Well not much happened after Chiang Rai, we caught the bus back to Chiang Mai for the night train. On the train we drank a bottle of 50baht whisky that was bought in Laos. Very smooth surprisingly as its the equivalent of $2NZD. Back in Bangkok we said goodbye to some of our group and pick up 3 more. We had a day and a half in Bangkok before bourding an overnight bus (should have been a train) for Suratthani in the south. It was a very long trip as none of us could really get to sleep and when you did you would get woken by this incessent beeping of the driver going over 100k/hr very frustrating. Well we get off at Suratthani at 5am for breakfast and beleive me at that time breekie is not cool especially combined with the malaria tablets which have been making me rather queazy. And this was when things began to get interesting. The Germans who hace been complaining since the start took exception to the fact that our leader wanted their local payment which pays for the transport and the fact that our bus to Koh Sok was going to be delayed for god knows how long as it had been involved in an accident and they had to find a replacement. So they wait until we are bording the new bus (thankfully with actual air con) to tell out leader that they are leaving the group and will make their own way from now on and that they want their money back. Which is not going to happen cos its in all the paperwork NO REFUNDS. So in the end they said they would chase it up but would not be carrying on and so we left them in the back of beyond to sort themselves out. And since their english is crap and the locals only know basic english themselves they could be in for some trouble. But yay they are gone.
So anyway we hop on our bus for Koh Sok and away we go now with only 10. We got dropped on the side of the road in Koh Sok in the pouring rain to catch our songthaews but because we were 3hrs late by this point there was only one to meet us when there should have been two. so there was this extremely tired and grumpy bunch of tourists on the side of the road in the rain waiting for the second songthaew. but worst of all was when we got to the tree houses we were staying in it was to find there was no hot water which was the last thing we wanted. Then we read the sign which said it was a nature lovers dream got that right. After having had no sleep the night before I thought a nap might be in order and this was to find that because we were staying in the rain forest the beds were all very damp, Grrr. But that was fine, what wasn't fine was how the staff at this place treated the any females. They flirted lots, were rude when thet didn't get their way and managed to stuff all our food orders up cos they were to busy flirting to listen properly. Not to mention that by the time we checked out they were starting to get rather touchy, so uncool. any way I digress. That first night we were all to tired and so did sod all. The next morning we got up and 4 of us were going on a lake cruise on the Rajjaburi Dam. But this was when we discovered that we were to lose a 3rd member in 2 days though this was due to he fact that she started the tour in a different group and was off to rejoin them which we were fine with. And so off 4 of us went in the rain in the back of a leaky songthaew for an 1 1/2hr drive to the dam. We get there and the veiw was amazing. They dam is in this regoin of limestone cliffs that are so high that they really make you feel very small in the scheme of things. and to top it off cos it was drizzling they were shrouded in mist so that there were times when you would only catch glimpses of them and we had no idea just how large they were as the tops were cut off by said mist. just beautiful. So anyway we hop in this longboat which has about 1 and 1/2 foot of clearance from the top of the water (even less by the time we'd all piled in) and away we went with the instructions not to move or we might tip the boat over. Sooo comforting. Oh and a longboat is basically 2 dinghys joined together with a converted V8 car engine as the motor. Anyway off we went no lifejackets though they were there if we wanted them. took some amazing pics along the way. We passed these riverraft houses that were tied together in a line across some of the narrow strecthes of water. The dam was made in this really mountainous region were all the random hills have now formed islands. It would be very easy to get lost trying to navigate them. So we're cruising along and we slow down past this string of rafts and our guide (a guy named Chai)starts yelling something in Thai to this person on the raft (we later found out he was arranging our lunch) and away we went again to this landing point. So out we piled to go for a 1hr hike. As I was the only one in hiking boots and not jandles I found it fairly easy especially since it was extremely slippery the other 3 kept slidding around. Apparently i was the only one who had listened to instructions the night before. Anyway away we went and about 10mins into it the guide pulls us over to one side of the trail and goes "does anyone know what this is" "this" was a whole in the side of a bank which was surrounded by leaves. We're all like no what is it. He's like "its a tarantula burrow and this is (pulling of a stick and lifting a little flap futher down the bank) is where the tarantula waits for any insects to crawl by" effectively a hidey hole. luckily all the burrows he showed us were empty at the time. Well that was what he said. further through the walk he heard what this awful racket that turned out to be giant cicadas, I mean these things were as big as my hand f'n huge. Well we carry on and we get to this river raft house with bamboo rafts attached so onto one of these rafts we clamber and off we go again to this amazing cave system which we spent some time exploring. then we turned around and backtracked to the riverrafts that we had cruised past earlier. We got out to find this amazing spread waiting for us. There was greencurry, whole fried river fish, stirfry vege. fresh fruit. this was just for 4 of us. But man it was yummy. 2 of us cleared the fish up and it was big. while we were eating this thai boy runs up with this black rubbish bag and all the locals turn up we're wondering what the hell is going on when he pulls this fish out of the bag which was almost as big as he was. Thhis thing was huge. Got a coupla pics to prove it. So we hang about here for a while took some kayaks out to burn off lunch and then jumped into the lake for a swim before heading back. the water here is this eerie deep green colour and kinda murky after about a foot of depth so kinda weird swimming in it, you don't know whats down there especially since the dam flooded several towns. As we were leaving the wind picked up and we thought here we go. Then the rain started so were all in our plastic ponchos (tents) in this longboat cruising along the river and the rain really starts coming down in ernest. I mean the boat is taking on water. But we're not worried then the guide puts his lifejacket on and the worry starts but its not rough water so we think ok no problems. Then he makes us put them on and as we come out of this sheltered bay we were in the waves increase and the panisk starts. But we were fine otherwise I wouldn't be writing this though we were very wet even if it was one of the scariest boat rides I've been on and i've been in a few. We all piled into the songthaew to drive back and it was cold all I wanted was a hot shower but then we remembered no hot water at the rooms and that was depressing cos we had to settle for a hot drink and some damp (as apposed to wet) clothes. Well we were fine though exhausted but had to join the group for dinner. So not a good idea. We had a 5am start the next morning and we were already running on no sleep and completely nackered after the dam trip. needless to say me and my roomy (who also went on the boat trip) slept through not 1 but 3 alarms and were woken at 6am 1/2 hr after we were s'posed to have left. Luckily we'd already packed the night before and so it was just a matter of throwing on some clothes and walking out. But the group leader was pissed. Though in fairness they could have woken us earlier but none of them could remember which hut we were in even though the leader had it written down. So we drive 1 1/2hrs in the back of the songthaew which had no sides and got us completely saturated back to Suratthani to catch the bus to the ferry terminal which was to take us to Koh Samui. It's lucky none of us has come down with a chill.
Anyway we got to Koh Samui and in the 2 days I've been here i've down very little. I've drank, slept, swum and eaten. Good times especially yesterday when the 3 remaining singles (all the rest are couples) went to Chaweng beach and sat and ate seafood and drank pinacoladas on the beach from 3pm till 7pm it was a great wasy to spend the day.
Anyway must be off got to catch the catamaran to Koh Tao.
