Our second week of the groupie life started off with two eye-opening
days in Bangkok. The first night we went with Ben, Dan and Lewis to a
Ping Pong show. All I will say is that judging by the number of middle
aged Thai and European couples in the audience "dinner and a show"
takes on a whole new meaning in Thailand. The next day the five of us
went to ultra modern Siam Square (home to no less than four 8 or 9 story
shopping malls) and saw 2012. The film was ramesauce but worth it to
expereince standing for the national anthem while a 3 minute montage
about the King played across the big screen. After a crammed tuk-tuk
ride (five 20-somethings squished into a glorified tin bathtub
attatched to a moped) we were off on the dreaded sleeper train to Koh
Sok National Park. Little did I know that the sleeper train would be a
much welcomed treat on the way back to the BKK.
After settling into our rain forest bungalows, (mine and Hannah's was
up on a hill which was a lot of exercise but had an awesome view and
was the only one without ants) we went tubing down a river sort of like
in Laos, but without the moonshine. I totally failed at tubing for some
reason and could never stay in the current? So our super creepy guide
had to basically push me the whole way to the Monkey Temple where we
got to feed and hang out with monkeys (they even held our hands!). The
next day Lewis, Ben, Hannah and I opted out of the group trip and went
exploring in the national park. It was all fun and games until we
decided to go to the "Panoramic Viewpoint" that turned out to be an
hour of stairs and rickety rope bridges (and Jumanji, Indiana Jones and
Lost references) only to reach... nothing. The viewpoint was just the
middle of the trees? And somehow the stairs that we climbed on the way
there were also ascending on the way back? Exhaustion, sweating,
cursing and, of course, rainfall are all I can remember from our walk
back to the bungalows.
From Koh Sok we took a ferry (or as Tee liked to call it, the
"FurLy"... he could get one of the "R"s but not the second? Got to love
him.) from Surat Thani to Koh Samui. We had about a 2 hour window of
sunshine on Koh Samui before the unceasing downpour of rain commenced
but we all trouped out that night for Ann's birthday celebrations.
The next day can only be described as one of the worst experiences of
my life. We took a "speedboat" from Koh Samui to Koh Tao... In a
monsoon? I have never been that sick in my life (especially in
public... rame). I'm convinced that when I am transported to hell, this
will be Satan's preferred mode of transportation. Even worse was the
change back to solid ground and it took an hour to recover. But recover
we did and Koh Tao was a really nice island where we hung out on the
beach and at the pool and generally had a great time.
Our last night on Koh Tao we went out on the island with the boys and
ended up skipping on the beach with a rope of fire, night swimming,
having piggyback races and generally having a rowdy good time.
Unfortunately Hannah's camera and my iPod didn't survive the night :(
The next day we said bye to the boys, took 3 Gravol each and knocked
ourselves out for the speedboat back to the mainland and the much
anticipated sleeper train back to Bangkok and the end of our GAP
Adventure!
