Hi everyone. Phew well we finally have a bit of time to use the net and update you all on our travels.
Well we last wrote a detailed log back in Ayutthaya which was a week ago. We have navigated across Thailand using multiple forms of transport since then. We got the overnight train down to Surat Thani (a busy port town) and then a public bus (avoiding all the touristy minivans for 4 times the price and fourtimes less interest) to the Khao Sok National Park. That place was amazing and we stayed in a beautiful tree house which was basically a hut on stilts with a mosquito net and little bathroom complete with very fat cute toad.
The following day we got an early car with a Finnish family to Cheow Lan Lake (formed when a dam was built in 1982)which is incredibly deep - up to thirty metres in parts but the landscape is truly incredible. We trekked through the jungle and got a bamboo raft to a cave. It was fab to see a cave without tonnes of lighting and concrete pathways through the middle. We stayed in a basic hut with smelly mattress but this didn;t matter because the hut was built of bamboo and was floating!!! In fact everything was floating except the toilet which was on a hill at the end of the floating walkway. Incidentally to get to the toilet we had to cross one section of bamboo that was rotten and whilst it seemed to hold up well under Thai body weights it didn't fare quite so well once us farang (foreigners) had a go and Safia put her foot through twice! I will point out the only reason I didn't was that I developed a beautiful flat footed approach where I turned my feet out across a number of strands of the bamboo!!
Anyway we also did a couple of safari's in the long tail boat and whilst the night one was spectaularly spooky it was rather devoid of anything visible. The early morning one more than made up for this though as we saw some pig-tailed macaques, birds of paradise, otters (!), a white/grey small bird of prey and the most amazing family of Lar Gibbons - I never thoughjt I;'d get to see one of these amazing animals in the wild but it was truly beautiful.
When we arrived back at Khao Sok National Park we decided to go for a trek which was quite an effort as the path was virtually nonexistent. Of course we got the standard 3 o'clock rain which made it rather more tricky and so we turned back but Safia got 3 leeches on her stomach and I got a couple on my ankles through my socks. When I got back to the treehouse I took my boots off and found another 8 crawling around inside (fortunately I got rid before they could take hold of my skin).
Anway eventually went back to our treehouse and the fat toad and stayed one more night before we got the bus back to the port to catch a ferry to the island of Koh Phangan.
The ferry was surprisingly comfortable and took just 2 1/2 hours on the calmest sea ever seen. We had nice views of some of the other gulf islands and the turquoise sea before we arrived in the main (and only town) on the island. We then commandeered a guy to take us to our hotel and knocked his price down to a reasonable amount but after dropping us off he then tried to get more money - let's just say he picked the wrong two tourists and skulked off with his snake tail between his legs.
The bay here at Mae Haad is beautiful but pretty tricky to get into deep water as there is only one channel through the coral reef and the water is rarely deep enough to swim over that part of the coral at this time of year.
The dive instructor is really good and she's been great at adapting the course to fit us etc. Unfortunately Safia and diving didn't get on once we moved into deeper water - quite sensibly she realised that she didn't need to swim 10 metres under the water when she could see lots of pretty fish and coral from the surface. I love it quite enough for both of us - be warned folks, it is entirely possible I end up becoming a dive instructor and living in Australia or Thailand or somewhere like that.
Only bad thing about diving is that I appear to be allergic to the plankton in the water here and have developed very very itchy welts across all parts that were exposed to the water except my face. But it's worth it.
Yesterday was New Year here and so there is a massive water fight everywhere - you have njo hope of staying dry unless you are a monk (and even then you may get hit accidentally). The Thais also like to add food colouring or prickly heat powder to the water and either carefully pat some onto your cheeks or pour it all over you. It was an amazing experience ad one we are unlikely to ever experience again.
Finally met up with Sarah and went back to her resort for some food and drink before we came back home in time for the start of diving again today.
Hopefully be in touch one more time before we come home. Plans are for me to finish my dive course tomorrow (going diving off a boat in middle of ocean somewhere called Sail Rock) and then we are getting a taxi down to our final stopping place in Ban Tai with Sarah for our final days. We'll hire a jeep for a day or so, and visit a few quiet beaches etc.
Hopw you're all well
Kim
