my words were “get me out of here NOW”). After and today I’ve been abit angry at myself because I’m just too competitive to quit like that and the guys all told me after that if I’d gone back and protected my face more I would have been fine, apart from the tackle to the floor I was getting her pretty well, but I suppose some stupid, drunken fight in a bar isn’t worth breaking your nose for or maybe getting a black eye for Christmas so I did the right thing. I’ll just have to call her for a re-match after we eventually do our Thai boxing training!!!!
As Mister Al said we are loving it here, looking forward to doing the overnight trip to Maya Bay that Mister Al talked about and going to Ko Lanta at the end of the week. We went to the viewpoint to watch the sunset last night which was beautiful, although we got bitten to shreds by mosquitoes!!!
The 14 hour coach journey from Bangkok to the island of Phi Phi (pee pee) is well worth taking for this paradise.Even if it happened to be miss Alex’s new “worst nights sleep ever!!”
Yesterday we took a day long boat trip around the island. Starting at 10.30 in the morning. The long boat held 16 passengers, the engine in full view on the aft, with a propeller at the end of a 15 foot pole that was submerged. The aft is where the driver piloted the boat around, sitting on a little wooden box. Miss Alex spotted a toothbrush in the engine that looked like it was being used as a plug to stop oil from spilling over!! As we set off from the pier I didn’t feel like James Bond but still it was a pretty cool way to travel about for the day.
The first stop was Sharks point, here we were encouraged to jump in and snorkel and look for these so called friendly fish!! Once again I was a bit unsure but once miss Alex dived in before anyone could say JAWS!! there was no way I could not go in after her. Putting the fins on, is an epic exercise in its self and then manoeuvring around the deck of the boat with massive fins on the end of your feet. I felt like Coco the Clown!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t really get the buzz when I see fish. Its cool but once you’ve seen a yellow fish with black stripes it’s a box ticked as far as I’m concerned, especially with the discovery channel nowadays. I’d much rather see something I’ve not seen in person yet like turtles or dolphins, possibly not sharks though without a thick glass aquarium between me and them. Maybe the fact that we where all looking for sharks, I was a bit nervous but I felt like I couldn’t wait to get out at this point. There was no sharks spotted and when it was time to get out I wasn’t too gutted.
On the way to the next stop the driver of the boat pointed out dolphins in the distance, I didn’t see them but I really wish I’d caught a glimpse.
The second stop on the boat tour was a desert island called Bamboo island, about 40 mins from Phi Phi. It happened to be our lunch stop. So there we were sat on a desert island eating our packed lunches. I’ve heard the terms of untouched beaches and golden sands but this really was. The best way I can explain it is, imagine West Kirby Beach or Scarborough beach feels like sugar, well this beach on Bamboo island felt like caster sugar. It was so soft and fluffy!! As the sun was behaving at its glorious best this was a perfect opportunity to sun bath for an hour. (miss Alex was catching flies in her mouth!)
Next we sailed over to a neighbouring island called Makito. I’ve no idea why and don’t know what it means sorry! Here we went back into the water to snorkel. Which meant more fish!! However these little cheeky chaps had a taste for human skin. A girl who was on our tour got bitten by one and it drew blood. Probably didn’t help with our boatman throwing a loaf of bread into the water for the fish to feed on! Miss Alex also got nipped on the shoulder, no blood though.
The next stop was always going to be fun. Monkey Beach, back on Phi Phi. Miss Alex doesn’t trust her £200 rabies jabs as much as me and decided to stay on the boat for this one, leaving me with camera in hand. I spotted a bloke who had a bunch of bananas to feed the monkeys. I thought to my self, I’ll follow him and watch him feed the nice little cute wild monkeys (at a safe distance). There had been a lot of stories about these monkeys, thieving and even attacking people on this beach, but as there was a good hundred people I fancied my chances of not being one of the stats, as long as I stayed near the back of the pack. One bloke was holding out his water for the monkey to take and drink. The monkey grabbed the bottled and shot off up into the trees out of sight. 2 minutes later out of nowhere the bottle hit the same bloke. I’m guessing it was aimed and it made a lot of us laugh out loud. Another bloke was antagonising the monkeys for a reaction, he was flicking sand at them and making hissing sounds as his wife was filming him next to them. (idiot). They seemed to leave him alone until one monkey let out a cry and in a flash about 50 monkeys jumped down from the trees and onto the beach. Without any warning or stand off, they all ran at us. The Idiot was the first to give it Billy big steps and head for the sea. All of the humans made a mad dash for the water hoping the monkeys wouldn’t follow us in.Once it calmed down small groups of people were slowly inching back onto the beach again.
The final stop was to Maya Bay. Maya bay is the actual beach from the film The Beach. Now when we told the tour operator we wanted to go see a scene from one of Leonardo Di Caprio’s films we meant The Beach not Titantic. The boat ride over from Phi Phi was horrendous. Nothing on our boat escaped the sea waves as they crashed over the sides. The weather had turned the sun had gone in and I’m sure your all happy to know it was freezing. But when we arrived at Maya Bay, words could not simply describe the little bay that is hidden away from the world. It is STUNNING. I don’t think the water gets much deeper than waist height. There are camping trips that go on in Maya Bay. Miss Alex and I are deffo going to book on for a night before we decide to leave Phi Phi. The thought of staying on this secluded island with no city lights to interfere with the night sky and sleep under the stars is just amazing. Too good a chance to miss I think.
I think its fair to say I love Koh Phi Phi we both do and so far have had an amazing time here. Over the next 4/5 days were going to move on to Koh Lanta. The tan is starting to move along nicely and I’m really starting to get into this backpack malarkey. I still miss my parents and my sister and brother and all my great friends but the way I see it, I ll have so many stories to tell them when we come back home. I feel lucky to be doing this trip.
I remember from last time I was in Thailand the overnight bus was not my favourite experience but this time it was worse! The seats were leather, ripped, old, cramped, dirty and the “toilet” on board was more like a tin bucket that stank and there was no light! At first we were fine, we’ve got into copied DVD’s since we’ve been here so watched “Bridesmaids” on Mister Alex’s laptop. After a couple of hours we had our first stop so everyone could relieve their bladders as no one was using the toilet on board. We bought some goodies here and once back on the bus I started tucking into my tolberone, it tasted really funny looked in the wrapper and there were loads of little ants in my chocolate! Lovely!
After an hour or so sleep we were woken at 24:00 by the bus lights all suddenly turning on and the drivers shouting that we all had to get off for the next stop. When I say shouting I mean shouting, no one was allowed to stay on and sleep. After half an hour we were back on the bus again only to be woken again at 05:00, told to get off and we had an hour until we were allowed back on. By this point everyone was bleary eyed, dirty and no one was in the best of moods. At 06:00 it was back on the bus again for 2 hours when we finally reached Krabi. From here it was another 2 hours by boat to Phi Phi.
Again I’ve been to Phi Phi before for a few days and knew it’s something special but coming round the corner to the island I realised my memory has not done this island justice! It is just stunning. Coming in from the boat theres islands coming up all around, green and full of colour, the water is a mix of blues and as Phi Phi island comes into view your greeted with white sands, palms with green covered mountains surrounding the sand. Absolutely beautiful!
We took a gamble coming here and hadn’t pre-booked anywhere to stay wanting to explore our options once we arrived. So we get here after hardly any sleep, boiling hot, dirty and declined any help from the guesthouse touts, took a map and set out to find ourselves a bargain. At first we struggled, all the guesthouses in and among the bars were charging 1000 to 1500 baht per room (£20 to £30 a night). We had seen on the map a little huddle of guesthouses that was a trek from the port but just out of the night life and a couple of minutes from the beach so we humped our bags there and hoped one would have a room. We were in luck, the first 2 nights here we stayed at “Tropical garden bungalows” for 800 baht a night between us but we moved this morning to “Harmony Lodge” (virtually next door) as we’ve got a room for 600 baht with free breakfast :).
Phi Phi island is just that, it has a beach on either side with the port being on one side. There’s no cars or roads just little streets with bars, restaurants, street stalls selling lots of nice clothes and lots of push bikes to get around! There’s a lovely chilled out and relaxed atmosphere here.
There’s so much here I can’t remember from last time, we’ve both fallen in love with it. Yesterday we walked up to the viewpoint that gives you a view over the island, absolutely breathtaking, well worth building up the sweat getting up there!
There’s 3 different points you can look out at the view and as we got to the third point we came across a little shack where they make fruit shakes but they also had 2 little pet monkeys! The lady told us the man who owned the shack had rescued them when they were babies either from older monkeys or from people developing the land we’re not sure which she meant! They clearly loved the man who had rescued them they wouldn’t leave him alone. Mister Alex was brave enough to let one on his shoulders but I was a wuss, too scared they might scratch or bite.
We’ve spent the rest of yesterday and today chilling on the beach. Yesterday Mister Alex bought a football that we played with for about an hour until a little Thai girl (about 2 years old) decided she wanted to play with it and us. She was obsessed with rolling it down the beach running to pick it up and then throw to me or to Mister Alex and we’d clap our hands, very very cute! So she ended up going home with Mister Alex’s football, how could we have asked for it back?
Last night we went out and had our first bucket (or 3). This is like a spirit and mixer served in a sand castle bucket. We went to a bar first that did thai boxing with professional boxers but also people from the bar can go up and have a go in the ring and everyone that takes part gets a free bucket. It didn’t take me much to persuade Mister Alex to put himself forward to do it! He went up against a guy called Anthony who it turned out was there with a couple from New Zealand and 2 girls from England and after the fight we ended going to a beach party with them and having an awesome night. Mister Alex did mint in the fight, but apparently lost to Anthony but after watching the videos back we’re a little bit unsure why! I thoroughly enjoyed being Mister Alex’s corner man, I was getting right into it! Think I’ll put myself up to have a go next time!
Waking up this morning, feeling a little fragile, Mister Alex realised he’d hurt his foot from kicking Anthony last night and it’s bruised so we went to get him a thai foot massage and since he was there I thought I might as well have a full body massage too. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, a thai massage is more like being pulled and stretched and actually hurt quite a bit at times but it sorted my hangover out anyway!
We’re not quite sure how long we’re going to stay here for, there’s a few trips we want to do here but we’re not in a rush we’ve got until the 23rd of December when we go to Kho Samui for Christmas so we’re going to share our time between here and an island nearby that we want to visit called Kho Lanta.
We arrived in Bangkok on the 4th by bus, the ride felt much safer with my eyes shut. There were times on the bus coming from Kanchanaburi where I prayed for Go Go Gadget legs as I thought we were about to gain a 10 foot extension to the front end of the bus. Over here they have great trust in the brakes but I’ve seen the state of some of the cars and I don’t!!
On the way into to Bangkok it was surprising to see how bad the floods still are. Down the side streets they have adapted and made walkways above the flooded water. At times the water looked 3 foot deep. It was smelly and you could see on lampposts where the water had previously been. There was a slimy moss about 5/6 foot high.
We found a nice guesthouse near Koh San Road (backpacker town) with Internet and food. It was an ideal base for a couple of hours until we headed to the boxing training camp we’d arranged for the next week. On the way to the boxing as we were getting nearer and nearer I could see miss Alex was not happy. I couldn’t blame her really as the taxi turned into what I can only describe as a scrap metal yard. It was pitch black with no lights and the taxi driver himself didn’t really know where we where. At one point the taxi driver jumped out of the taxi to go and look for the boxing gym and I must admit I thought we were going to get mugged or kidnapped. He jumped back in the taxi and took us further into the slum then suddenly pulled up and said “here we are!” Miss Alex hated me right now for booking this boxing course and it only got worse when we entered the boxing gym.
A 5 minute walk from the taxi with our bags still in the boot and unlocked! The punch bags in the gym were hanging from the ceiling that looked as if it was about to fall down, the ex world champion boxer we had been promised to train us looked more like Rab C Nesbit slouched on a bench in the corner and the bedrooms had …………. A bed. Nothing else, no lamp or bed sheets or bed table. The whole place had a bad feel about it. I think miss Alex wanted to do a couple of rounds in the boxing ring with me there an then!! She would have killed me.
We made an excuse about no one else being there and I said we’d be back next week, fully knowing I had no intentions of stepping foot in the place ever again. There was still the challenge of getting out of the slum and back to Koh San Road hoping our bags were still in the boot of the taxi. We did get back to Koh San Road with all our bags and to be fair the taxi driver knew why we’d left the boxing gym, he’d seen the state it was in. He was thinking of other gyms we might like to go and see (for a very high taxi fair) Our new plan was to find a guesthouse for the night and have a strong drink after the nights episode.
Miss Alex found a place called B&B guesthouse, clever name eh!! And the very clever bit is they don’t serve food! But still the room was very nice.
The new plan was to look for a way of getting down to Koh Phi Phi for a week or 2. (near where the beach was filmed mum, google it)
Bangkok has been really busy because it’s the kings birthday, he was 84 yesterday. The celebrations last night where phenomenal and it felt like the whole city came to a stand still to join in with his celebrations. Young families, old grans, travellers and even cats and dogs headed to the park to soak up the atmosphere. The fireworks were spectacular and the sight of hundreds of floating lanterns in the sky was a picture that no camera could do justice.
I finally think I’ve learnt the trick to stop being hassled for suits. I told one guy “never” he replied “never?” and I said “never!!” and since then he must have spread the word to other shops and I’ve not been hassled.
Today miss Alex and I are homeless, we’ve checked out of B&B guesthouse and I have the littlest hobo theme stuck in my head. As I write this miss Alex has gone for a walk down the Koh San Road and I’m sat in another guesthouse (one that supplies food and drink) supping water. We have to wait until 6 tonight for our coach to Krabi where we get the ferry across to Koh Phi Phi in the morning around 6am. We are taking it in turns to watch over the bags. I’m really looking forward to Koh Phi Phi and I hope it is the same as I have in my head.
We arrived in Kanchanaburi in the evening, then decided to look at the tours, because miss Alex had told me how good the tours were close to Kanchanaburi. We decided on The Tiger Temple one afternoon and a full days tour visiting Erawan Falls and Hell Fire pass and a trip on the Death Railway. There is a festival at the moment for the Kings birthday who I must say I feel like I’ve known him for years. There is a picture of him on every lamppost, every living room wall and even in one of the toilets in the bar I went to the other night. But due to this festival the Bridge Over The River Kwae is shut to the tours, but still open for the public to go to. Our first full day we took a walk from the guesthouse. Obviously hadn’t learnt our lesson from the other day when we tried to barter with the tuc tuc drivers about a price, this time miss Alex asked a tuc tuc driver how far it was to walk and he replied 2km. Miss Alex turned to me as if she knew better than him and muttered “rubbish, come on were walking, it’s a ploy so we’ll jump in his tuc tuc ” so we walked!! I’ll tell you now it was deffo 2km and the rest, in full midday heat. But it was worth it when, just before the Bridge we came across a lady who had 2 tigers. One aged 2 months and the other 7 months. She was offering us the chance to feed either of them, miss Alex s heart melted and fed the youngest. She loved it and there is a video that no one will ever get to see because looking at it now we look like proud parents of a brand new ball of fluff!! The Bridge Over The River Kwae was interesting to see and I feel like I’ve now seen an important symbol of the Second World War.
Tiger Temple was always going to be my favourite leg of this journey. It was an hours bus ride from our guest house and I was excited all the way. I couldn’t wait to meet these big wild cats face to face. Once the tigers awake from there afternoon snooze each day is a chance for 30 people to stay behind and take them for a short walk and then watch them play. Miss Alex very kindly let me do this as we had enough money only for one and there was only one spot left from the 30. Not once did I feel threatened by the tiger as I walked him. The barrier separating the tigers and us lucky 30 was a flimsy light metal frame about 4 foot high and I’m gonna be honest, if a tiger had woken up on the wrong side of the rock then he could very easily have made us his next delicious dinner!! But like I said earlier, not once did I feel threatened. It was an absolute privilege to be there watching them play together in the water. As miss Alex said I do not believe for one second that these tigers are drugged in any way. Animal lovers from all over the world come here to volunteer they would not do this if they thought so. If any one reading this ever comes to Thailand, I urge them to go to Tiger Temple. It was my favourite moment so far.
Today was the full day trip, We went to Erawan Falls, Hell Fire Pass and had a short journey on the Death Railway. We had a full morning at the Falls. These are seven tiered waterfalls. Every picture we’ve taken looks like a postcard. The tour guide told us that the 7th tier was 2500m high, she mentioned to watch out for the wild attacking monkeys. So us being as competitive as we are, we rushed up to the top taking snaps of every other tier on the way up. We were not disappointed when we reached the top though. It was stunning. Fair play to miss Alex she was the first to get in the water, any apprehensions I had about getting in the water were soon gone as miss Alex belly dived in the water. I had to go in at that point and no sooner had i carefully got in the water waist deep, miss Alex starts screaming that there’s something clinging on to her foot. I had no choice now, as much as I wanted to get out I had to stay in the water, but she was right. There were fish in there, massive fish that have no teeth and suck on human skin. They cant bite and don’t really hurt but it’s a funny feeling when they are all over your legs. There is a myth that Chinese people love to take a great picture, well I can squash that myth right now. We had asked this lady with a face like she was chewing a wasp to take a pickie of miss Alex and me under the waterfall with the water splashing on our heads, she took the camera begrudgingly and took the 3 worst pictures ever!! You cant even make out me or miss Alex, so our dangerous stunt of climbing the waterfall and posing like we were Peter Andre and the timote girl was in vain.
The next trip on today’s tour was Hell Fire Pass. This is part of the railway that was built, as miss Alex said by the POW’s and the local thai people. 12,000 POW’s died making this train line from Burma to Thailand. The train line was for the Japanese to get troops and equipment to the front line quickly. Without being disrespectful, this wasn’t something to enjoy although it was very humbling to see, and once again I feel like I’ve just seen a major part of the Second World War. The conditions that they were made to live and work in were horrific. The food was very basic and from the photograghs on show, the POW’s look very close to deaths door. The scenary around hell fire pass is stunning and would it not be for the tragic acts that were committed there it would be very peaceful palce, but I constantly felt a bit haunted. LEST WE FORGET RIP x
The gamble to come to Kanchanaburi has paid off, firstly because the Thai boxing gym in Bangkok have got back to us and have space for us to train next week and secondly because we've had a great time here!
After getting off the bus after our very cheap journey Mister Alex wrote about we were greeted by a woman who I think must be a tout for the guesthouses, we had already got somewhere in mind so told her and she contacted them and sorted a room for us while we were in the taxi, (the taxis here are like utility vans, open with 2 benches along the back, a lot of fun to travel in, if not a bit windy!)
We're staying at a place called Pong Penh, we had to get a slightly more expensive room- 600 baht (£12 so £6 each) but our room is nice with a flushing toilet, hot shower and aircon. It also has a pool. When we first got here there was 2 towels each laid out on the bed, one normal bath sized towel and one massive towel. It wasn't until after we'd used our massive towels to dry off after a shower that we realised the massive towel was actually our blanket!! Opps!
Our first day here we walked the 2km to the bridge over the river Kwai in the morning. When we got there we saw a little stand with 2 baby tigers, one 2 months old and one 7 months old. They were from a sanctuary and you could have your photo with them to raise money for their care. When we approached the lady caring for them she was about to start bottle feeding the 2 month old and asked if I would like to do it. I thought she was going to let me sit down and get settled but she just passed me him while stood up. I was so scared of dropping him! He was gorgeous, a big ball of fluff and I got to put my bottle feeding skills from scbu into practice :) The lady said shed take a photo of both me and Mister Alex with the baby, the camera was set on video mode and we've both sworn we are never showing anyone else the video, we look like 2 new proud parents of a big ball of fluff!!For me this was the highlight of the trip so far!
In the afternoon we went to "tiger temple" where tigers are cared for and bread by monks and volunteers from all around the world. I've been here before when I last came to Thailand but was excited to see grown tigers again. There was an opportunity for us to have our photo taken with them. Now there is plenty of rumors going round that the tigers there are sedated, however Mister Alex and myself are sure this isn't the case. The tigers have all been hand reared by humans, like the baby I fed that morning so used to human contact and Mister Alex paid extra to be with the tigers while they exercised immediately after tourists had been having their photo with them. I'll let him tell you more about that, we only had enough money between us for one of us to do it and since I'd fed the baby that morning I wanted Mister Alex to do it.
On the trip we met a young guy from Canada, Brain, and we arranged to meet up with him for drinks that night. There are lots of bars here but they never seem to get busy, the whole night feels like it's about 9pm and your waiting for the night to take off but it never does. We all had a fun night though and I learn't yet again that I cant keep up with the boys! Yesterday was spent hungover!!
Today we went on an organised trip. Again I've done this before but it's one of the main things to do coming to Thailand and I wanted Mister Alex to see it and also I knew we were in for a good day. First we went to a waterfall about and hour away called Erawan falls. Its got 7 tiers and is 2500m to the top. We had 2 hours here before we had to leave so we were on a mission to the top!! On the way up we marched along stopping at each tier to quickly get some photos and on to the next. It was worth it when we got to the top. The whole waterfall is beautiful the pictures we got look like postcards. We had a swim at the top but I didn't stay in the water long as there were lots of big nibbling fish in the water, not like the small ones at the fish spas these were huge!!!
After this we went to "Hells fire pass" this is an area of railway built by POW and locals. This was under the Japanese army in the second world war who had invaded Thailand and brought POW from Britain, Austraila and other countries here to build a railway linking Thailand to Burma. This was so they could transfer supplies and men easier as the crossing over the sea was dangerous. The conditions the POW and local people were in and how they were treated is upsetting to learn about. We looked round the museum and went onto the "Hells fire pass" this is the area of railway that was the deepest to be cut out. This area is no longer used for the train, its very well looked after in memory of all the men who suffered and died building these tracks. Its interesting to see but sad to think of what happened there. After this we went for a journey on the railway further down that's been restored and is used today like any other railway, this area is called the death railway. At the station to get on the death railway there is a shrine in a cave with a big Budda in. This was created by the Thai locals during the second world war to pray for all the men working on the railway.
We are currently sat outside in the guesthouse having our tea, we are still loving the Thai food! Tomorrow we go back to Bangkok and to the gym where we are staying for a week. I'm nervous about going here and doing the training but also excited, think it's going to push us both though. Lots of love to everyone at home, mum and dad I'm missing you lots xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Our last day in Hoa Hin we decided to go and see the monkeys at mount Tapiak. There is about 400 monkeys living there wild. This was also my first chance to enjoy a tuc tuc (think hair dryer with a trailer attatched for the passengers to sit in) We arrived at mount Tapiak and straight away there were monkeys all over the place, there was groups playing about in a large plant pot full of water and there was groups of monkeys sitting in the road playin chicken with any oncoming traffic. It was also another opportunity to see a temple. Which means one thing, donation boxes. Miss Alex and me can sleep at night knowing that we have donated money towards ·A new temple roof (yes even in Thailand they use that old chestnut)
·The skinny under nourished cows
·Another temple donation box, this time for the pleasure of letting a monk tie a white string on my wrist
·The tuc tuc man and his family to go on holiday this year (we paid 400 baht for him to take us to mount tapiak
If I could describe to you what I thought of our stay in Hoa Hin I would say it was like a fine wine, although im not sure how many fine white wines miss Alex and me have had in the 3 for £10 range. The more I stayed the the more it kind of grew on me. Hoa Hin is like Blackpool with green curries instead of kiss me quick hats.
We had an agreement before we left the guesthouse that we would only get a tuc tuc to the station for 50 baht, any tuc tuc driver we came across laughed his/her head off at this bartering tactic from us. So we ended walking to the station from the guest house, it must have been a good 2km. In the midday heat, by time we got to the station we looked like we’d just stepped out of the shower. The plan was to jump a train to Nakhom Pathom then grab a bus to Kanchaburi. Simple or what. Our tickets to Nakhom Pathom cost us 33 baht each, which is about 66p. We made a challenge then to get to the Kanchinaburi for less than 100 baht each (£2). Miss Alex and me must attract mugs because there was a young Thai looking bloke who was sitting next to us in the station, as he’s over heard my accent and asked if I was Scottish we got talking to him. It turns out he studied in England for a year and now is a “Thai government official.” Who looks after tourists. To cut a long story and train journey short when we got to Nakhom Pathom, which was where we had to find a bus route to Kanchinaburi, he’s chanced his arm with us and said he’s missed his train and has no money and no phone on him as he left it in his place which “just happened to be in kanchinaburi.” We saw straight through him and shook his hand and wished him well.
So miss Alex and me are stood in the middle of a road in Nakhom Pathom, scratching our heads with the map upside down. A couple of school kids ask if they can help us. I was very skeptical, as I know kids from where I live would happily send some one on a mad goose chase if asked directions. However these 2 kids took us straight to the correct bus station and told us what number bus to get on. The bus journey took us about an hour and a half and it cost us 50 baht. So the grand total of our cross country dash cost us no more than 88 baht £1.68 ish each!! Little fact for you, Nakhom Pathom has the biggest temple in Thailand. At the time though with rucksacks and hand bags and beach bags hanging from us and we were still looking for the bus station, the last thing we wanted to do was visit a temple to donate for the new roof especially when I was thinking I could google it at a later date!
