Firstly i just wanted to say sorry to everyone for writing this so late!
We began our trip in Suvarnabhumi Aiport, when we arrived at 11pm we were dazed by everything. We had to find our shuttle bus to the hotel and we couldn't work out where the hell to go. We ended up jumping into a taxi, hoping he knew the way to go. Turning down a dodgy street we wondered if he was taking us to someplace not 'very' safe... We were wrong of course, the hotel staff were lovely and showed us to our room which had said on the internet that we had a garden view... More like trees and a dirt road! We fell asleep watching a movie ready and nervous for the next day.
We got a lovely breakfast, Regan not realising there was normal food (i.e. bacon, eggs, toast etc.) had started filling up his plate with noodles, fried rice and other things that i wouldn't really classify as breakfast. The hotel staff called us a cab to take us to Khao San Road. Zooming down the streets we realised Thai people haven't heard of anything remotely close to road safety and the RTA would've had a heart attack seeing motor cyclists racing in and out of cars, cars switching lanes and driving on to oncoming traffic just to avoid driving less than 80km/hr. The taxi of course broke down along the way but the guy was great and hailed us another cab. Finally we arrived on Khao San Road nervous and drowning in the sense of absolute loss as to where the hell we go or stay! Smells of so many stalls of food, sweating bodies in the heat and drunken disorder followed us. Tuk-tuk drivers shoving maps in our face telling us they'll take us here and there for 20 baht (less than $1). Then we met Bing-Lee (well his name sounded like that anyway) whose constant laughing and smiling young face convinced us to ride with him. We got in and he took us around to the temples and statues. He convinced us to go to the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) where we would meet a person who could organise our trip. So we went and bloody hell am i glad we did!
We meet Mr T. (he said it would be easier to remember) whose friendly attitude won us over. He organised accommodation plus travel (i.e. buses, trains, ferry's) from the 11th December-24th January. He fitted in everything that we wanted. The plan was to go to Koh Samui first for a relaxing time, then Koh Phangan (accommodation we had already booked), Phuket (to meet Liz and Annie), Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta, Krabi then back to Koh Samui to meet Nick. He also recommended a place to stay at on Khao San Road the D&D Inn:
http://www.khaosanby.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=38
We both keep thinking about if it wasn't for him i don't know what we would've done! So we booked in everything and Bing Lee took us back to Khao San Road where we booked into the superior room at the D&D Inn. The place was beautiful! It had a pool deck on the roof and a great bar. The first night we bought beers and sat on the roof top drunk on the fact that we had two months of travel ahead of us! We made our way down to the revelling that littered the street below. We saw people drinking at the main pub there Khao San Central, beer towers (in otherwords 3L towers filled with beer! Don't worry we only drank 2.5L then went to bed haha. Next day we again wandered the streets of Bangkok with the help of Bing Lee and again we walked around at night marvelling on how cheap everything was! We got a fish foot spa which was quite strange and ticklish.
Next day we were to leave Bangkok under the guidance of Mr T. who believed you don't need so much time within Bangkok. We meet up with Mr T. who gave us separate envelopes for the different parts of our trip which he labelled and numbered! AWWW!! We ended up staying with him at his office drinking a whiskey called Blend with Soda water and ice, it was so nice to chilll out and contemplate the fact that Australia has everything that's remotely deadly (i.e. snakes, spiders, sharks). We then made our way to the train station and got on at 2nd class which were supposed to have bunks but there was just seats. However later that night around 8pm or earlier (we have no sense of time) a man came around and pulled out bunks out of the walls of the carriage! Brilliant! So comfy and we passed out, we both woke up every hour or so thinking we missed our stop which we hadnt of course! We arrived at Surat Thani station at 4:30am and caught 2 buses to get to Donask Pier (and by this time we never wanted to see a bus train or ferry for a long time) to get to Koh Samui. We finally arrive and caught an AIR CON shuttle bus for 150 baht ($3). We finally arrived at Koh Samui.
Koh Samui is beautiful, it's definitely a chill out-ish kind of place. Everyone on the island pretty much gets around on motorbikes and after spending two days on the beach and wandering the streets, we got our own bike.
Quick note to Mum and Papa: don't worry we were safe and didn't drive like Thai's.
We ended up spending today driving around the whole island and it is something i completely and utterly stand by to do when your on Koh Samui, you really feel like you can go anywhere and see the world! And bloody hell was it beautiful to see the island, as the wind swept through your hair and you could smell the sea and food stalls that whisked by. We had to stop as we had driven into weak rain, but it turned out for the best as there was the most amazing little stall with a noodle, pork, dumpling and soup dish that i immediately ordered and scoffed down in half a second and how much did it cost me?? $1.50!!!! My stomach is completely in heaven right now!!
Well that brings everyone up to date, will be back on in another couple of days or a week,
Love Fran (and Regan)
