Rosie arrived this morning which finally means that we can kick off. With the full moon party scrapped we're heading to Koh Tao to do a diving course for four days- after which we will be fully qualified to dive for the rest of the trip! I introduced Rosie to the Pad Thai, and unfortunately she's been ill all afternoon- and of course,forgot to pack the pepto bismol. So within 4 hours i've already poisened my girlfriend.
At ten tonight we're taking the sleeper train down to Chomphon, public transport is the way to go out here. All the tourist information places offer "VIP" buses which are nice for an hour, until they change you to an unconditioned bread tin on wheels. And, to boot, theft is rife. The locals hide in the bottom of the bus in the dark until all the bags are packed. You get shifted like cattle from bus to bus enhancing confusion. The sneakiness of it is that they do not take cash but credit cards. So for about 2 days you don't realise they are gone. Clever. ...So public transport is the best although the tourist places are extremely unhelpful when it comes to telling where they are and how much they are. The train is about 385 bhatt- a man told me it was going to be 1500B!
Bangkok is fun- but it's time to leave. Hopefully we won't get the bends!
Charlie
