Thailand

We have said farewell to Bangkok... we did so in style by visiting the red light district (finally!) which was an experirence I won't forget, unfortunately! It is, as they say, a tourist trap now and there were loads of stalls set up and lots of neon signs. It was also terrifying! There were men with little cards just said 'porn dvd' and we got dragged into a strip club by some man on the street. We paid 300 Baht each and got a free drink but it was horrible. We sat and were harrassed for the entire time for money and were entirely uncomfortable. We gave them the little money we had left even though none of the dancers had 'performed' any of their rountines. Although we did see things we never want to see again...bottles of beer being opened without the use of limbs (the only polite way of saying it!) and the classic ping pong (which Clare was disappointed to find out had nothing to do with table tennis...)

We finally left Bangkok on Thursday night around 6pm and headed on a bus to Kho Pangnan. It was an over night bus which we thought would be comfortable enough for 12 hours. However, although Clare is capable of falling asleep practically anywhere, I am not. So I spent many hours just hoping the time would pass quickly or that we'd stop for another break. I survived though and we arrived at a port at 6am. We sat waiting for 2 hours...and were put on another bus for an hour (this was not the main ferry port!). We finally got on a boat which was fantastic...we lined the edges of the boat to try and catch some sun whilst skimming across the water. The first drop off was Kho Samui which looked chaotic with taxi people trying to get some business from thse disembarking.
Another hour on the boat and we arrived at our destination which was even more chaotic as they were literally throwing backpacks off the boat to the pier and you had to dig under other bags to find your own! I managed to get ours successfully though and we ran away from the taxi people as they were trying to charge 100 Baht per person which we thought was very steep. We already knew we had a free lift from the hostel anyway and it was just a case of calling them and telling them we had arrived. We had only one slight problem...they said satnd outside the 7/11 store and there were two! We chose the wrong one of course...the man found us eventually and in no time we were checked in.
The hostel is called Power Beach resort and the rooms are quite basic but we have a room, a bed, a shower and a western toilet so we can't complain! Also they serve food, beer and havea swimming pool and... hammocks outside the room!
We also went out to Haad Rin with our Swedish neighbours (one is a half Irish) which is where the Full Moon Party is tomorrow night just to have a look around but ended up drinking buckets of a combination of Sangsom (Thai whiskey), coke and redbull...and dancing on the beach until 2am! Then is started to rain...really badly...the streets turned to rivers and we grabbed a crepe from a stall and waited for a taxi.I must explain about the taxis though, they are all jeeps and have a cover on the back and seats and can fit about 12 people in. So they earn a fortune at 100 Baht for each passenger!
Tomrrow is the real Full moon party so we're heading to a bar near the hostel to watch the football (Newcastle v Sunderland....very important!)before heading out later on to enjoy dancing on the beach again (we will be careful!). We're also going to try and get to the waterfalls on the island during the day as they are supposed to be beautiful.

20 hours on the night train from Butterworth in Malaysia....enough said! It was an interesting experience and they have bunk beds. It was weird but fun! My first impressions of Bangkok were that I hated it... all the signs are in Thai and not very many people speak English and showing a map with road names in English only confuses taxi drivers!
The first hostel we arrived at was the Bed & Breakfast and it seemed miles away from anything really and was very expensive (600 Baht) so we spent only one night there. We headed out the first night to the Khao San Road and loved it! It may be because it's the Thai new year and there's a 3 day water fight or maybe it was just seeing lots of tourists but I did immediately exclaim that we were moving to a hostel of the Khao San immediately at a cheaper cost (350 Baht) but with a terrible bathroom!
Before we left we visted Jim Thompson's house (google Jim Thompson and Thailand to find out more about it!) house like his...or there would be trouble! It was a beautiful house I must admit but not quite suited to the British weather!
So we packed again and set off for our new room in the lively part of town... apart from me collapsing with what cn only be described as a combination of heat exhaustion/dehydration/being fed up with carrying a backpack for miles (we got lost even though the taxi driver dropped us pratically on the road/HANGOVER...Luckily two Oz girls picked me up and carried my pack to the hostel (I bought them a beer later!). We then set about exploring the road and getting absolutely drenched! I don't think I've dried out for three days now...flip flops are all over the place and I have a cquired a super soaker for water carnage! It's been brilliant so far apart from the massive number of people today...which is very daunting and at times terrifying!
This morning we decided to havea tour of some 'places of interest' and ended up being bundled into a tuk tuk and taken on a tour which I was convinced would end up in robbery, serious physical pain or a rip off...I was mostly right! the last stop on the tour was a tailors where we got measured up for suits and paid 15,000 baht for the privilege! It's ok though we had already decided we were getting some made anyway but still...I was waiting for the scam the entire ride! But then again I was taken to the cashpoint on the back of a scooter so I was very happy (but terrified of falling off!).
We're going to get some more delicious food now and possibly plan a trip to the red light district for a laugh!
Oh and we've booked our trip fo the Moon Party the entire trip with accomodation in a beach chalet for 5 nights and bus there and bus on to Krabi only cost us 3200 Baht each (52 pounds!) - amazing!